Happy Holidays everyone -- 'Tis the season! It is hard to believe that Christmas is only a few days away and I just got home yesterday from my whirlwind trip of the past few weeks. I won't try to bore you with all of the details but I will give you some of the highlights.

• I took the rig to Charlotte to get painted and drove back to the shop.

• Loaded the racecar in a small trailer and Toni and I drove to Merritt Island, Fla., to display our GTO at the Sea Ray Yacht Expo.

• Left the race car at Sea Ray and went to my boat in Cape Coral for a couple of days.

• Left Toni on the boat and drove back to Orlando for PRI show.

• After PRI went back to the boat for a couple more days to meet with Sea Ray's electronics technician.

• Drove back to Sea Ray, picked up the racecar, and drove to Charlotte.

• Picked up the newly-painted rig in Charlotte and drove it back to the shop.

• Toni drove the Denali with the racecar trailer back home.

• Went to shop today and since the rig looked so great we decided to rip up the entire floor and replace it.

• Finally got to my desk and am writing this blog.

Whew, that's been my schedule lately and I am looking forward to finally having a weekend home to get our Christmas tree up and maybe do some shopping. Of course it has been my experience that if you wait till Christmas eve to do your shopping you can really get some great deals. But I am going to try to be ahead of schedule this year.

We had a great time displaying our GTO at the Sea Ray Yacht Expo. It was displayed right in front of the Sykes Creek Plant. Everyone who arrived at the expo walked right past the racecar and then through the plant to view the many yachts in production. We attended seminars, took plant tours, watched cooking demonstrations, and Toni took a "Women on Water" course where she got to practice her docking skills on a 44-foot Sundancer. It was a lot of fun.

I did get to spend a few days on my boat. There wasn't time to take the boat anywhere and I spent most of my time on the phone and computer working on our plans for next season. I did, however, have time to work on my electronics and go for a day trip around the Gulf. While I was at PRI, Toni volunteered to stay on the boat claiming she had Christmas shopping to do. She explained it was so much easier to shop, carry packages and wrap presents when it was 83 degrees and palm trees swaying in the breeze. I can't believe I fell for that. Anyway, we did leave with a truck full of presents so I guess all of that nice weather did help. Yeah right.

My last stop on the agenda was Charlotte, N.C., to pick up our newly-painted rig from Transport Re-New. I was so excited to get there and when we pulled up in front of the building our rig was in the lot standing tall. She was gleaming white and polished from head to toe. It looked like a new rig. Now I can't wait for all of the newly-designed Wiley X graphics to be applied. I can't tell you what it looks like yet but I will say that it will be one of the most awesome rigs at the track.

As I said before, the outside of the rig is going to "rock" so now we want the inside to look just as good. We are replacing the floor, rearranging cabinets, cleaning, organizing, and replacing worn-out parts. With a little luck and a lot of hard work we should be able to finish it by next weekend. At least that is our plan.

You know me, I love to have a plan and we have been working on our plan for next season since mid October. The new G6 racecar is scheduled to leave Jerry Haas' shop mid-January and be delivered to the painters. The paint scheme for the G6 has been finalized (and it is awesome!), the rig is painted, and the scheme for that is almost done too, and the engine developments are progressing. Life is great.

Well, I better get this blog out and head home. I will be checking in soon to keep you updated on the progress of our Wiley X team. Enjoy your holiday season – I know I will.