We arrived back in the states on Thanksgiving evening from our offseason vacation. The vacation is always nice, but that long plane ride home makes you wonder if it was worth it. Our flight from Rome left at 5:50 a.m. and needing to check in a couple hours early, plus the airport about 45 minutes from our hotel we decided it was best just to stay up all night and not pay for a hotel for a couple hours sleep. I’m not sure that was a good idea after all. By the time we got home and went to bed I had been awake for 42 straight hours. I think that is a record for me and one that I’m in no hurry to break. I might have slept a half an hour or an hour during one of the flights, but that is about it.

We flew from Rome to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Detroit and on to Indy from there. The nine-and-a-half-hour flight from Amsterdam to Detroit was a real joy. Everyone around me was sneezing and coughing so I thought, "Great, that’s all I need is to catch a cold." Lo and behold I have been sick ever since we got home on Thanksgiving. I even used Airborne and it didn’t seem to matter. I feel the best today that I have and it has been almost 10 days since we got home.

Our trip to Venice was great. What a really cool place. There are no cars in Venice. All the streets are waterways so you either walk or take a boat. It is so easy to get lost there. We had a map but it didn’t seem to matter. Our travel books said you would end up throwing your map away and just winging it and they were right. After the first day we just started walking and would see where we would end up. It was pretty cool in Venice but at least it wasn’t snowing like it was in Germany. We to a gondola ride and saw all the famous sights we could see. We tried all the things you are supposed to while there. We ate their pizza, gelato and pastas, plus we made several stops in the coffee shops to have a cappuccino or two. We took the Vaporreto (water bus) to the island of Murano to look at all the glass companies. Melanie has always wanted a piece of Murano glass so while we are there we had to visit Murano and get an authentic piece. She ended up buying a really cool vase for our dining room table. They shipped it home for us and we are still waiting on it to show up. Hopefully it shows up this week because she is starting to worry about it.

We then took the train to Rome. I love riding the train in Europe. I wish we had trains like that here in the U.S. I would ride them a lot more and not fly so much. We stayed at a really cool and modern hotel in Rome called the Aleph. Our first night there we took off walking to see what Rome was all about. We went by the Spanish steps which were close to the hotel. Then we hit the streets looking at all the shopping. CBS cameraman friend of mine John Haygood had emailed a friend of his who works in Rome for a few suggestions for us while in Rome. We stopped at one of his coffee shops suggestions for a coffee and then to his restaurant suggestion for dinner. It was a little mom and pop place where the locals eat dinner. It was great food and fun atmosphere. It gave us a taste of what it is like to live in Rome.

The next day we hit the streets walking. We stopped by the local market where the Romans do their shopping and then headed off to the Vatican. We took the tour of St. Peter’s Basicalla. Wow, what a place. You can’t believe how beautiful and amazing that place is. We don’t make buildings like that anymore. We took the trip to the top of Vatican City where you can see the whole city. Since we were enjoying all the foods of Italy we decided to walk up the stairs to the top instead of taking the elevator. Some 600 steps later we made it. It was a beautiful sight and amazing how big Vatican City is. After that we headed back to the other side of the river to have lunch.

Our second day in Rome we visited all of the ruins in Rome. It is amazing to see such old stuff that is still standing. I really wanted to see the Coliseum because it is always something you see on TV when they show Rome. There is so much to see we spent all day looking at the ruins. We had to go see Circus Maximums where they did the chariot racing back in the day. It wasn’t much to see, just a dirt path in the middle of a bunch of grass, but at least I got to see one of the very first racetracks in the world. The Coliseum was very cool. It is petty amazing at the engineering they were able to do that long ago. We had dinner that night and spent the evening just relaxing before we headed to the airport for our flight home.

I got to tell you one other thing about Rome. On our way back to the hotel our last night we bounced in and out of shops along the streets. We went into a store that reminded me of a Kohl’s or JC Penneys back here in the states. I was walking around just looking at things when I went into the toy section of the store. I looked over and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was a display of toy Top Fuel dragsters. I yelled at Melanie to come check this out. There was toy Top Fuel dragsters for sale in Rome. Heck, you hardly see them in Wal-Mart at home let alone in Rome. I guess we really are worldwide and don’t even know it. They were just generic cars, but Melanie and I bought one just to say we have a Top Fuel car we bought in Rome.

Since we have been home it has been slow-paced. The puppies sure were glad to see us. We’ve been doing a few things that we had put off all season. I went to visit some of my guys that are now working for other teams and Mel went to lunch with her guys from last year. She has been down to her new shop a couple of times checking in with her new team and I have on the phone trying to get something going for next year. Everything is still positive so I am hoping for the best next year. I went to Snake’s shop one day last week and it sure is funny seeing everything just sitting there all black. Hopefully something will happen this week so I have a better idea what I will be doing in '08.

Melanie and I are headed to PRI this Thursday. She is doing a signing for Torco and I am going to beat the bushes to see what I can drum up for next year. Right now we are getting ready to take the dogs to Petsmart to get their picture with Santa. Then we are going downtown to watch the Colts game.

I’ll check in later and let you know what happened at PRI show and how things are going. I’m also headed to Charlotte Dec. 11 to do an autograph session for Stocks for Tots. If you are in the Charlotte area be sure and stop by. There will be a few drag racers along with plenty of NASCAR drivers doing autographs.