I have to say that I am glad the Western Swing is over. We do three in a row throughout the year, but the Western Swing can be such a hard tour. Melanie and I had some good times and fun in the three weeks, but there were some long flights and late nights as well.

We stayed with Melanie’s mom while at the Denver race. That made it a little nicer than spending it in the hotel. She got to spend some time with the family and we made visits to all of Melanie’s favorite restaurants in her old home town while we were there. Neither of us had the outcome we were looking for on race day, but I have to say that our car has made a nice turn around in performance since Rick Cassel has come on board. We had decided to fly the Western Swing so that meant leaving the dogs in Indy while being gone. We didn’t want to leave them for the whole three weeks so we decided to out and back all three races. I told Mel if we are going to come home let’s try and spend as much time there as possible so we booked red-eye flights home from all three races. After the race Sunday we went out to dinner with Melanie’s family and then we left for the airport. Our flight left Denver at 12:30 and we were back in Indy at 5 a.m. Melanie dozed off and on and I watch TV. I like flying Frontier Airlines just for that reason. I can pass the time flipping through the channels on the TV and next thing you know, you’re there.

The dogs stayed with Chad and Michelle Head the first weekend so we swung by their house and picked them up after getting home. I think they had a good time because they didn’t even seem that excited to see us. Michelle spoils them pretty good so they are always eager to visit her. We went to bed for a few hours then got up to get some stuff done. In the past we have always stayed on the road so I had to line up someone to mow the yard and send our bills to us on the road. I mowed the yard, paid some bills and spent a lot of time with the pups before we headed to Seattle on Wednesday afternoon. In all we got at least a little over two days home.

For the Seattle race the dogs got to stay with a lady who works at our vet and owns seven Yorkies of her own. She is the one who turned us on to the place to get our two and some of hers are distant relation to ours. They have a ball playing with all the other dogs but she does say that our two hang together pretty good. They would be lost without one another so I guess that is the reason we came home with two when we got them.

On Thursday in Seattle Brandon and I visited some wounded troops at the Fort Lewis base in Washington. It brought back a lot of memories from the past three years when I went to Germany to visit our wounded troops. It always amazes me about their attitude and commitment to get better so they can get back to guys. That afternoon we made our way over to McChord Air Force base so Brandon could fly with the Thunderbirds. To say I was a little jealous would be an understatement. They told me that I got to go up in an old Pearl Harbor bomber. I joked with Susie Arnold that I hoped they had serviced it since Pearl Harbor. Lo and behold my plane never made it to the base that day because it was having engine issues. Something told me I was better off on the ground that day. Brandon had a great time and I lobbied for my ride with the serviceman, so hopefully in the future I get the call.

Our car really ran well in Seattle. Rick and the whole team have turned it around. Race day didn’t go the way I wanted when we lost by only eight-thousandths, but to qualify third and make some really nice runs was a welcomed experience. The 1000-foot races now are a new experience as well. I don’t know if I like it or not, but it is something new. The cars accelerate so hard for 700-800 feet that you don’t get to relax to much anymore before you lift and get the chutes out. It seems like you are super busy in the car, not like we weren’t before, but it is a much faster run now.

Sunday night we got out of the track to beat the traffic and had a little extra time before we caught our flight so we made a stop at the mall to do a little shopping. After that we went to the airport and decided to get something to eat. Jimmy Prock stopped by and we sat and chatted before our flights. We thought we had plenty of time when we left the restaurant but just then we heard our names being called over the PA telling us final boarding the doors are closing. We ran through the concourse and just made it before they shut the door. We got back into Indy the next morning and decided to go have breakfast before stopping by to get the dogs. Then we started the whole routine all over again.

We left for Sonoma a little earlier this week. Melanie and I were attending the NHRA press conference in downtown San Francisco at noon Wednesday. Our flight left Indy at 8 a.m., and we arrived in SF around 10. Before heading to the presser Melanie and I stopped off at Crate & Barrel to pick up a gift for Tracey (Brandon’s fiancé), for whom they were having a shower on Thursday. My real focus was on getting to AT&T Park because I was spending the rest of the day with my buddy Aaron Rowand who plays for the Giants. We finished the press conference around two and headed to the stadium. Man is SF traffic bad. It was only a few miles from the press conference but took us a good 30 minutes.

As soon as we got there Aaron met us and I was off to the locker room to get dressed. He took me around the locker room to meet some of the players and also visit with several of the guys I had already met when they came to the race in Phoenix. By 3:15 I was in full uniform and out on the field with the Giants team to take batting practice. Aaron and I made a stop at the batting cage in the training facility to give me a little warm up. I was hitting some balls and with a few pointers from Aaron I started hitting a lot more.

I got the full experience as the put me in the first of three groups to take batting practice and I did three full rounds of hitting with the first group. My first trip to home plate I must say I was pretty nervous. There were TV cameras filming, all the players watching and Melanie, Susie, and Joe Sherk taking pictures and watching. I did fair, not missing any pitches and even letting some go by that were out of the strike zone. I had a few foul tips but at least made contact. My second rotation was much better and made contact on all of them even knocking some into the outfield. I’m not going to lie; they were no way near the warning track, just in the outfield. My final try at it I must have been getting to confident. I was swinging harder and trying to really knock one. Like anything else the harder you try the worse you do. At least I only whiffed once.

After that I grabbed a glove and headed to the outfield with Aaron to shag some balls while the other groups hit. By the way, Aaron hit several into the outfield stands and made it look so easy. I can’t tell you how hard it is to judge a fly ball coming into the outfield. I would start going back and the other players would be going forward. I would go to the right and they would go left and grab it. I finally got a better eye for it and even caught a few fly balls that came my way.

After pre-game warm up was over I ran to the locker room and changed back into street clothes. Susie had set up an interview for Melanie and me on the Giants pre-game show. We did the interview and promoted the drag races at Sonoma that weekend. For the game Aaron put us up in his suite along with several members of both my team and Melanie’s. We had a great time watching the Giants come from behind to pull out a victory in the late innings. Aaron had a double and scored during the game. I can’t thank him and the Giants enough for letting me have a great day at the stadium. Melanie, too, because she stood around all day while I got to have the time of my life pretending to be a big leaguer.

Melanie and I went to a few wineries on Thursday morning before I headed out to play in a golf tournament. She went to Tracey’s shower and we finally met up later that evening. The race in Sonoma was not an easy one for our team. We got down to the last session in qualifying and still weren’t in. Rick backed the car down so it would just slide on down there and I drove it with one hand while the other on the brake just in case it wanted to smoke the tires. We made all be the bump, but it was in. We had to switch clutch disc in the middle of the weekend and I think they are throwing us a little curve. We smoked the tires first round, but I think Rick will get a handle on them soon.

Melanie and I enjoyed a nice weekend at home this past weekend. We even joined in the community yard sale this Saturday selling a few items that have been up in the attic. I’m leaving in the morning to go pick up the motorhome at Monaco so we can get ready to head to Brainerd on Wednesday. I’ll be happy to be back on the road in it instead of staying in hotels, but I’m sure the dogs will be a lot happier about it than me.