Okay, so I have to admit: I am glad we left Denver. Don’t get me wrong; I love the Bandimeres, the fans, and the way the facility is set up. It’s our performance that makes me want to leave. To be honest, at dinner Sunday evening, we toasted to “Leaving the mountain.” I’ll have to mimic Greg Anderson’s comments on TV, “Denver is one of those racetracks that we HAVE to test at to understand what the motor wants.” We had planned to do just that this year, except the reschedule of Bristol changed that plan. So, we went into Denver with high hopes, determination and a plan to learn as much as we could. Next year we will put Denver testing on the schedule once again to gain that much needed data.

We didn’t leave Denver with out taking the time to visit Red Rock Canyon. It sits right behind the racetrack. Actually, in years past, there have been many extreme climbers who have crawled up the hill behind the pits after the race concludes on Sunday to take in the breathtaking view from atop the mountain. It’s become more and more dangerous so you don’t see that happen any more.

We took the drive over to the park entrance and then hiked up the hill to see the Red Rock Amphitheater. We had perfect timing as the sun was just setting in the evening and it cast a beautiful purple hue on the red mountains. We then drove to downtown Morrison and had a nice Italian dinner before hitting the road home.

It was a one-day drive home so I chose to ride on the truck. It was pretty exciting with all the fires that were burning throughout the western states. You could see evidence of were the fire had made its way down to the highway, and in some cases jumped across. We were fortunate enough to get through with no highway closures. Doug and Debbie, who were 12 hours behind us, were not so lucky. They were stopped and eventually took an alternate route to get to our house. They also had to drive through two of the windiest days of the month with gusts up to 35 mph. That didn’t help the fires much either.

We all arrived here just fine and the weather cooperated beautifully after we parked and unpacked. This is the week that we celebrate mom and dad’s birthday. With the team and race rig being here we also get many visits from friends and neighbors. We even had a few surprise visits from friends that we have not seen for quite a few years who just happen to be driving by and saw the transporter. Dale Walker was a competitor in the NMRA that we used to race on the West Coast. He happened to be driving by to visit some property that he bought near the area and spotted the transporter. Then we had a visit from one of Kenny Koretsky’s crew who also happened to spot the transporter as he traveled home before heading to Sonoma. That’s just a couple of surprise visits that we have had seen we’ve been home. I put some pictures of Red Rock Canyon with us and part of Team ‘Tigue.

Bye for now.