Junior Wins! Junior Wins!

Dale Earnhardt, Jr's #88 Chevy crosses the finish line at Daytona

I confess to never being a die-hard NASCAR fan... EVER!  Oh sure, back in the day I would read the results, knew a bit about the most accomplished drivers, Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, the Allison brothers, and the like. But that was long ago when NASCAR was primarily a “Southern Thing”, and hadn’t yet exploded into full-blown nationwide idol worship and the mega-entertainment (also mega-millions) affair it is today.   When that happened, I tuned out; UNTIL this last Sunday night (Feb 23rd) and the latest running of the Daytona 500 Sprint Cup.

Probably it was the close proximity of our current “home”, an RV park in St. Augustine, Florida, to Daytona Beach just 60 miles south; or maybe it also had something to do with the discussion I’d had in the laundry room of said park the previous week with a women from Burien, Washington.  She and her husband had traipsed 3000 miles cross country for, as she said, “Speed Week”.  At the time she said this, I was busy folding dried clothes and really didn’t comprehend the full scope of "Speed Week". But soon I did enough “Googling” to figure out that scope, namely a whole week plus of practice, qualifications, a handful of lesser races, all culminating with the BIG EVENT, the 500 mile Sprint Cup on Sunday the 23^rd.   These folks, the lady and her husband from Burien, Washington, and thousands, make that millions, like them, were TRUE BELIEVERS!

And so it happened that I got to wondering late that Sunday afternoon how things had gone at the big banked oval down the road.  It had been a stormy day up where we were, heavy rain early, a severe thunderstorm watch and warning, even reports of a “funnel cloud” some 30 miles west of our RV Park.  Turns out Daytona had experienced the same sort of weather; heavy rain  and lightning in the morning with a “tornado warning”  that had forced the Race Track to shut things down completely, even evacuating the grandstands; and all this only 38 laps into the 200 lap race.

Storm clouds gather over the Daytona Speedway on Race Day!

 

All of this I learned by perusing a CBS Sports site online.  I thought that was the end of it; “try again tomorrow guys and gal" (Danica Patrick was in the race… and if you don’t know who Danica Patrick is, then you don’t know… never mind).   Anyhow, I was somewhat surprised to soon learn that, while Daytona 500 was on a rain..and thunder and tornado warning.. delay, with the bad weather clearing up some by late afternoon,  they actually expected to start up again that evening, after about a 6 hour delay.

And so it went.  Somewhere around 10 PM, past my normal bed-time these days, I checked the CBS site and found, via a “live feed” there that gave lap-by-lap updates, positions of all drivers still on the track and their time “behind” the race leader, that the race was back on.   Mind you, the live feed stats are given in minutes/seconds/down to hundredths of a second; and the amazing thing, actually two amazing things, were that 1) the leader changed frequently, sometimes after every lap; and 2) a large pack of 20 or so cars behind the leader of the moment, all of them going nearly 200 mph, was clustered together within a few seconds of the lead!

Back in the large pack when I first checked… but still within mere seconds, or fractions thereof, off the lead… with the race perhaps half over by this point, was one Dale Earnhardt Jr., or “Junior” as he is affectionately called by his millions of ardent supporters.  I have never been "ardent" in support of Junior, not that I dislike the guy or anything; I don’t… hey he seems like a reasonably nice, RICH, chap… and certainly not as surly, belligerent, or downright mean, out on the oval race-track that is, as his famous father, that would be Dale Earnhardt, Sr., reportedly was.  But Dale Sr. was also the pre-eminent racer of his generation, and “Junior”, though an established name and rock-solid driver, has never dominated the sport like his Daddy did. 

 Dale Sr., however, checked out prematurely in 2001 as I recall, right there at the big race in Daytona, battling tooth and nail for the lead in the final lap when he went  hard into the wall and tragically died.  A few years later, “Junior” won that same race for the first time, equaling his Daddy’s win total at Daytona (1); but he hadn’t won it since, though he’d come close several times.  To say that Junior was a sentimental favorite here, indeed has been for some time, is perhaps an under-statement.

I knew that much of the story, and I have to admit a pang of disappointment went through me half-way through the race when Junior was just part of the pack.   I tuned out for awhile (and never turned the TV carrying the live visual broadcast on at all the whole time); but then something compelled me to check again a half hour or so later; and lo and behold Junior had worked his way up into the Top 5.  And suddenly he was in the lead, a position he would doggedly hold on to for over 50 laps of the 200 lap race.  I still wasn’t watching the TV video feed, just watching the numbers click up on the CBS live feed screen… maybe it’s the “Accountant in Me”… watching the numbers fly around that is… but it was enough!

  

It seemed to take forever to wrap this sucker up, namely because there were some gnarly crashes along the way, one late in the race involving some 13 cars; and over and over again the caution flag would come out. Several times the racing ground to a complete halt while wrecked vehicles were presumably cleared from the track (remember I’m not watching any of this on the TV screen, merely watching the black screen with numbers jumping up and all around). 
 

Just another "day at the office", and another crash, in the Daytona 500

Anyhow, after the latest wreckage stoppage, they were finally up and racing again with just  a few laps to go, Junior on the lead, one of his Racing Teammates, Jeff Gordon, a superstar in his own right, in second place; Junior’s  ”wingman”, so to speak, was providing as much protection as he could, it seemed, as reported by the reader board at the top of the live feed screen.  But some other racer suddenly shot  past most of the lead pack, past Gordon even into 2nd, now seriously challenging Junior for the lead as they neared the final lap.  Then some guys in the back tangled up,  the racers went under a caution flag yet again; and Junior’s final lap was actually completed while under this last caution flag.  

He’d WON, but he certainly hadn’t backed into the win, despite finishing with the caution flag out, having led for over a quarter of the 200 laps, more than any other racer on this day.  And Junior had done what his more acclaimed Daddy couldn’t do, that is win TWICE at Daytona!  "Congrats to Junior," added Gordon when it was all over. "The world is right. ... It's going to be a great 2014 season."

I went to bed around midnight, exhausted by being glued to the computer screen for some 45 minutes straight, a FAN for the evening.  But I believe it’s only a passing fad for me; and I have no plans to chase the NASCAR folks around the circuit in the ensuing months.   

Okay, why pretend otherwise?  Where's the next race?  Las Vegas, you say?  Nah, too far; but Bristol the week after that? Could happen; that's only a two day drive from here at most; could probably make it in one if we push hard... drive like Junior! And how do I apply to become a full-fledged "die-hard" member of "Junior Nation"?  

Only kidding as to all the above questions... I think!

Junior hoists the Daytona trophy overhead in Victory Lane

The Disney Experience!

Among the Crowd entering Epcot Tues, Feb 4th

At, well, retirement age now, I’m not your typical Disney fan in that I didn’t spend a whole lot of vacation time over the years doing all things “Disney”.  Oh sure, I grew up with Mickey, Donald and Goofy, AND the Mousketeers …. Annette  (Funicello) was my first “crush”.... and I watched her, and the other Mousketeers too, of course,  religiously on afternoon TV. 

But actual Disney vacations were few and far between. There was a woman who used to work at EWEB who took her daughter to Disneyland or Disneyworld every year!   My parents certainly didn’t do that; and after Lanie and I married and had two lovely daughters, we certainly weren’t like that either.  Call our kids "deprived” if you must; we went there as a family exactly once, in 1990, to Disneyland in Anaheim.  We had a great time, though I think the girls, who were very young then (as were Lanie and I!) enjoyed the swimming pool at our Anaheim motel as much as anything they experienced on that trip.  

Anyhow, that was only my 2^nd trip ever to Disneyland, the first coming in 1955 or 1956… exact year and  details are just a bit fuzzy from that long ago.  In any event, the original Disneyland, in Anaheim, had opened for the first time within that past year.  We were visiting my Mom’s family in LA, and drove Out Into the Country to go to Disneyland and also nearby Knots Berry Farm.  Yes, you heard me right, Disneyland was out in the country then, pastures, orange and lemon groves, berry fields (hence Knots Berry Farm), little or no mega-development of the modern day.  You might say Disneyland made Anaheim what it is today, as, years later, Disneyworld did Orlando.  That’s a simplified assumption/statement, but probably more true than not. 

Disneyland visitors, circa 1955

    (Note - That looks, like... could it be?.. nah, that ain't Mom and me and big brother, Jim, walking into Adventureland!... )

So, 35 or so years passed between my first and second visits to Disneyland; and another 20+ years passed before I finally made it to Orlando and Disneyworld. Compared to me, Lanie was a veteran; she’d been there 8 or 9 years ago with our oldest daughter, Sara.  SHE was the Disneyworld Expert, relatively speaking.  I depended on her to suggest the best use of our two days we had available for the mega-Disney complex.  We arrived in Orlando on Monday, Feb. 3^rd; but that day was spent getting a jack on our 5^th Wheel repaired, then hanging out at our most recent KOA park, in Kissimmee, conveniently located only about 6 miles from the Disney mega-complex.  

Tuesday and Wednesday were to be our days at Disney.  We had prepaid for a two day pass, spending the first day at Epcot, and the second day at Animal Kingdom.    We made maximum use of our  time at both entertainment complexes.

We literally hit the ground running at Epcot, there when the gates opened at 9, and part of the mad rush to any convenient “Fast Pass” kiosk.  Daughter, Sara, did a lot of prep work for us, among other things researching the Fast Pass system, which allows you, well, a Fast Pass to enter/re-enter the most favored rides/attractions.  They are not handed out like free candy; you get 3 passes a day, you have to select which attractions you want the passes for; and there are one hour long specific periods in which you can use each of your three passes.  We lined up three of the more popular attractions,  “Soarin”, “Mission Space”, and, I think, “Spaceship Earth” to get Fast Passes for.   

We had specific hours of use for all three, starting later in the morning, but decided we’d try out various attractions before using our Fast Passes.  And we went directly to Spaceship Earth, contained in the big Epcot Bubble that greets you as you enter.  It was fun, but we were on to more thrilling rides soon enough.  One was “Test Track”, sponsored by Chevrolet (Big Bertha, our Chevy diesel, would be proud). We, or rather Lanie, designed our vehicle (see below).  Then we jumped into a prototype and headed out on the test track, which featured steeply banked turns and speeds approaching  70 mph; exciting enough, but we were out for even more thrilling stuff.

Lanie's Dream Car - Big Bertha's little Sister!

 

 We headed to “Mission Space”, choosing the “Green” (less intense) option of a simulation where you basically launch into space on a presumed mission to Mars.  Amazingly, the Mars trip, narrated by “Lieutenant Dan” from Forrest Gump (he was also in Apollo 13), took less than 5 minutes from launch to shooting past the moon to a very rocky landing on the “red planet”.  It was great!, and we hadn’t even used our available Fast Pass,  giving us the option to go back later for the “Orange” (more intense) option, which we soon enough did.  Eh,  you call this thrilling?... the Orange option was just a tad more intense than “Green”  The adrenaline rushes were addicting, and we craved even more!  

We were having a whole lot of fun, but the best was yet to come.  Soon enough we were actually using a Fast Pass for what it was intended, a quick trip to the front of the line for “Soarin”, one of the featured attractions at Epcot.  And it was truly wonderful, a simulated glider flight over the beautiful state of California.  But there were more thrills to be had; and Lanie and I finally found, for us, the ultimate thrill ride, called, appropriately enough, “The Sum of All Thrills!”  Amazingly, there was little or no wait to get in to this attraction. The premise here was you designed your own thrill ride, choosing, as a vehicle, either a Bobsled, a Roller Coaster car, or a Jet Plane.  We went directly to the Jet Plane, dialing up an assortment of spins, loops, twisting turns, etc.  And then we went into a two-person capsule, the simulator for our self-programmed ride.

The Sum of all Thrills!

 

It was great, very realistic… so much so that we went back within the hour to have another go at it.  This time Lanie did most of the designing, amping up the thrill quotient even more, no make that “much more”, than our first time through.  And off we went into the simulator again for truly the ultimate thrill ride for us during that day; inverted two or three times, twisting turns and loops in which you really felt the “G” forces pressing down on you, total adrenaline rush the whole time!  We’d found the ultimate ride, for us at least, at Epcot!

The rest of the long day was spent eating and drinking at various World themed locales, a Moroccan lunch, wine at an Italian bar, French pastries for breakfast treats the next few days, and a wonderful Mexican dinner; the day capped off by fireworks at 9 PM.  We’d lasted a full 12 hours plus, and were dead tired on return to the 5^th Wheel about 10 pm.

Fireworks ending our long day at Epcot!

Colorful Macaws (I think that's what they are) sucking up to their handler

My (very) distant cousin hanging out in the woods

But we were up and mostly raring to go to Animal Kingdom the next morning.  This was a shorter day… the park closes at 5… with just one real thrill ride, the Mt. Everest experience.  We, of course, “thrill junkies” that we were, went on this truly unique and exciting roller coast twice! The rest of the day we spent on various treks and motorized tours of the Animal Kingdom Disney has created.  On a safari trip, we passed close enough to Giraffe’s and other African wildlife to nearly touch them.  And a walking tour elsewhere in the park revealed beautiful birds and other exotic animals.  It was another great day at the mega-entertainment complex they call Disney World.  But soon we’d be moving on to other adventures.

Up close and personal with the giraffes on Safari Trek

"Gulfing it" after Texas

View of the boat harbor from "The Freezer" Tiki Bar, Homossassa, FL

Our “Winter Texan” experience ended on Thursday, January 23^rd; we moved our departure up a day because of weather concerns.  Forecasts for Southeast Texas were for pretty nasty weather conditions setting in Thursday night and on into Friday.  So we high-tailed it out of there and headed for Cajun Land, specifically the KOA near Lafayette.  This was originally supposed to be a one-night stop on the way to Florida.  But since we got there a day early, we were now planning on staying two nights to “keep on schedule”… hey, retired folks have “schedules” too, really we do! 

Anyhow, unusually cold and surly winter weather quickly descended, not only on Southeast Texas that Thursday evening, but also on pretty much all of Louisiana, including our temporary home in Lafayette.  It sleeted/snowed/icy-rained all of Thursday night and most of Friday.  Interstate 10, which ran West-East just North of our KOA, was a virtual “parking lot” by Friday morning; the many bridges over the Louisiana bayous were sheets of ice and actually closed for much of Friday, leaving hundreds of commercial trucks at a standstill out on the freeway.  

Wintry weather in South Central LA, usually an oxymoron!

We extended our stay to now include Saturday night as well, but by Friday afternoon and on into Saturday we were able to get out and enjoy some of the local sights and cuisine, even while the freeway was still all clogged up.  At Prejean’s, a local eatery we remembered from a  previous visit some 10-11 years ago, the fare included all kinds of Cajun dishes, including alligator and frog’s legs.  Frog tastes a lot like Chicken!

By Sunday morning (Jan 26^th), the roads had cleared and we were ready to head out for Florida, first stop another KOA in Chattahoochee in the Western Panhandle. This was just an overnighter, nothing special about the park or area, except it had a Really COOL name!  I mean there must be a song about Chattahoochee; very poetic sounding as it is.  Oh yeah, here's Alan Jackson's opening on one song:  

Well, way down yonder on the Chattahoochee
It gets hotter than a hoochie coochie.    

Okay, that song is actually about a river of the same name in Georgia; but the point is Chattahoochie is a helluva poetic sounding name!  Case closed.  Bet Alan made a couple million bucks on that name/song.

Home.. for a night.. in Chattahoochie, FL - Alas, no Alan Jackson sightings here!

Monday, we were off to our home for a week at Homosassa River RV Park on the Florida Gulf, some 80 miles north of the Tampa Bay area, and somewhere out in the middle of “nowhere”, relatively speaking.  We were expecting pristine sandy beaches, much as we’d found on the Texas gulf, only to belatedly discover that you had to go further South, to Tampa and beyond, for those kinds of things.  So, NO quality beach time, but still some reasons to hang around the Florida Gulf for at least a week. 

One reason was a concert by old Willie Nelson down in the Tampa Bay area that Wednesday night.  We headed down, went to a very good concert (Willie can still “bring it” at age 80), stayed the night there in a hotel, toured the Tampa area (hey, they actually have beaches there!) the next morning, then headed back to Homosassa later in the day. 

Old Willie, still "bringing it" at age 80!

 Second good thing  was a wildlife preserve in a natural setting along a coastal spring and river just a stone’s throw down the road from our RV Park in Homosassa.  We went there on the weekend before bugging out of the area, and greatly enjoyed the experience.  There was an alligator area, seven of those prehistoric looking creatures lounging around on the banks of the river and swimming lazily in the water;  and a whole flock of pink flamingos... gorgeous birds... also a hippopotamus who was 50 years old and weighed 3 Tons; that’s 6,000 pounds of mammoth mammal!

Homosassa Wildlife Preserve

Nice docile creatures these alligators are... okay, one's flashing teeth, but harmless really!

If you see this guy heading toward you, swim (or paddle) away.. FAST!

Flamingos at Homosassa Wilflife Preserve

 And the strangest animals of them all, water mammals as well, were the Manatee.  They are also prehistoric looking creatures, with a paddle tail, a snout.. and a snort.. like a hog’s, and massive bodies that looked like big rocks in the water as they floated around in the shallow river.  The park had a half dozen Manatees in captivity; and there were dozens more wild ones out in the open water surrounding the park.

Third good thing during our stay was the discovery of a little riverside bar/eating joint that served up outrageously good fresh seafood, especially boiled shrimp.  On checking in at the RV park, I’d asked the young woman working the desk where we could find good seafood in the area.  Without hesitation, she recommended this place down on the river called “The Freezer”; said they took no credit cards (imagine that!)… that is “Cash Only”, but worth it (her words, later ours). 

We tried it for the first time that Friday and weren’t disappointed.  I had steamed mussels, Lanie went with the featured steamed shrimp… both were excellent; so much so that we went back… TWICE MORE… on Sunday, once for a pre-Super Bowl lunch, then again at halftime for takeout shrimp to help deal with the “shock” of the Bronco’s being trampled by the Seahawks.   I mean you had to see this joint to believe it, a thatch-roofed tavern… they call them “Tiki Bars” down in these parts... with a small dimly lighted bar that opened out into a gorgeous view of the bay/harbor.  It was our new favorite “dive bar” (no pun intended)! 

Delicious fresh seafood from the "Freezer", Homosassa, FL

However, despite old Willie singing nearby in Tampa, wildlife preserve/park, and righteous seafood at “The Freezer”, we’d worn out reasons to stay there on the Florida Gulf Coast, more specifically Homosassa, any longer.  We’d originally planned a two week stay, but re-scheduled the second week to include, instead, short stays at Orlando and Cape Canaveral.   One thing driving us outta there (Homosassa) earlier was the fact that, for probably the first time in all our travels and temporary homes since July, we were in an “OLD RETIRED FOLKS” park!  I mean there were old farts riding around in golf carts and playing some strange kind of game whereby they putted golf balls down the paved park lanes… WHY...?... I’m still not sure of that.

 When we had first pulled in the previous Monday, a foursome was out on the” 2^nd fairway”/park road directly in front of our truck and trailer as we negotiated the paved “fairway” down to our assigned space.  They grudgingly moved out of the way as we approached, and I  politely dodged around their golf balls on my way.  However, by Friday, after several previous,dodging tours down the “golf ball studded fairway”, I had nearly run out of patience (I "rarely" do that), and thus felt compelled to suddenly swerve out of the way of an errant leaf directly in our path; Oops!... “accidentally” ran right over one of the golf balls littering our fairway/road, as we drove back to our site one afternoon… Big Bertha (the Chevy Diesel), squashed that sucker flat!  Guess that poor guy had to pick up on that hole!

So that’s about it on our Florida Gulf experience folks, some good, some bad, some just so-so, but all part of our new, retired life! What time is it anyhow?  Hey, it’s 5 o’clock somewhere!  Let’s head to the “Freezer”!

Hanging at the "Freezer", Homosassas, FL, somewhere near (enough to)  5 o'clock!