Day 16: Rockin' and Rollin' and What Not

As Day 16 came and went we had a nice evening reminiscing about what has pretty much become a Memorial Day tradition for us, the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte, NC. For the past three years we have gone to Winner's Circle campground to camp for anywhere from 3-5 days and also watch the race that is run on Sunday night. As we looked over the 16 picture collage we realized that 2007 was particularly memorable as we learned A LOT about the camper as well as were joined by about 16 others on the day of the race.

Sandra, Will, and I went down for this weekend on Friday night and didn't have to set up the camper as we had done it the previous weekend at the All-Star race and just left it there. When we arrived we set up and played the tailgating games that we have, cooked dinner, and just hung out around the campfire. Saturday morning Will and I went for our traditional race run while my bride did her yoga in the camper. Later that morning we walked around the track to visit all the vendors as well as souvenir trailers. In the early afternoon our race buddies, Tim and Aimee Foutz arrived as well as Brian Hubbard, Aaron Conner and a few others that I knew from my high school athletic training days. I have gone to races with them for years and are great people to be around!

After going to the Busch race the previous evening it was "race day" and a very hot one at that!! A number of others started showing up including my brother and two nephews who arrived late in the morning, and friends that generally stop by to tailgate before the races. As always we decided to do a race pool and when we were getting it together everyone seemed to gather in the camper as the AC gave reprieve from the 100 degree temps. All of a sudden, the camper rocked one way, then back the other way before it fell to a bang. While everyone filed out fairly quickly people had no idea what had happened. It turned out that my uneducated self didn't realize that the jacks on the sides of the camper were simply to stabilize it, not to hoist it in the air. I had the tires about 2 feet in the air and I now know that there needs to be boards under them to take the weight. The irony here is that 2 months prior, we did the same thing at Bristol on a huge hill and were fortunate that it didn't happen there, as we would have rolled down the hill. It was also a good thing that it happened in the day, because as Sandra and I were not married at the time, I slept under the camper on an air mattress because Will was with us for the weekend. We got it fairly straight before we all went into the race and thought about how sometimes it takes experience to learn even the simple things. Needless to say, it was a funny weekend to look back on and another one in which I was able to get away with my bride and have a wonderful time.

Day 16: Rockin' and Rollin' and What Not

July 22, 2009

24 to go........