Vacation Blog, a week later

Here is the word doc I typed up last Monday:

Friday:

We left work at 5:00 or so headed up 79 to Pennsylvania. Our entertainment along the way consisted of Mary Higgins Clark’s “Before I Say Goodbye” on tape. It was 9 hours of tape, so it would last into Monday. We tried to listen to the Craftsman truck race, but we lost the station we were listening to about a quarter of the way through, and never found another. About half way to Pocono, we tuckered out and stayed overnight in Hagerstown, Maryland. No Speed on the cable, so off to bed.

Saturday:

We got up early and checked out of the hotel and set out for Pocono. It didn’t take as long as I thought and we got to the track about 9:30. We went on in, bought our tickets and headed in to watch practice. Then we walked around checking out the haulers. Then we headed back in to watch Happy Hour and the ARCA race. We sat in the Terrace just a little ahead of the start finish line.

The ARCA race was pretty interesting. I expected Nextel Cup driver David Stremme to run away with it, and Pork driver Frank Kimmel to do well. Stremme missed shift or something and broke the first lap. Kimmel had a flat tire that took him out of contention. There were lots of cautions, and different people pitted everytime. The thing was, after the first turn, it was easy to tell the haves from the havenots. Some of the guys up front would drop like rocks, while the others zoomed ahead from the back. Nextel Cup washout Brent Sherman had a strong car, as did up and comers Jeremy Clements and Justin Allgaier. (or Justin Alligator, as my immature self refers to him) They were both friends of the late great Pit Stop comic. They both had troubles, unfortunately. With about 5 laps to go after a caution, someone on the scanner said “The 4 car is gonna win this race. He’s the fastest one out there.” He was about seventh or so, so this was an odd prediction. Brent Sherman was running the 04, so I thought that was who they meant. A few laps later; however, Chase Miller had taken the 4 around the 04 and every one else. There was a Green White Checker finish, but Chase held on to take his first ARCA win.

At this point we were ok with Pocono Raceway. The crowd was light and we could see pretty well. At the Nextel Cup race, all that would change.

Sunday:

Traffic had been really light for the ARCA race, so we didn’t know what to expect for the Cup race. We got up early and headed for the race. Traffic was backed up pretty far, but it didn’t take terribly long to get parked. We sat and listened to a little more of the book, then moseyed on into the track. I don’t normally wear a hat, and had forgotten to put it on our packing list, so I hadn’t brought one. I was faced with the choice of wear Juanita’s Jeff Gordon hat (she wears a visor) or buying one of someone I like. So off I went to buy a hat. Having a few hats back home, and free ones coming soon from mycokerewards.com (just few Coke Zeros away) and John Deere, I was having a hard time talking myself into spending 20-25 bucks on a Mark Martin or Carl Edwards hat. Then I went by the Terry Labonte trailer and they had hats for 5 bucks. I like Terry just fine (since the IROC race where Earnhardt took tires, but that’s a story for another day) so I picked up an olive/brown Kellogg’s hat. I had a pretty good sunburn from the ARCA race. I thought because it was cold and overcast I would be OK. Someday I’ll learn.

The race was… well let’s just get down to brass tacks. You can see a decent amount of the front stretch when everyone is sitting down. You can see the little area right in front of you when everyone stands up. Since people like to stand up, you don’t have a lot of choice in the matter. We were sitting in section SN, about midway between start finish and the end of pit road. We could see the Long Pond straight and the Tunnel turn ok, thought they were a little small. The other two turn we could see a little of. As for the race, it was pretty good. The gaps between two cars could be pretty long, but here was plenty of room to pass if one car caught another. At one point Eli Gold said (off the air) “Jesus, there’s not a close battle anywhere” After that thought, things got pretty good. There were 2 cycles of pit stops, so the lead changed through the green flag as they cycled through. Greg Biffle had brake issues and had to come from the back a couple of times. Denny Hamlin had tire problems and had to do the same. Those two were interesting to watch. We had a good view of several of my favorite driver’s pit area. Ken Schrader was right in front of us, as was Robby Gordon. Was also had a decent view of Carl Edward’s problems, and could see the Biffle’s hood in the air when they were working on him. Jeff Gordon’s wreck was just nasty.

As a race course, I really like Pocono, but as a place to watch, not so much.

After race traffic was a bear. Since the resort we were staying was near the track, I had an idea of where I needed to go. Unfortunately, the first path was blocked off. So after driving a long way out of the way, I was finally headed back to our room. Then, that road was also blocked off. So we went out of the way again. Finally, we got on the right path and back to the room.

Monday:

We got up early and went to a place called Piggy’s for breakfast. The food was passable, but the decor was great. As the name might hint, the joint was adorned with all kinds of pig related items. Then it was off to Jim Thorpe to get the marriage application. That process was simple enough. Construction was the order of the day in Jim Thorpe, so when we left, we didn’t go back the same way we came. We pretty much just headed up the street and went to the next crossroads. We kept looking at the map to try to get back. Just driving around was nice though, because this area is beautiful. We also ended up seeing the Country Junction, the world’s largest General Store. It was neat. We finally ended up back at the room, where we rested and watched “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” After that, we went over to the Lodge, where there is wifi and we checked our email and a little surfing. Not a lot though, since we are on vacation. When we got back, I decided to go ahead and put this into a Word document, because I’d forget by the time I got back home.