Out of the Wilderness

Rains came down.
Floods came up.
We went home.

Time check, it was about 4:00pm and there was no sign the rain would let up. So my sister and I decided to call in the parents for a ride back to Tallahassee. Had we known the race would definitely finish that night… who am I kidding, we still would’ve went home! The race didn’t start back up till 8:30pm so after our parents picked us up at 5, we would’ve had to wait another 3.5 hours, then another 2 or 3 hours for the race to finish! So we stayed at the track for a few hours after the rain started, but time went by fast because we met a nice family from New Jersey/Orlando (even though they were all cheering for the wrong guys- Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart!).

We caught a ride on the bus back to Lot 10, and after walking over dirt (which was mud, actually) roads, through mushy fields, we rejoined Mom and Dad for a trip home. We bypassed Cracker Barrel (oh, and more on my lunch with the Governor at a Nashville Cracker Barrel can be found here), and b-lined it home to catch the end of the race. Hey, Jimmie Johnson still had a chance and I sure wasn’t going to be that fan who missed his first place finish!

Turns out he didn’t finish in first but hey, neither did ol’ Jeffy Gordon so at least my sister wasn’t going to rub it in. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won which seems sort of fitting after his dad’s #3 car was back on the track for the first time since Dale, Sr. drove it.

All in all, a great trip down to Florida for a fun time with my sister! Maybe we’ll do it again next year, but without the rain and the war of words with Gator Belly! I’m so glad she and I could go to the race. It’ll be a memory we love having for the rest of our lives. Sure it was a lot of driving for a whirlwind trip to Florida and back to Tennessee, but isn’t that sorta what life is about? Taking those moments to do something adventurous. To spend time with family, to laugh, to keep saying there’s no way Jeff Gordon will beat Jimmie Johnson, not because I really believe that, but because it makes my sister laugh. That’s what it was about for me. If she had a good time, then I don’t care about anything else.

Thanks for reading. Here’s a gallery of more pictures from Daytona and my drive back to Nashville. You are awesome for reading all these posts!

-Out of the Wilderness

There’s a well-known TV personality that sounds a lot like President Obama. Certainly I’m not the first one to catch this but hey, here’s a challenge for you: click on the link below then close your eyes. Can you guess if it’s the real Barack Obama or TV host Montel Williams? I suppose Saturday Night Live needs to scoop Montel up for an ongoing Obama impersonator, right?

Aloe Blacc.
Jeff Gordon.
Country music.

Where I come from, rain is a good thing! -Luke Bryan

My sister and I made it to back to the gate entrance a couple hours before the rain started. Of course, we didn’t know it was going to rain at all, so we walked in excited for our first NASCAR race ever.
We scoped out a few lunch options then found our seats in the Turn 2 section and I must say the view was fantastic. All turns except for part of turn 3 were visible so that was a good surprise. We chatted with the people around us who were also from out of town. On the large jumbotron we watched Luke Bryan gyrate around the stage, much to the delight of fans cheering wildly for him to look their way.
After a short set from the country heartthrob it was time for driver introductions. Shannon went crazy for Jeff Gordon.

A few minutes later, the national anthem was performed by Aloe Blacc. He did a relatively conservative rendition which was smart given the audience: NASCAR fans that might love the USA more than their own mullets (it’s a close race, though). The flyover was really cool. I caught the second pass of the fighter jets.

So the race began. Jimmie Johnson was basically the last car in the race and Jeffy was in the top 5. Ugh, would I have to endure my sister ragging me all year because of this? I hoped not! We decided to get lunch at lap 40. I miss the raaaiiins down in AAAAAAAfrica! Yeah, because that rain that should’ve been in Africa was directly over Daytona, man. It was lap 38 so when we went to get lunch, everyone went to get lunch.
We were safely under the grandstand and dry, at least for a few minutes. We were in line, and trying to avoid getting wet, for about 25 minutes when the confrontation happened. A gentleman cut in the front of the line, just ahead of me and a couple other guys and this, this is where it got interesting. Check back tomorrow for more!

For part 5, click here!