To start this blog off I will tell you that I have never been to New York before, so when I had the opportunity to do some tourist type activities prior to Englishtown, I jumped at the chance. Doug, Debbie, Scott, Kim, Gary and I grabbed our maps and headed for Penn Station. We rode the train and the subway to Lower Manhattan and toured the Statue of Liberty along with Ellis Island. After a beautiful day of site seeing, we jumped back on the subway and headed to a restaurant in Greenwich Village called Jekyll and Hyde. Gary had been there in the past when he was in the car commercial business and had always wanted to take me back there when we had a chance. We had a great time having the monsters and goblins entertain us throughout dinner.

Our next stop on the subway was in Time Square. Seeing it on television doesn’t do it justice. They say that Las Vegas has nightlife, but I don’t think it compares to Time Square. You would think with all the crowd one could easily get lost in it, but wouldn’t you know it, we ran in to a few race teams doing the same as us in Time Square; site seeing. Debbie, Kim and I have already started to make plans for Broadway plays in 2008.

Back at the track, it had rained Thursday evening, however the rest of the weekend was beautiful. For the GEICO Motorcycle race team though, that was the beginning of some struggles. We knew we had a great bike, but gremlins, and some not so perfect riding on my part caused us to get behind. We really can’t afford to lose one qualifying pass here. With just one bike, we have only one data point. Many have asked if GEICO is going to put another bike out there like Torco, Army, and Screamin’ Eagle (the top three currently in points). I feel pretty confident it will not happen in the near future, so we learn what we can as fast as we can. Our next race was to be in Norwalk and we had never been down this racetrack before. We tried to test there around Chicago, however, they were preparing for the NHRA event and were not open. So we had to go into Norwalk with no history or data.

Prior to the event, we took the GEICO Motorcycle transporter to downtown Norwalk on Wednesday for an appearance and autograph signing. I was pretty busy between hopping back in the transporter to do my GE job and then pop out for autographs. It really went very well and we managed to give out over 500 Geico bandanas and polishing cloths.

One very somber and reflective moment occurred that Wednesday, when in the late morning I received a call from my mom stating the Grandma, who was 99 years old, had passed during the night. She had been bedridden for the last month and was gradually becoming less functional. Hospice was there by her and my parents side the entire time. You may remember, I have written about her before and the fact that she and my cat Tugger were kind of kindred spirits and of the same age. Grandma did not suffer and led a very long and full life. She had lived with Gary and I for her last five years and I feel blessed that we had the chance to spend so much quality time with her. Not many people I know have this opportunity. Along with the many others that have passed this year, she to will live on in my heart.