April 2007 - We went to...
First of all I want to say "Thank You" to Brenda Tredente and Sylvania for the tickets.
Well, the weekend was just about perfect. I'll tell you later why it wasn't absolutely perfect. The weekend started on Friday afternoon. I left Gulfport about 5:30. I had just gotten my truck out of the body shop (that's another story). Shirley had gone ahead to Eight Mile earlier, so I picked her up there.
The trip to Talladega was pretty uneventful. We hit the "Birmingham Wave" on I-65 about 20 miles south of Birmingham. If you've never experienced the "wave effect" on the interstate, it's almost an everyday event on I-65 south of Birmingham. The wave is caused by a traffic backup. At some point, usually during rush hour, traffic comes to a complete stop. Then it takes hours and hours for the stop to clear. As it moves at the beginning of the wave, it stops behind and the stoppage moves down the interstate until no one catches the last stopped car. We were stopped for about 15 minutes. Then it just took off and we were running again.
Kinda looks like this, only much slower.
We got to our room at the Travel Lodge in Oxford AL about 11, got checked in and fell asleep almost immediately.
We set the alarm for 7 AM knowing the Saturday Busch race didn't start until 2PM and the traffic wouldn't be as bad for that race as it would be on Sunday. Here's where the weekend wasn't quite "perfect". Getting up late was a mistake. Everyone else at the motel had already taken a shower. Yup, no hot water. Damn, I hate when that happens. AND...the toilet in the room backed up. (Shirley did it). The bed had those little-bitty pillows on it, what can you expect for $150 a night, with a three night minimum. pfft. The A/C lacked something, possibly FREON. Anyways, there was a bed.
So, we went to the local Waffle House, had some breakfast, and then we were off to the races. We got into traffic at the track around 9:30. It took us about 35 minutes to get to our parking space. We made the mile long trek to the gate and caught up with our friends, Tim and Leigh Henry, near the Dale Jr souvenir truck. Got us some really nifty seat cushions and headed for the stands to watch Nextel Cup qualifying. Even after we got into the track it was another mile long walk to our seats. They tell you it's a big track, but you don't realize just HOW big it really is until you walk it.
Cry-baby got the pole.
Then we watched a fantastic Busch race. Junior was running and showed he could go to the front almost at will. But late in the race he had transmission problems and dropped out. There was a red flag during the race, and while the race was stopped the crowd got busy. There was a girl showing her boobs for beads, and guys cheering her on. Then the cops showed up and we went back to racing. Bobby Labonte won.
Then we made the two mile long trek back to the truck and headed for Birmingham to eat with Tim and Leigh. They suggested we go to the Sho-Gun Japanese restaurant. GREAT idea. The hibachi show was entertaining and the food was terrific. I introduced the Henrys to sushi, neither one had ever tried it. They liked it. Tim was all over the wasabi mustard. There was also ginger on the sushi plate and being a braver man than I, he tried wasabi and ginger at the same time on the sushi. He probably won't do that again. He made a face and a noise that said, "Whew, that's hot."
Then we were off to the fabulous Travel Lodge. Set the alarm for 5AM, hoping to beat some of the crowd at the track. Also, I got a not so cold shower this time. I think they call that "tepid". As we were getting ready to go, I start hearing this noise coming from the next room over. At first it sounds like a guy moaning, like he's enjoying sex or something, then he cries out "DAMN...OOOH...OOOOH...SHIT THAT WATER'S COLD!" Me and Shirley just about busted a gut laughing.
We left for the track about 7AM, figuring we'd be early....wrong. The traffic was backed up onto the interstate. It took us over an hour to get to our parking spot. But we were pretty close to where we had been the day before. So, we made our way to the souvenir area again and purchased some stuff from the Talladega trailer, shirts and a hat. $112 dollars worth, you'd be surprised how little you can get for a hundred bucks at one of them trailers.
By now, if you're a race fan, you know how the race turned out. Cry-baby won. Overtook Earnhardt on the most wins list and did it at Talladega on Earnhardt's birthday. Man there was some angry folks in the stands. There was probably more beer cans on the track than there was in the stands.
After the race, a real test of your patience begins. The race was over by 4:30. It took us just less then an hour to get back to the truck. Then we waited an hour and the line of cars never moved. We decided to try our luck at going "cross country". We started off across the lot towards the road, fortunately the ditch we had to go through wasn't real deep or wet. and we were on the road. After that it went fairly fast. Only another hour back to I-20. We made it back to Oxford and ate supper. Then got our things from the fabulous Travel Lodge and started home. Mistake number two for the day. As we got back to the track exit, everything stopped. However, we didn't have it as bad as the Henrys. In the two hours we had been gone to eat and get our stuff, they had made it ten miles from the track. At least we had eaten supper. After we left the Birmingham area headed south on I-65, we made good time. Running 90-95 MPH, you make good time. We made Eight Mile around 1:30, picked up Shirley's car and made Biloxi around 2:30 Monday morning. I slept until after noon.
For all the hassle and aggravation, it was worth it...even though cry-baby won. Being with friends at the track was a very enjoyable experience. Tim was already talking about coming back to Talladega for another race. We'll be better prepared next time. A grill, food and a cooler full of drinks are necessities. Lesson learned.
And now for all the cool pictures. Saturday April 28th was Shirley's birthday. I got her a Cannon digital camera. Top of the line with a big ass lens. Was a good idea as you'll see.
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