There's No Place Like Home

If you read my most recent post you know that we've been hanging around town for the last six months. "Hanging around" meaning being with friends and family and doing local events. Because of that, our first camping weekend away, alone, was not as enjoyable as it used to be. Maybe I'm getting old, maybe I'm getting less tolerable of crowds, mostly I'm just content and most happy when I'm with my friends and my kids (Nathen & Karissa)

This weekend had been planned for months and is an annual trip to Daytona for the 24 hour Rolex race. Trevor, Mason and I loaded up the RV and headed east on Friday the 29th.

We arrived at the KOA around 1:00 and did the minimum setup. Only one bunk down, no awning and no screen room. 

We were put in the very back this trip which made for a MUCH quieter stay!

Across the road was another row of sites, then a huge field. Great start to our weekend.

We lounged around for a bit before heading to the track to pick up my race packet. Our first aggravation of the trip was finding out that the shortcut road we utilize to travel back and forth was closed.

This meant with every trip we had to go out onto International Speedway Drive.

 4-5 lanes wide with lights every 1/4 mile that change color every 2 minutes. UGH!

They have been advertising that the "Daytona Rising" project is complete. That's true for the most part. There are still some construction debris around, a lot of pavement patches and some other tweaks but I'm sure that will be taken care of in time. 

The grandstands, AKA big $$$$ seats, are finished in time for thousands of people to descend upon the World Center of Racing.

This was our first glimpse of the stadium on our way back to our campsite. 

It's BIG and impressive! I mentioned to Trevor that this race may be busier than normal, simply out of curiosity.

A lot of old time Nascar fans have sort of given up on the racing of today. The rules are wonky, the chase for the championship is a strange crap shoot.......there's also the cost. Many people have been priced out of their seats with the renovations. While the backstretch always had somewhat affordable seats, the backstretch is gone, therefore forcing you to the front stretch where seats are insanely expensive. Add in the cost of food, drinks, and lodging and you may as well take a cruise to a tropical island. 

No shit.

To buy a ticket to the 24 hour race (infield included) is $65.

 (Before renovations, it was $45) 

SO....if you want to see a good race with pits included and see the new stadium with the ability to sit in any seat you'd like, this is the weekend for you.

I'm pretty good with gut feelings.....but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

After picking up my race bib, we stopped and picked up some Krystal burgers to take back for dinner. We had no plans this evening other than to relax and hit the hay early. Saturday was to be a long day.

Sitting outside the RV, on a Friday night, alone, was weird.  My house has a revolving door. Kids are in and out constantly (25 year old, fun, respectable kids)  Our own friends hardly even knock anymore. I never know what is being worked on, welded, towed here or lifted. They bring us a new recipe they've tried, a new beer on the market or especially for me, chocolate!  

When we go out and about, chances are 90% that we will see someone else we know as we've lived in this small town for 30+ years. 

Don't get me wrong, that's not always a good thing! :)

Call me crazy, but I enjoy that. It keeps me on my toes. This particular Friday night, Trevor, Mason and I were sitting outside in a weird, busy city, with strangers,

 (mostly yankees...no offense Northern Peeps)

This guy did stop by

Actually there were 5 or 6 turkeys that roamed all over with total disregard for people.

We were snuggled in bed by 8:00 with the alarm set for 4:00 am.

4:00 am, up and at em! 

It was cold, as usual, but not raining, which is unusual.

By 6:00, we were back at the speedway for my run.

It was a chilly 43 degrees as the tram whizzed around 

the track but we took our annual 

"ugly, morning selfie"

We made our way out to the track where a local DJ was playing some great music. 

I stretched out and danced all over pit road to stay warm.

All the while, a little old guy on a scooter was running up and down pit lane yelling at people to stay off the grass. 

(Remember that for later)

At 7:00 they shot the gun and away we went! By turn 1, my muscles had warmed up but my nose ran like a faucet.

 Thank God for long sleeves!

By the time I was done, I was sweaty, cold and had snot all over both sleeves. 

Admit it, sounds kinda fun, huh?

I waited for Trevor to finish the walk, we grabbed a banana and bagel and jumped back on the breezy tram.

We showered and rested at camp with intentions on heading back to the track around noon. We've seen all the driver signings. If we waited until later in the day it would be quieter, right?

HA! HA! HA! HA!

About 12:00 we started our journey back. Yes, it was a journey.

As you can see, the parking lots are closed off for car clubs, mini tracks and sponsor shit.

We rode on past the track to the corner lot as we were going to walk the tunnel into the infield.

There were a lot of cars in that field for this time of day.

But the lighted sign at the corner said ;

ROLEX PARKING

Within 40 minutes (not a typo, it took us 40 minutes to go 2 miles) the lot attendant tells us that one side of the lot is full and the other side is VIP. He tells us to go to lot 3. I've been to DIS many times and even I don't know which lot is which. These workers are local, Daytona Beach, temp help. They don't know either.

We followed the road around the back where the next lot was "Team parking" We kept going around until, lo and behold, we were back on the highway, almost where we started. 

Our only option at this point was to park across the street and walk across the second crosswalk they have built. 

1 hour and 5 minutes after we left the campground, 2 miles away, we parked the truck. We were determined to go into the infield so we walked, and walked, and walked until we arrived. We had been up since 4, and I had run a 5 K. We would check out the garage for a few minutes, eat a Daytona dog and then go into the stands to watch the start of the race.

I sat down in the grass while Trevor went to get our dogs. The marching band entertained me for a few minutes

If you don't remember the Daytona dog, here is last years.

It's just a 1/4 lb. beef hot dog with sauerkraut. 

I didn't take a picture of this years. The bun was a regular hot dog bun, so half the size of the dog and there was nothing on it. Trevor went to another stand and got me sauerkraut.

 All for the low price of $8.50

I was hungry and it was my reward for running, so I ate it. The whole afternoon was leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Literally.

Did I mention there were a lot of people?

We were already dreading the long walk back through the infield, through the tunnels and into the grandstands. We had noticed that even some of the seasoned workers were slightly overwhelmed with the crowds, including the "gatekeepers"  We did not have garage access which would allow us to cut through the garage, across the grass and up into the grandstands, though it would save a lot of walking. 

We resorted to the "fake it til ya make it" 

Most everyone had on long sleeves so, in our case, our 'not green armbands' weren't even visible and we strolled right on through.

The cars were beautiful

The crowds were insane.

Scooter riding grass protector, you're fired!

We climbed the stairs into the grandstands where I took another shot of the crowd.

Inside the stands was nice. It is huge, which will be great when the races are on rain delay, which happens often.

We decided to walk down to turn 4 to watch the start, that way we could see a large part of the concourses.

I love Big Ass Fans

The stadium is divided into 4 corporate nightmares sponsorships.

Sunoco, Toyota, Chevrolet and some Hospital. Florida Hospital? I don't remember and it really doesn't matter. They had the worst showing, and some "coming soon" areas, but they did give me a travel pack of bandaids, which I appreciated because I was getting a blister.

In fact the only picture I took in that area was one of their charging stations. They are everywhere, each one sponsored by the company area they are placed in.

To be 100% honest, the only reason I took this photo was because Trev was peeing and I was bored. We didn't stay there long :)

Toyota has an awesome area complete with it's own restaurant.

With Tundra tailgate booths

Even some random drivers car.

 I held my nose in front of it and texted to Genia:

"Something stinks"

(notice the Kyle wanna-be in the background)

Some nice interior decorating also

(notice 1959, price $1.00)

Turn 4 is sponsored by Sunoco and they had some really neat features.

These cans hang from the ceiling and are about 25 feet long and 10 foot around. Each one has it's own stuff inside.

This one had lights and gas cans.

This one was a tachometer that revved when you stood underneath it.

They also had Gordon's car and

 Elliot's (Gordon's replacement) car.

Since the actual race was getting ready to start we walked out into the stands and grabbed a seat.

The Coast Guard did the fly over

It's very strange to look across the infield and see a wall of sponsors instead of grandstands.

The race started at 2:20

It's always nice to hear the roar of motors after winter break.

We watched the first couple of hours and agreed we had seen enough. We were both exhausted and we still had quite a jaunt to find the truck.

Y'all know by now that I blog what I see and say what I want. Whether good or bad, I tell you the truth. I anticipated writing about this walk and you guys thinking that I was exaggerating. 

Walk with me, will ya?

Here we are just starting up the crosswalk after getting down the stadium and across a double parking lot.

We must now go across the highway to the other side.

Here we are on the other side and our truck is behind that building on the left.

WAY behind that building

I'm now at the building, on my tippy toes, scouting for a red truck in a far away land :)

I'm standing in front of my truck now....you can barely see the mirrored building behind those trees in the distance.

At this point we figured it would be our last Rolex race. It had become as much of a hassle as attending a Nascar event. Was it this busy due to looky-loos or had this race grown in popularity since our first one 8 years ago?

We just wanted to go back to the RV and relax until dinner. Going to the Wing House is our annual Saturday night activity.

Mason was happy we were back

And I was too.

 3 of my favorite things: 

Mason, Trevor and a cold Coors light.

We were tired and missing the kids. We couldn't even pour ourselves out of our lawn chairs long enough to go out.

Instead Trevor warmed up some Krystals and I had some cheese and crackers.

We all voted to put on some jammies and watch UFC fight night.

Even Mason agreed.

Sunday morning we were up bright and early.

There's nothing like standing outside looking at that peaceful sky while the roar of motors are still going in the background!

Staying in the night before had been the best thing for us. We got a good nights sleep and felt much better about our race experience.  We decided to give it another shot and head back to the track around 8:30.

We were able to park outside of turn 4, like normal, and walk right into the infield. It was a gloomy, muddy day, but it was already looking brighter in my book.

The infield felt normal again. Either everyone was still sleeping or the looky loos had gotten their feel for the stadium and weren't coming back on Sunday.

We strolled around the old cars

Shelby's

We worked our way through the garage windows to witness the chaos from the last 18 hours.

Transmission for the EcoBoost

Rear ends being torn apart, mangled messes, you name it.

I'm always impressed by the hauler drivers skills. To park those semi's in the spaces they do, alongside 50 others, with a wall in front of them and a garage behind them, is impressive!

Before leaving the infield we stood at the chicane to watch for a bit

We strolled around the infield vendors and then walked back under the track to the grandstands. We wanted to see some more of it while watching the race as we went along.

First I needed to do some Jimmie Johnson adulation. 

Look it up, I swear that's nothing perverted.

Oh yeah, see that yummy lemonade on my right? 

That was the BEST $7.00 glass of lemonade I've ever had.

No shit.

We rode the escalator up

Then took a right and headed to the center of the stadium. The whole center surrounding the flag stand is a wide open terrace. Very impressive to come out for food and or potty breaks and still see the track. I would imagine they will be much stricter about hanging around here during a Nascar event but nice none the less.

The Chevrolet area was nice and one of my favorites

See that nice young lady in the black? She's essentially a car salesman. Both Chevy and Toyotas are set up everywhere with their newest vehicles and salespeople. I found that slightly annoying. As if I'm in the market to shop for a vehicle when I'm at a race?!?! I'm not a huge fan of all the corporate shit being shoved down my throat but I guess a $400 million renovation requires some heavy duty sponsors. 

Welcome to America

The Toyota area is even worse with an actual test drive course, complete with dirt hills, outside.

But they did have this sweet little truck!

We left the track around noon because we wanted to stop at the flea market. It was SUPER busy also! Let's just say "There were strange things afoot at the flea market!" 

We knew exactly what we wanted to get so we were in and out in less than an hour.

We found the toy I was bringing home to Miss Kitty and we needed nuts. Boiled peanuts and cinnamon sugar mixed nuts.

Exciting shoppers, right?

 Nuts and beer! Perfect afternoon snack.

I think we may have even napped a bit that afternoon. We were both looking forward to getting back home to our normal life.

But tonight we would have our Wing House! 

I didn't get pictures of our food as Trevor had wings,

 like tiny chicken parts with sauce, 

and I had a blackened chicken salad, 

like chicken chunks on lettuce.

 Not really picture worthy :)

But I did get a picture of our pickles!! God, I love pickles.

And our neighbor at the next table.

Yep, it's a capuchin monkey. This woman was licensed and has others. Since this guy was young she had him out to get him more social. We actually played with him and he was sweet and adorable. While I don't condone anyone having these as pets, people will still do it and at least he was well taken care of and healthy. I would have loved to get a better photo but imagine a 2 year old child, on his third sippy cup of Mountain Dew, while hitting a crack pipe and you may get an idea of how much he bounced around. The woman said he's not always like that but they had been at the flea market and he had been in his carrier for a while.

I told you strange things were afoot at the flea market!

No shit.

Monday morning, we were up and ready to head home. Our cleanup process was extra fast because of the minimum setup

Mason was also ready to go and we pulled out by 7:30!

We were home and unpacking by 10:00

Miss Kitty was enjoying her new toy

And life felt normal again.

For the most part, we had a great time. If we go back next year we will anticipate the same crowds and change our strategy. We have some other things we're looking forward to this year but most of all spending it with people we love and enjoy, even if it's in our own backyard.

Til next time.......