The two-week break has been great. After Richmond I could use a break from racing. Can you believe how our team's luck has been this year? Finally a No. 1 qualifier and we can’t even get back to the starting line after the burnout. The reverser broke after I had already started backing up. That’s something that never happens. We had just checked the reverser the previous week and it looked great. Go figure; that is just how our year has gone.

The first week off we chilled out and then towards the end of the week I caught a cold. I spent most of the day on the couch and tried to get enough energy to do a few things only to regret it and go back to the couch. I finally started to feel better the first of the next week so I got a little busier.

Mel and I went shopping last week and got a few things for our upcoming trip to Germany. We are going back again this year with the folks from GM and the USO to visit our troops in Ramstein Germany. This will be my third year in a row to go and I can’t thank Fred Simmonds and Chevrolet enough for inviting me. Last year Melanie got to go with us and we stayed after our visit with the troops and did a little European vacation. We visited a little of Germany and then went to Paris and London. This year we are staying over again and are going to visit some more of Germany and then on to Italy. We have a couple of days in Venice and a few days in Rome planned. I wasn’t much of a world traveler or vacation person until Melanie and I got married. She has got me to live a little outside of racing and I am really looking forward to the trip. Me being a gadget guy I even bought a new camera for the trip. I’ll try and e-mail some photos from overseas while we are out.

We learned a lot last year traveling so we did some clothes shopping and are much better prepared this year. We found out that you don’t want to have big suitcases and a lot of bags while you are abroad. I’m going this year with a backpack and one smaller suitcase. I couldn’t even get my suitcase on the rack above my seat on the train last year so that won’t be a problem this year.

We are flying to Vegas tomorrow with Evan Knoll on his plane so I was busy last week getting arrangements made for getting our motorhome to Vegas. Steve Zelam on my team lives in Lake Havasu and was going home for the weekend so he was nice enough to drive the motorhome out to Vegas for us. We will be on the road for a couple of weeks with Vegas and Pomona back to back and then the motorhome is going to Vegas for the winter. Monaco of Las Vegas is going to take it back and keep it for the winter. They are great people and if you need a new coach be sure and give them a shot. We got everything out of the coach that we might need this winter and then loaded in all the stuff we need for our trip before it left. That is a hard process since you have to think so far out. We’ll throw whatever needs to come home in the semi after Pomona and then go to the NHRA POWERade banquet on Monday.

I’m really looking forward to the Vegas weekend for many reasons. First of all is that I got runner-up last year and have always done well there in the past. Secondly my buddy Aaron Rowand is coming out to hang with us for the weekend. He plays for the Phillies and unfortunately he got beat in the first round of the MLB playoffs. He and his wife plus a few other baseball buddies are going to come hang with us. I can’t wait to repay the favor he did for me when I got to hang with him in Spring Training. We also have a bunch of UST people coming this weekend. The PBR finals are in Vegas, too, and we are going to watch all the UST cowboys ride some bulls Saturday night after qualifying. I love the PBR because it is the closest thing I have ever found that compares to drag racing. The mental preparation and then all hell breaks loose for a few seconds where you have to do your job perfect to win. At least we don’t have to jump out of the car at the end of the quarter-mile. At Englishtown this year I felt like I jumped off and the bull was trying to get me. I told you there are a lot of similarities.

P.S. My laptop has been in the repair shop for almost a week and a half. I just can’t write on my desktop so I was waiting for it to get back so I could write the blog. I tried to write one from my desk but it just wasn’t working. I’m much better sitting on the couch watching TV while I write.

Talk to you soon.

TJ