As I type we are on our way. Now I trust Marlo’s driving… mostly… she is driving so that I can write… I just told her that I get to drive just as aggressively as she does… fair is fair… it did not slow her down :>
So, the Garmin 768WT rocks. It has traffic, and lane assist and multiple routes, and, and , and … Marlo wants to keep it. That is one of the reasons I am not leaving it with her. It is coming on my trek. It has walking mode… three gps’s, a computer, and a cell phone. I should be fine… actually Linda mentioned something about seeing 20 alligators in a 5 mile stretch last week… hmmmm note to self. Get a large walking stick :>
The vehicles in Florida are interesting. You have the extreme redneck special and the wretch excess models. Marlo spotted a Maybach yester day. It goes for about 500k, yep half a million dollars… then there was the uber-redneck truck. Big, jacked-up duely 4X4. It looked like it could tow Rhode Island! I took a picture, but that was not enough. Marlo had to take a picture with her phone. Her phone has no zoom, so she sped up to get RIGHT behind it…
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Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, it’s race day. Ok, we did it well!!!! For a last minute, spur of the moment event we could not have done it better. Our journey began with a cruise across the lovely state of Florida for about 3 hours. We had little idea of what to expect. We did have a little insight for a man Marlo refers to as Tire Boy. He is an ex-boyfriend from long ago that she still keeps in touch with. He said that we should get scalped tickets when we get there. Now this is not my best thought, but I go with it… so after the long drive that was actually quite pleasant we arrive. Marlo and I travel very well together, whether it be by plane, car, boat or anything so the three hours fly by. We keep waiting to encounter the hoards of…. Those NASCAR people…. Well we are 5 miles from the place and there is no sigh. We had to get within 2 miles before we saw any sign of the place. Then things backed up pretty fast. We see the first scalper on the side of the road with a sign. Now when I think about scalpers I think of them selling tickets right outside the gate, not 2 miles away. We process this new information. We pass one more. Then we both decide to talk to the next guy and get the low-down. Well the next guy not only had it all going on he had everything we wanted and more. He had tickets in the sprint tower AND tickets to the Verizon hospitality tent and what not… he wanted 300 a piece for them at first. Now these are 350 tickets so that is not bad, but Marlo and I were thinking $200 a piece. We could have gotten cheaper tickets, but we wanted to be in the tower and it’s not like we ever plan on doing it again, so hey! We talk him down to our price. Actually I think Marlo telling him, no several time and that is all we have, did the trick. So now we have tickets. The next hurdle is parking. This is actually very tricky as we have already passed the park and ride and many of the lots are already full… we decide to try to get into one of the media gates. Now what made us think that could happen? Well, we had these official Verizon looking passes that I really hoped were real. Well we forged ahead. We got to the gate and Marlo leans out my window and claims that we are with the EMTs and asks where we should park. We Mr. gate minder simply tells us to come on in drive around to gate eight and park. We are in!!! I can’t believe it. I keep waiting for someone to stop us and ask us for a pass or something. Nope! I did make sure I maintained my, “I belong here” face the whole time. We found a lovely spot RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE GATE!!! I kid you not, we are talking feet here! We quickly park, abandon the car and HOPE that it will be here when we come back out several hours later.
Now we have our tickets and a backpack with clothes, sunscreen, camera, binoculars, etc. They did not even look at my bag. Apparently you can bring anything you want in this place! I mean anything. We found our seats and they rocked! We read our passes and the “Frontstrech” thing closes when the flag drops so we go to check it out. We go in and everything in the place is free, we get food and drink and they will even give you several to bring into the place with you. Again, passing up free beer!!!! Arg!!! We it is just about race time so we go back to our seats. We get there and chat with the man next to us and he fills us in about some of the way things go. They announce the drivers, the jets fly overhead. We are actually very excited about all this! They we get the “Gentleman, start your engines.” 40 some cars roar to life! They make the place rumble. The pace car drops off (driven by Tom Cruise) and the race is on! At this point my goal has been accomplished, I am happy. By this time a group of guys sit down next to us. They brought their 30 pack in a garbage bag with ice in it. We thought we were in for something. It turns out this guy is wearing a Rolex (fakeness not confirmed) and is holding a $300 Nascar monitoring TV device that gives you gobs of information and video from the cars and every other angle and real-time stats and what not. We decide that the 350 seat rednecks are ok. He did have his chew though. He was very nice and was keeping Marlo informed as to the goings ons.
We got out of our seats to attempt to find Marlo’s friends and bam! An accident right in front of where we were sitting! Drat! There was another big pile up just after we left. That’s ok, we did not come for the crashes… ok, and maybe a little… we left at lap 120 and beat the rain and the crowds.
T
We have always said you could fall in a well full of poop and come out with a new shirt smelling like a rose.
Way to go ….you make a momma proud!!!!
I have a great partner in crime!