Hi everyone. I know it's been awhile since I wrote a blog, but fortunately I have Toni to keep everyone up-to-date on what's been happening around here. I hope everyone had a great Father's Day weekend. As Rob Geiger said in his Geiger Counter article, "it has been a long time since we have been home with our families on Father's Day" and I have to agree that I can't remember the last time we weren’t at a race over Father's Day weekend.

As you know, I am very fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time with my kids but this weekend, things just didn't work out where we could all be together. Melissa is still recovering from her foot surgery (she is doing very well) and though she was insistent on driving home to see me, I finally convinced her it was best to stay home and rest. She reluctantly agreed, but she was not happy about it. She embarks on a six or seven week road trip covering "The Great Race" at the end of June and needs to be 100 percent when she leaves.

Jon is up to his ears in summer classes and had to spend the weekend studying for an exam, while and Jamie and Cynthy went to New Hampshire to visit Cynthy's family. I do, however, get to have a late celebration with Jamie and Cynthy this week so I am looking forward to that. I think Toni has a cookout or something planned.

I still had a great Father's Day weekend anyway. After work on Friday, Toni and I drove to her Dad's house in southern Maryland and took him to dinner for a Father's Day celebration. We went to a neat restaurant on Chesapeake Bay and dined outside, enjoying the water and the boats. After some great seafood we went back to his house for the night and sat up until the wee hours of the morning just talking, laughing, and telling stories. Since I was only 18 years old when I starting dating Toni, you can imagine how many stories Don has to tell on me. I asked him to write a blog in the next week or so, but maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

Anyway, it was a fun time but on Saturday morning it was back to the race shop for another full day of work. We have been working really hard trying to get everything ready for these next six races. I'm lucky that Englishtown is only three hours from the shop and Norwalk is only about six so we will be able to come back to the shop after each race. Once Bristol gets here, we are on the road for the duration so we best have everything ready.

Every year I look forward to the Western Swing because I have such great memories of that trip. I think the first time I raced in Denver, Jamie was about 13, Melissa was 10, and Jon was 7 and we made a family vacation out of the Swing. Prior to the trip, Toni would take the kids to the bookstore where they loaded up on all of their favorite books. We would fly into Denver and rent a van so that after the race we could all drive to Sonoma and Seattle in the rental van. Toni would be our "book tape" and read us all of the new books while I drove. (Of course sometimes a summer reading book for school ended up in the mix). I bet she read 10 books on each of those trips. We would get so engrossed in the stories that the kids would beg her to finish a chapter before we'd get out of the van for lunch or a rest stop. It was a good thing Toni didn't get carsick!

Before leaving Denver, Toni and the kids would look over the map and pick places to stop and sightsee along the way. Everyone got to choose a place to stop or something to do, within reason, of course. We would have them write their "vacation wishes" on a list which I kept. Every time we fulfilled a wish we would cross it off of the list. Some of the kid's favorite places were the salt flats, Park City in the summer, a Giants game at Candlestick Park, the cool weather in San Francisco, Arizona Beach in Oregon, the Redwood Forest, and swimming in a lazy river meandering along Highway 101. Like I said, the Western Swing has always been one of my favorite trips.

Obviously, things have changed just a little since my first race in Denver. Though the kids are still at the track, I now drive the rig, Jamie drives a the Denali across country, Melissa flies back and forth as she is busy working, Jon is busy at school this summer, and Toni doesn't read me books anymore! What's that all about? Anyway, we still have fun on the Swing and I look forward to the trip. Hey, I will even stop the rig along the way to let Toni take some pictures or just enjoy the scenery and sometimes we will even stop for lunch. How about that for being an accommodating guy? I must admit, however, I do sometimes miss the good old days.

Well, I'm going to get this blog sent to Rob so he can get it posted. Jamie and Terry have been busy getting everything ready to load back into the trailer and I better get back down to the shop and help them out. I plan on leaving early Wednesday morning for Englishtown and will try to have you another blog soon. Don't be surprised if I have Don write one – just don't believe any stories he may tell about me.