I had a good time out in California. We definately had an interesting trip out there. Because of winds in Chicago, we ended up sitting on the runway in Peoria for 2 hours (not exaggerated). So, we thought for sure that we would miss our connecting flight in Chicago to LA. When we finally got to Chicago, we got out of the plane planning on setting up a new flight to LA, but we discovered that they were doing final boarding on our original flight (it had been delayed 45 minutes). So we ran (literally), down G terminal, and down H terminal, most people who have ever flown from Peoria to O’Hare probably have had this experience. When we made it to the gate, the doors were shut. However, we talked to the desk guy and he said maintenance was on the plane and that he would open the door for us. It was funny looking at the people on the plane because they were looking at us like “who are these people that we had to wait on to board the plane.” Anyways we made the plane and ended up in LA about an hour and ten minutes after our scheduled arrival. Not bad, since we had already accepted the fact that we probably wouldn’t get in until midnight. And luckily for Kevin, we only ate 1 and 1/2 of the 3 gondolas from Avanti’s that we were bringing out (one was for us to eat on the plane, so we actually only at an extra 1/2 a sandwich).
Friday was fun because we had a 34 and 38 foot motorhome to drive to the track. We stopped at In-N-Out Burger to get our traditional burger, fries, and milkshakes. Then we raced (I’m pretty sure it was a race) to the track. I was riding in the 34 foot motorhome. I was a little scared when we missed a truck mirror by 3 inches. And that was because we were 3 inches shorter than the truck… And by the way 80 mph in a motorhome, not so much fun, in fact a little scary. Friday night they had the truck races. Those were awesome. It was a good close race, and the races are just fun under the lights. We rented these devices made by Nextel called Fanviews. They are sweet. They could do everything a normal scanner can do, but they also have a TV screen (about 2 inch square). You could pick which driver and crew to listen to, listen to the radio announcers, or listen to the Officials. You could also pick any camera at the track to watch (including the ones in some of the cars). It was $70 for the three days (and I think it was worth it).
Saturday, the racers had practice and qualifying for the Busch races. It was a lot of fun, but not quite as good a race as the trucks. There was much drinking Saturday night. Including Jello shots.
Sunday, they didn’t have anything until the big race. It was pretty good too. A couple ours after the races, we drove the two motorhomes back to Kevin’s house. It was not nearly as exciting as the race to the track.
Monday, we got early and headed to the airport. No trouble on the flight back. All in all it was another great year at the races, but as usual a little face paced (no pun intended for the actual races).