Okay, so I finally had a minute to sit down and tell you about what’s been going on. After our red-light loss in the second round at St. Louis, we packed up and headed to our property in Indiana. We had some maintenance to the transporter that had to be done before the next event and Gary and I needed to get things arranged quickly so we could catch a plane out on Wednesday. Gary, Doug and myself were headed to GEICO in Washington D.C., the corporate offices. I had never been there before so it was a great surprise when Kirk, the Assistant VP, put us on the Metro to The Capital after dinner. Gary and I stood at the monument and watched the sunset over the Lincoln Memorial. It was beautiful. As we turned to walk back toward the Metro the sun had set enough for the Capital lights to be brilliantly flickering in our path. It was a quick trip but enough to implant a lasting memory and definite plans to return when we have more time.

We had made plans to stay in Washington on Wednesday night and head to GEICO in Virginia Beach on Thursday. We spent about five hours there visiting our extended family in the Motorcycle and Powersports division of GEICO. Momma Lisa, as she is affectionately known to all the racers that GEICO supports, treated Gary and I to some wonderful hospitality at her home Thursday night. She made us feel very comfortable and relaxed as we continued with our whirlwind trip.

Friday morning, we were on the road to North Carolina. Gary again was driving, as I continued working away on my laptop. That’s my rolling office with a dynamic view. We were heading to the University or North Carolina at Chapel Hill where our niece was graduating. We arrived at her home around 6 p.m. Colleen, our niece, followed us to the airport to drop our rental car off and then we, including her roommate who was also graduating from nursing school, went out to dinner to celebrate. That was just the beginning of our celebration. Graduating from the School of Business, it was new to me about the School of Nursing “pinning.” The graduate selects a person to place the revered Nursing Pin on their graduating gown, just after they receive their diploma. At this graduate ceremony, there was only the School of Nursing. This is the ceremony when the graduate walks on stage when their name is announced. They then walk to the side of the stage where they are pinned. Colleen chose her mother to pin her. She had a difficult time picking which parent, however that fact that is was Mothers Day weekend helped a lot of the graduates make their decisions.

We all went to dinner that night and then headed to the hotel. Sunday was the entire University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduation for the class of ’07. It was overcast that morning and that made the sea of sky blue gowns flowing down the stadium stairway’s that much more impressive. Kenan Stadium was filled with fanatic Tar Heel fans, most wearing some sort of light blue. This in not to be confused with Duke University’s dark blue that they commented on throughout the event, and that was having a graduation ceremony themselves, just down the road. We sat and listened to all speakers amongst a setting of proud parents and family’s. The tears really began when they closed the ceremony by playing the song “Carolina In My Mind.”

The sun came out as we celebrated with the 40 or so family and friends that came back to the house for the Bar-B-Q.

That evening Gary and I headed to the hotel for one last time on this whirlwind trip. We headed home to Nevada on Monday.

I forgot to bring my camera, so there are no Washington D.C., or Virginia Beach pictures, but we did manage to get 100 or so from the graduation.

I’ll be back to blog soon.