Ed And Jean, Nascar and History, Bristol, Tn to Richmond, Va

We decided to drive straight home on Sunday rather than split the trip up into 2 days. It was a long day but turned out to be a good decision as the weather was gorgeous at home on Monday. We drove a total of 2,048 miles in 11 days. We met some very nice people along the way and got to experience some more of this beautiful country that we live in. Getting home early allowed us to clean things up and unpack at a more relaxed pace. We then were able to take the first motorcycle ride of the season with family, which for me, even after all of the driving I had already done, was the most cathartic aspect of the week. It was my deep breath before heading back to the grind. Missing is June, someone had to take the picture.......until next time, this is the end of our adventure. Hope all that followed, enjoyed.

I post this picture first to explain our morning walking loop today. We were walking and as we approached the other side of the campground where it is the closest to the highway that fronts the property, we could see that there had been a fender-bender involving three vehicles. No one injured. There is a man standing on the edge of the campground watching the proceedings, and as I am prone to do, I struck up a conversation with him. It turns out he was the very proud grandpa of XFinity driver, Daniel Hemric. The car above hasn't been on the track since Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove it some years ago in Winston Cup. Hemric made his Monster Energy Cup debut tonight in that car. In about five minutes I had been regaled with all of the different divisions and championships that had led them to this moment. He was very proud of his grandson and that is why you should always say hi, you just never know.... We then made our way to the beer fest at the track. It was a very good time. It ...

Relax, Race, Rest Lazy morning today. Breakfast, showers, walk around the Campgrounds.  We talked to some other campers who are here for the races and have been coming for years.  Nice people with good information on how to get to the track.  We will head out around 3:00 to get our bearings and watch tonight's race around 7:00. Apparently it really was a slow day and Ed was not impressed with the track grounds - no pictures.  It was cold again and we wore many layers, but at least it wasn't raining or snowing!  This track was very easy to get out of though, sometimes that is a concern. We got back around 10:00, too late for the brewery, besides we were cold and tired. Tomorrow's race starts at 6:30 and is longer so it will be a longer day. The Virginia Craft Beer Fest starts at 1:00. We need to rest up for that, so good night all!

Made today a take it easy day. We went to Walmart to get some more stuff to eat and a few other items. We then went to Bass Pro because it was there and as I said before, they are worth the stop, besides we had to get Fred something . This store was much larger than the one in Bristol, a much larger footprint and two floors. One fellow at the store told Jean, when she asked if this was the biggest, that the largest store was in Memphis at the old Pyramid. The pyramid is down town and used to hold events, such as concerts until the new FedEx Arena was built. Bass Pro bought it from the city and as many times as I have been to Memphis, I have never been in there. Jean found out that Martin Truex will be signing autographs there tonight and is mad I won't go back. I had to stop her from trying to cross I95 after we came back from the Universe Brewery. Jean doesn't realize how close she is to becoming a bear treat. She really should be more cognizant of her surroundings. I, ...

We are here, BEST campsite eveeeeer..........directly out in front, of course there are four lanes of highway to cross and the old gal ain't as quick as she once was. I can hit it with a stone, but the GPS says 1.5 miles. And to the side of us, about 200 yards and no highway to cross. Hard to tell with the glare, but the sign reads Center of the Universe Brewing Company, live music to the left of the building right now. Yes, outdoors, it is about 65 degrees @ 9:40 PM. We left Bristol this morning around 10 AM. We had to ride the super slab to Roanoke, Va. There I decided we weren't in that much of a hurry so we topped off with gas and my co-pilot got us onto 460 East. It is mostly divided highway that cuts right through the center of Virginia. This turned out to be a great call. The road itself was in better shape than I81 and mostly 60 miles an hour, so travel time was less than an hour more. There was beautiful scenery the whole way. Unfortunately my co-pilot...

Woke up this morning to temperatures to make us feel like home, 34 degrees. Burned through a tank of LP trying to stay warm. Now we are camping Michelle. We started the day by finding State Street. It is pretty cool. The street is in the middle of the city and both sides are lined with very old buildings and businesses. Those that are located on the South side of the street show an address for Tennessee and those on the North side have a Virginia address. We then went to the Birthplace of Country Music. It is really an interesting little museum. We spent a little over two hours there and could have been there another hour easy. The museum, being that it is about the birth of a music genre, it is more of an auditory experience than a visual. There are listening booths everywhere, three different auditoriums, a station where you can try your hand at re-mixing the original recordings and a booth, if so inclined, you can karaoke to the songs. The last auditorium showcased toda...

Woke up this morning to 41 degrees. Little did we know, that was to be the high for the day. We ate a slow breakfast and headed back to the track wearing all of the long sleeves and sweatshirts that we brought with us. Arrived at the track and then this.....a little hard to tell, but it is a pretty intense snow squall. All of the nice people in line with us thanked us for bringing it with us. Unfortunately things went downhill from here. Race time came and so did the sleet, but good news here, apparently sleet isn't as wet as rain, so the track was dried very quickly and the race resumed just a few minutes late. Everyone still apparently looked way too comfortable, so the wind kicked up to about a steady 15 to 20 miles an hour with some much higher gusts with the temperature hovering around a balmy 38 degrees. I have sat on Lake Champlain in the middle of February ice fishing and haven't been that kind of cold. It was a special day, and to top it off, one of the driv...

The weather proved to be quite uncooperative today. The race was supposed to start an hour early due to weather concerns, but actually started later than original start. The pre-race concert was 1000 Horses, but had to be moved under cover but was shown on the Colossus Video. It was probably a better view than stage would have been. Their big radio song right now is, This Ain't no Drunk Dial. They have a couple more hits from the new album. Jean and I walked all the way around the track during the initial rain delay. It is completely undercover all the way around. It really is a Colosseum. Most tracks you go to you want your seat on the straight, somewhere near the start finish line, but we think center of the corner might be best here. You can see up both pit roads and straights.  The rain finally came in earnest around 5:00 and with nothing but green on the radar and 40 laps short of half way, the day was called. The race will restart Monday at 1:00. The racing that did...

Aren't they just the cutest???? Let us just say they reside about 75 yards from our camper and about 4 times last evening they Hee-hawed, we about wet the bed. It sounded like something you only hear in creepy movies. I thought for sure we would hear sirens next. These things are like 3 feet tall and can be heard for a mile in every direction. Paul and Lisa must have some hearing challenged neighbors on Texas Hill if they all can make that God-Awful sound. They bill this place as The Last Great Colosseum. It truly is an amazing venue. The huge 4 sided television suspended from towers by cables over the center of the track is pretty neat all on its' own. For those of you in the know, this is Airborne Speedway in Peru on massive doses of steroids. A thirty degree, high-banked half mile oval with high speeds of over 130 into the corners and less than 15 seconds a lap. Things happen very fast. It really makes you appreciate just how fast these drivers reflexes...

We are here, 867 miles in about 13 hours with stops. We won't talk about fuel mileage. There isn't a level spot anywhere on I81 between Binghamton, NY. and Bristol.  On the plus side though, 48 degrees when we got up and now a pleasent 76. At one point while travelling the truck was reading 87 somewhere around Roanoke,  Va.