I spent most of the day at the track while Ann did work work back at the motorhome. While watching practice the air show from across the street at Nellis Air Force Base continued. This is an AWACS plane taking off.
The day at the track was pretty mundane, but still a lot of fun to be a part of the race weekend. After returning to the motorhome, Ann and I thought it might be a good idea to go into town to get something to eat before we went to the dirt track to watch the World of Outlaws winged sprint cars. Big mistake as there was still tons of traffic leaving the track and heading back to hotels, and there is only two ways to get there. Las Vegas Boulevard or the Interstate. After taking about an hour to go about a half mile, we bailed, made a u-turn, and headed to the dirt track to have a dinner of track burgers and sodas.
Earlier in the day we had received word that a sister-in-law of mine was in the hospital and not doing well. While we were stuck in traffic Ann made some phone calls others confirmed the worst. There was no hope of recovery, and it just a matter of time. Sometimes reality just slaps you up side the head. As there was little we could do, and it was virtually impossible to get to Sacramento in time to be supportive, we went ahead with our weekend, albeit with very heavy hearts. I know that has a lot to do with my not posting for a few days. It is just very hard to talk about such tragedies.
The Outlaws put on a real good show. Man those things are fast! The picture is a little dark, but here is the "Outlaws" on their four wide pace lap.
On Saturday we went over to the big track for Nationwide Series qualifying and the race. Here is a couple of pictures of the start of the race. The bright green car toward the back is Danica Patrick.
As a side note. If you are not already aware, you can click on any picture, and you will see it in full size.
The race was not all that exciting. Danica got crashed out by a slower car. Kevin Harvick was the eventual winner. There was one bright spot to an otherwise gloomy day. One of the cars I had bet on to win stayed out on the racetrack when others stopped for tires and gas, and became the leader of the race under caution, and it began to sprinkle. Had the rain continued and the race been called, I could have won $600! But it wasnt to be. The rain went away, the guy leading faded along with my thoughts of what I might do with a few hundred bucks. After we returned from the race we received notice that my sister-in-law had died at 6:30PM.
Sunday morning arrived bright and sunny and a whole lot warmer than the previous few days. As the race started at noon and we wanted to look around the booths before the race we started heading to the race track about 10:40 expecting to take at least 20-30 minutes just to get from the campground to the grandstand. They have trams to take people from the campground to the track, but there are not enough of them, and they seemed to be poorly managed. There are also golf carts all over the place, but they are usually reserved for VIPS, or those that have trouble walking very far. But to our surprise just as we stepped on the road to the track, and young man in a golf cart stopped and asked if we wanted a ride. Ann asked if it was alright, as we didnt want him getting into trouble for giving someone he shouldnt a ride. He assured us it was ok, so we jumped in and headed for the track, bypassing hundreds of people waiting for the tram. On the way over we chatted with the young man, and found out he was a volunteer from a church group just doing good deeds. We have been to lots of race tracks and seen lots of golf carts drive by us, but this is the first one that has stopped and given us a ride. I could think of only one explanation. Thanks for getting us the ride Lana.
With getting to the track sooner than expected we had plenty of time to look around at all the booths and attractions you find at a NASCAR race. Speed TV is a big part of the racing and had a booth where you could sit behind a desk and have a picture taken with a simulated crowd behind you. We couldnt pass up the chance.
The race itself was interesting in that if all you watched was the leaders, it wast that exciting, but the nice thing about being there is you can watch whatever you want, and there was some good racing farther back from the leaders. As a Jeff Gordon fan it it was a great race until the last 20 laps, when team mate Jimmie Johnson passed Gordon and went on to win the race.
Here is Jimmie Johnson's car before the beginning of the race.
Here is a picture of the start of the race.
Here is Jeff Gordon(24) leaving his pit and passing Dale Earnhart jr.(88).
These are the only pics we have of the race as I forgot to take our regular camera with us, and these were taken with our Meade binocular camera.
Monday March 1, 2010
Monday was moving day. We had to leave the race track parking by noon. Ann worked on her job stuff, as I got things ready for our move southward to Lake Havasu City, Arizona. A little before noon we headed south our of Las Vegas on Hwy 95 retracing part of the route we took from the North Ranch RV park near Congress Arizona. But instead of turning east and going through Laughlin Nevada, we continued on south on Hwy 95 to Interstate 40. The section of the road south of the Laughlin turn off was not all that good, and Ann almost got sea sick as we drove through what seemed like hundreds of dips in the road. Here is an example of what the road looked like. The dips are a lot worse than the picture shows.
We followed Interstate 40 east through Needles California, turning off on Arizona Hiway 95, and heading south toward Lake Havasu City. We stopped ata Pilot Truckstop with an RV island to fill up with gas. The price for 87 octane was $2.59, and whole lot cheaper than the $3.39 we saw in Needles California!
We found Prospectors RV Park and got set up without any trouble. It was a beautiful 70 something day with plenty of sunshine! Ann worked the rest of the day and into the evening, so had dinner in, and retired for the night pretty early.
Tuesday March 2, 2010
Another beautiful day. I would say it actually almost got hot as it was 78 about 2:00PM ! A whole lot better than the wind and cold(relative term, I know) in Las Vegas. Ann spent another long day working, while I worked on my tan for a while. Later in the afternoon I went grocery shopping at the Safeway, missed a turn on the way back, and ended up driving over London Bridge twice! Here is the bridge in the background.
Tuesday night we decided to go our for dinner, and I had spotted The Golden Horseshoe on my way to go grocery shopping.
I had the prime rib and shrimp special, and Ann had the small sirloin and a "really nice salad bar". The food was pretty good, but must have sat in the window a little too long as it was not as hot as it should have been.
After our meal we headed toward the local American Legion as a couple we met in Quartzsite in January said they had been there, and it was fun place. They were having karaoke but you had to be a member to get in, and since I didnt feel like joining, we left. We found a small bar close to the RV park and stopped for an adult beverage. There were only a couple customers and the bartender there. We had a nice chat with the locals and heard horror stories from them about sun spiders, tarantulas, and scorpions. Ann had the bartender check the women's bathrooms for said arachnids before she would go in there. So after our short visit there we headed back to the RV and called it a day.
Wednesday March 3, 2010
Paul
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