I’m trying! Yes, I find it tough just to sit down and begin typing lately (like, the last 10 years)...so here I sit in the RV in a Lowe’s parking lot in Salt Lake City, Utah. No, we didn’t give up on Wal-Mart. In fact, we are just across the street from one, but it has a two story parking garage, and I didn’t feel like “scalping” the RV trying to squeeze in. We have driven more than 2,700 miles in less than four days, hit another state Capitol (more on that once my blogs actually catch up to “current” time), and are nearly to Las Vegas, where we will leave the RV, drive home in the PT Cruiser for a couple of days, then return for the Vegas race. Now that you have my “today” plans, let’s turn back the blog machine to where you intrepid readers left off:

Once we departed Indy to head for Charlotte, we still had a day or two to burn before arriving early for some media events. Jenna found Gatlinburg, TN (That’s not to say that someone had lost or misplaced the town and Jenna found it lying on the side of the road, nor did she discover a previously unheard of city. I just wanted to be clear on that!). Gatlinburg is where Dolly wood is, and apparently every other tourist thing to do. The entire town is one big sightseeing extravaganza (that’s French for, “Opening one’s wallet”), and we made sure to leave some of our cash there, so as not to offend. We chose the Ripley’s Aquarium, followed by the oddity museum of the same name (“Ripley’s”, that is...not “Aquarium”!). We were impressed with the aquarium, and that’s not to be taken lightly. No sir (or Ma’am, if that’s how you roll), the Beckman family have become astute aquarium advocates, and this one gets our blessing (or recommendation, if that’s how you roll). The Ripley’s Museum was, well...odd, but I suppose you wouldn’t have expected anything different. After visiting both of those (it was a package-price tour), we noticed that we still had some loose change, so we went and had one of those “old-fashioned saloon/Wild West photos” taken.

Once we arrived at Charlotte we joined Rodger and Karen at the annual BRAKES fundraiser dinner for Doug Herbert’s program. Again, the wallet came open, was emptied, and then re-closed.

We had another solid outing and final round showing at Z-Max, but I don’t know that any of us Funny Cars had an answer for Cruz Pedregon that weekend. They simply were outstanding, but we gave them a helluva race in the final. It’s fantastic that we were in our fifth final round of the year, but frustrating that we have only taken one trophy home so far.

Bruce Stansel, another of my good buddies from the Air Force, flew out for the race and spent a couple of days catching up. He works on the V-22 Osprey program (how’s this for irony: my dad also is on that program, currently in Amarillo, Texas {as opposed to Amarillo, Rhode Island} doing another stint with Bell Helicopter) and frequently travels. I also got to chat with a gentleman named Mike Moran, who used to live literally backyard-to-backyard from the house where I was raised. Mike moved to North Carolina back about 1971, and I remember crying when they packed up to leave. We somehow got back in touch about two years ago, and it was very cool to see him again. Lastly, Porsha and Brian Chalmers (I wrote about them in an earlier blog...Brian has Lou Gehrig’s disease...and I wish Lou would have kept it to himself!) hung out with us during the weekend. All in all, one of my favorite races of the year.

On to Dallas! Oh, yeah...that’s where I had my little fire that I alluded to at the beginning of my last blog. Not one of our better weekends racing, but sometimes that’s just the nature of nitro Funny Cars.

We took part in the annual DRAW auction, which always does tremendous in Dallas. I don’t know if it’s just Texas generosity, if it’s the free beer, or a combination of the two, but the Association (not to be confused with the ‘60’s band of the same name) always raises lots of needed cash at this event.

We did take Jason to visit my dad’s goats (don’t ask...I’m still not sure what the deal is. I never knew my father would grow up to be a goat rancher!)

We had to stick around Monday to do some media things, and I got to watch some test runs, including Alexis DeJoria upgrading her TAFC license to nitro in the Worsham’s car. I thought she handled herself very well, and she’s going to be good when she makes the move over to nitro. Perhaps even cooler was watching Ronnie Young regain his nitro license in the Blue Max. Yes, I said the Blue-friggin’-Max! Ronnie was the last driver of that awesome line of cars, and now he will be racing in the nostalgia circuit with a recreation of the ’78-’79 version. Though I didn’t see “Waterbed” (Fred Miller) on Monday, I did get to chat with Dale Emery (THE Dale Emery), and Raymond Beadle (no introduction necessary). These guys were legends to me, and to think that they actually knew who I was when I went over there is almost too much to be believed! Very good stuff.

Though I know I’m rambling and covering a lot of time, races, and miles in this blog, I think I’ve got a system to get caught up (that means I’m totally confused, overloaded, and haven’t a clue...but you knew that already!). So, one last leg from this trip, and then I’ll close this installment of “As the motorhome wheels turn”.

According to my GPS, THE place to stop between the Texas Motorplex and Maple Grove Raceway, at least if you’re into tourism, is good old Memphis. Since we had already done the Elvis thing, we looked for something else to cross off our list. If it was my turn to pick, I would have gone with the “happy ending” oriental massage parlor, but Jenna got to choose this time. Oh, well.

Jenna picked the “Pink Palace”, a mansion originally built for Clarence Saunders, founder of the Piggly-Wiggly store chain (seriously, he couldn’t have thought of a better name?). He made a fortune with the first chain of self-serve stores, and then apparently lost his ass (and his house) on Wall Street, even before he had a chance to move in. I think it was karma, for picking such a silly name. So...this mansion became a museum, which then expanded into an even bigger museum. I was afraid it might be “cheesy” (perhaps I was still miffed that Jenna rebuffed my Asian massage request), but it was a pretty cool deal. They have an I-Max and planetarium also. We didn’t do either, because we were too late for the movie, and I’ve seen enough of Uranus to last me throughout the rest of the year (more great planetary jokes, I just can’t get enough!).

Okay, I better send this in before I do something to the computer and crash it.

Enjoy, and stay tuned!

PS (That means, “Post Script”, or “after the writing”!)- At the Vegas race, we will be raising money for the RFC Kids program. We will have a silent auction in our hospitality area Friday and Saturday. We’ll have some bitchin’ driver stuff, so come over. Also, we will be signing you guys up for ride-alongs in the tow vehicles during qualifying runs. Several teams are offering this opportunity, so take advantage of it. Sign up in our hospitality. It will be first come, first served. With a minimum donation of $100, you can have an amazing experience!
 
PPS (You can figure out what that means!).  Don’t forget to vote!!!!!! I don’t know about you, but I’m not too happy with a government that feels it needs to take more of our money each year to offer programs to people who just don’t feel like working as hard as you and me! VOTE.