I got to Hawaii on Tuesday after a seven hour flight from Phoenix to Honolulu. I checked into the hotel and went straight to the Matco Tools Expo for the afternoon autograph session with Whit, Ron Capps, Antron Brown, Clay Millican, Craig Treble, and sport compact racer Jason Hunt. It was hard to go because from the back entrance of the Sheraton Waikiki, the ocean and pool are just a few feet away. It’s so tempting to just wander off and enjoy Hawaii, but I was good.



It was great to see all the Matco folks. Everyone was excited with us winning Phoenix just a few days earlier. I was surprised how many Matco distributors knew who I was. Tuesday night, I had sushi with Bazemore and John Torok of Matco Tools. John is the Motorsports Marketing Manager at Matco. We refer to him as “Tor.”



I woke up Wednesday morning and went back to the Expo. We had a break from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. so Baze and I went to the ocean. It was good for us to bond and get to know each other better. Let me tell you, he’s a really cool guy. Baze is really mellow. He was my wing man and introduced me to a bunch of pretty girls since I’m sort of shy and the single guy. Later that night, we took a group of Matco folks to dinner at John Dominis. It’s a great seafood restaurant in Honolulu. It’s important to take the sponsors out every so often. We had a great time and some really good seafood.



Thursday was our first off day. I got up and worked out. Then I met Ted and Baze at the pool and we went to Hanauma Bay. It’s a nature preserve where lots of people go snorkeling to see the marine life. It’s a beautiful place. We didn’t snorkel, but went in the ocean and hung out. We drove back and had a late lunch with John Torok at Duke’s. Then, we had the Matco Tools send-off dinner/luau at the hotel. We topped off the evening by going to John Wolfe’s suite on the 31st floor. He was the No. 1 Matco Tools distributor in the country. People thought it was cool that the No. 1 distributor and driver were hanging out. We had a toast to our success.



It’s cool being in Hawaii. We’re still in the U.S., but it’s sort of like we’re in another country. It’s so distant and tropical. It’s my first time here. I’ll come back in a heartbeat, but to a more remote and not so built-up area. Waikiki is very commercialized. I have a couple more days left before going home to Las Vegas on Sunday. I need to go see Rocco and Ozzy. I’m still going to surf and I want to swim with the dolphins as well. I’ll update early next week. Have a good weekend.