Category: Around the Homestead

Let me introduce you to the world of Nascar camping at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

This would be a car hauler, converted, with a deck.

Lots of tarps this rainy morning.

Notice the ladders, the tarps, the old Winston cup sign, the pickup.  So many things to look at, so little time.

I don’t know if it gets anymore American than a Nascar race.  You have country music, marching bands, God Bless America, Prayer, the National Anthem, and of course……

the fly over.

Ahh, the roar of those cars zipping past you is indescribable.

#99 Carl Edwards….woo hoo!  It was an early woo hoo and then silence.  His engine blew and he ended up out of the race.  Jimmy Johnson won….big boo!

 

Eric Church at Lowe’s Motor Speedway

We were in the front row.  I’ve never been in the front row before.  I’m spoiled now and can’t imagine being further back.  I may just never go again for fear of being in the…gasp…2nd row!

Nothing better than a lot of camouflage and a lot of hat tippin’.

Security was awesome.  So nice!  And good sports!

Good-bye my LOVE!  It was a great performance!  Don’t miss a show if he comes to a city near you.

Stay tuned…..the race is drawing near.

 

First things first was the flight.  On the second leg of our trip Randy insisted on the window seat.  Not a problem…for me.

Randy’s view…..of the engine.  Poor guy!  Luckily this was a quick flight because it was loud.

Our rental car which was lovingly named, the roller skate.  Our luggage for our six day trip….yep, those are backpacks.  Randy said they were in the picture for size comparison.  It was a little car, but managed the mountains just fine. 

I’ll skip the hotel ordeal other than saying (according to Holiday Inn) we were not entitle to a non-smoking room because we booked through Hotwire and they do not guarantee non-smoking rooms.  Three hours later we were in a non-smoking room in the Holiday Inn (at no extra charge), but it was a little more stress than we needed at the beginning of our trip.

Early Saturday morning we met for our charity track walk for Susan G. Komen and The Nascar Foundation.  It was rainy and cold, but being on the track is AMAZING.  It’s 1 1/2 miles around the track and approximately 2 1/2 around the outside (don’t quote me).  We did a lap around the outside of the track before the track walk (warm up).

Doesn’t that just make you tear up a bit?

After the track walk we had approximately 9 hours to kill before the race started and the gates to the track wouldn’t even open for another 4 hours.  However, the parking lots were already starting to fill up and incoming traffic was starting to line up.

So, we went through the trailers (which I should have gotten a picture of).  “Nascar fans” is such a broad term that encompasses such a aray of people.  I’ll stop there.  It was educational to say the least.

We bought mom Ryan Newman’s book Pit Road Pets as a thank you for watching our animals while we were gone, and a Lowe’s Motor Speedway koozie for a guy I work with.  We grabbed a piece of over price, mediocre pizza and split a coke before heading back to the track.  We walked and walked and walked around that track. 

We had to pre-register for dinner that night in the Lowe’s tent, so we hopped in a rapidly growing line.  A half hour later we were singed up and able to go about our business.

By the time the gates opened and we found our seats we realized the Toby Mac and Mercy Me concert was about to start.  When we asked where it was and how to get there we realized it was over 2 miles to the entrace and the concert started in about 5-10 minutes.  We were tired by then from walking 6+ miles around and around the track (inside and out) and opted out.

Instead we found a concert nearby in the Coors Light section.  We missed the first act, but watched Paper Tongue, Candy Coburn, and the grand finale……ERIC CHURCH.  Sigh!

 

 

Eric Church deserves a post all his own.  Check back later for the rest of our NC vacation!

Have a wonderful day!

My cousin, Bob, got married a few months back and had a wedding reception over the weekend.  I carried my camera around the whole night, got made fun of, and only have a few pictures  to show for it:

Our neighbors (minus Wife/Mom).  She’s in the corner with us laughing at them.  My little cousin, Carter, was all photogenic and then ducked out of the photo at the last minute.  Quick little guy!

My cousins, Brandy and Clara…..aren’t they adorable!

I vowed before we went to take lots of pictures, but didn’t.  Actually I didn’t even take these last two (obviously), Randy did.  The first one is mine though!

We visted an Amish community over the weekend.

And had a fun lunch here.

It was a good lunch and a fun atmosphere.

Carriage Ride (we didn’t partake).

We did a little shopping here and there.  I needed some shelving for a closet in the worse way.  I found just what I needed.  Randy was nice enough to install my shelving that evening so I could start putting things away.

We have very little storage in our home.  I had stuff setting everywhere.  Mainly kitchen equipment I had no where to go with.  Now I have shelves and room for one more set.  Randy said he would put them up if I want to go get more material.  Dad was nice enough to cut everything down to size for us Saturday evening.

Our house is so much nicer now with all the spare equipment picked up and put away.  Yea!

I drug Randy out of bed to take these photos of me before I headed off to work.  My Gravatar was messed up on WordPress, so it needed a facelift.  Keep in mind this is at 5:00 am!

Everyone wanted in on the shoot!  Koal in all his cuteness.

After about 4 quick shots in a row and lots of camera flashing I was done!

Randy has been working on a fun little project off and on for 3 years.  He finally finished it up and brought it home from work a week or two ago.

Now we just have to find a place to put it.  I think he did an amazing job.  Now if the Browns could do the same on the football field it might earn a place in public view in our home.