October 28,2009
Winds go away
We left Havasu with caution. The winds were still blowing pretty hard. It was tolerable however, until we got around Essex out on I-40. The winds really got bad, bad enough that I saw my awning trying to come out. I eventually pulled over to secure the awning a little better. I added about 15 or so tie wraps to it and got back on the road. Fortunately a short time down the road the winds died down a bit. Not all was well though. As I was looking at my speedometer I saw the tachometer drop to zero for a split second and felt an instant loss of power, then everything was good again. That was not good I though. I watched everything for a while and it seemed to be OK. Then as I was approaching my destination it happened again, then again, then again however it didn’t died. Once at our destination I let it idle as I always do when leveling and putting out the slides when it died. After sitting for a while it started and everything seemed OK again. Fortunately our friend where we are parked is a mechanic so I gave him a call at his shop and asked if he could bring home a code reader. Sure enough we found 2 codes in the computer. Looks like I will be here a little longer than planned to get some parts replaced.
October 29 and 30,2009
It’s off to Talladega
We headed for the airport Thursday evening to catch a “Red Eye” out of LAX at 11:00p for Talladega Alabama. After the 10 of us (5 couples) met up at the airport we boarded the plane and took off for Alabama. We landed at the Atlanta airport in Georgia at around 6:00a and rented a 15 passenger van and drove another 2.5 hours to the hotel in Birmingham Alabama stopping on the way for breakfast. It seemed that every exit off the interstate, there was a Waffle House, yeah that’s what it’s called, The Waffle House so we decided we had to give it a try. These places are so small that we didn’t think they could fit the 10 of us in so we headed on down the road and ended up at a Cracker Barrel. Nice Breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Needless to say, we were a bit tired so off the hotel for a little nap. After the nap we were ready to head to the track. At the track the girls did a little shopping at the venders trailers while the guys watched the Truck race qualifying. Then we headed on over to the short track for some dirt track racing. Since it had been raining a bit it was pretty muddy, not only the track but also the walk up to the track. After trudging through the mud and getting mud slung all over us from the cars going around the track we started looking like real rednecks. Back to the Hotel for a cleanup and a good nights sleep.
October 31,2009
Hallow-Daga
That’s what they were calling it, Hallow-Dega since it was Halloween at Talladega. On Friday we headed back to the track for some truck racing. We didn’t know if it was going to run since it started raining Thursday night and was still raining Friday morning. The weather report said it would clear but it takes a long time to dry the track so we weren’t sure. It worked out good though because since practice and cup qualifying were canceled we spent the morning cruising around the infield checking out the crazy setup everyone had. We even got into the drivers compound where the drivers motorhomes are. How you might ask? Well we just drove the van in like we were supposed to be there and no one challenged us. The infield is quite a treat. There were a lot of converted school busses, some done nice and some done “redneck”. After the infield “tour” we checked out the Motor Sports Hall of Fame to kill some time until the truck race. We had Hospitality tent passes for the Miller Light tent, which provided food and drinks including all the Miller Light you wish to drink and special seating for the truck race. Well the rain stopped and they were able to dry the track so the race went off. After the race we went for dinner then back to the track for a concert. The Talladega infield is One Crazy Place! Especially on Halloween. The costumes were a riot. It looked like a cross between a major street party and Woodstock with all the mud. What fun was that?
November 1,2009
Cup Race
This morning we finally got to eat at a Waffle House. What a treat that was. As I said earlier the place is so small that 4 of us got a booth and the rest were at the counter. After breakfast we headed on over to the track for more racing. We had great seats high enough that we could see the whole track. That is if your eyes are good enough. It is a BIG track and the backstretch is far away. You can see the cars but you can’t tell who is who from that far away. The race was great. This is much different that the other races we go to. The difference is the size of the track. It is so big that NASCAR requires them to run restrictor plates on their carburetors to limit their speeds. Even so they are still running around 200 mph. When they have a crash at this track, they call it “the big one” because they run in a pack and at that speed they can’t react fast enough to avoid getting in the crash so the crashes usually involve a lot of cars. This race was no exception. There were two “Big ones” at this race, both with cars ending up on their roofs. After the race we found a BBQ joint and had some good ol’ southern BBQ, including green fried tomatoes and deep fried pickles, some pretty good stuff.
November 2,2009
Back to reality
It was such a good weekend we hated to see it end but it was time to go. So we boarded the plane and headed back to California. I will post pictures to our photo site soon.
November 3,2009
Motorhome fixWell as I said earlier, the motorhome needed some fixing. One of the guys that went with us to Talladega owns the shop where I got it fixed. He ordered the part before we left so it was there waiting when we got back. I took it over to the shop this morning and they ran more diagnostics on it to make sure they weren’t replacing good parts. After installing the new part all the trouble codes went away. We were all happy to see that. The trip back to Havasu tomorrow across the desert will be the real test. I am sure we will make it ok.
Winds go away
We left Havasu with caution. The winds were still blowing pretty hard. It was tolerable however, until we got around Essex out on I-40. The winds really got bad, bad enough that I saw my awning trying to come out. I eventually pulled over to secure the awning a little better. I added about 15 or so tie wraps to it and got back on the road. Fortunately a short time down the road the winds died down a bit. Not all was well though. As I was looking at my speedometer I saw the tachometer drop to zero for a split second and felt an instant loss of power, then everything was good again. That was not good I though. I watched everything for a while and it seemed to be OK. Then as I was approaching my destination it happened again, then again, then again however it didn’t died. Once at our destination I let it idle as I always do when leveling and putting out the slides when it died. After sitting for a while it started and everything seemed OK again. Fortunately our friend where we are parked is a mechanic so I gave him a call at his shop and asked if he could bring home a code reader. Sure enough we found 2 codes in the computer. Looks like I will be here a little longer than planned to get some parts replaced.
October 29 and 30,2009
It’s off to Talladega
We headed for the airport Thursday evening to catch a “Red Eye” out of LAX at 11:00p for Talladega Alabama. After the 10 of us (5 couples) met up at the airport we boarded the plane and took off for Alabama. We landed at the Atlanta airport in Georgia at around 6:00a and rented a 15 passenger van and drove another 2.5 hours to the hotel in Birmingham Alabama stopping on the way for breakfast. It seemed that every exit off the interstate, there was a Waffle House, yeah that’s what it’s called, The Waffle House so we decided we had to give it a try. These places are so small that we didn’t think they could fit the 10 of us in so we headed on down the road and ended up at a Cracker Barrel. Nice Breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Needless to say, we were a bit tired so off the hotel for a little nap. After the nap we were ready to head to the track. At the track the girls did a little shopping at the venders trailers while the guys watched the Truck race qualifying. Then we headed on over to the short track for some dirt track racing. Since it had been raining a bit it was pretty muddy, not only the track but also the walk up to the track. After trudging through the mud and getting mud slung all over us from the cars going around the track we started looking like real rednecks. Back to the Hotel for a cleanup and a good nights sleep.
October 31,2009
Hallow-Daga
That’s what they were calling it, Hallow-Dega since it was Halloween at Talladega. On Friday we headed back to the track for some truck racing. We didn’t know if it was going to run since it started raining Thursday night and was still raining Friday morning. The weather report said it would clear but it takes a long time to dry the track so we weren’t sure. It worked out good though because since practice and cup qualifying were canceled we spent the morning cruising around the infield checking out the crazy setup everyone had. We even got into the drivers compound where the drivers motorhomes are. How you might ask? Well we just drove the van in like we were supposed to be there and no one challenged us. The infield is quite a treat. There were a lot of converted school busses, some done nice and some done “redneck”. After the infield “tour” we checked out the Motor Sports Hall of Fame to kill some time until the truck race. We had Hospitality tent passes for the Miller Light tent, which provided food and drinks including all the Miller Light you wish to drink and special seating for the truck race. Well the rain stopped and they were able to dry the track so the race went off. After the race we went for dinner then back to the track for a concert. The Talladega infield is One Crazy Place! Especially on Halloween. The costumes were a riot. It looked like a cross between a major street party and Woodstock with all the mud. What fun was that?
November 1,2009
Cup Race
This morning we finally got to eat at a Waffle House. What a treat that was. As I said earlier the place is so small that 4 of us got a booth and the rest were at the counter. After breakfast we headed on over to the track for more racing. We had great seats high enough that we could see the whole track. That is if your eyes are good enough. It is a BIG track and the backstretch is far away. You can see the cars but you can’t tell who is who from that far away. The race was great. This is much different that the other races we go to. The difference is the size of the track. It is so big that NASCAR requires them to run restrictor plates on their carburetors to limit their speeds. Even so they are still running around 200 mph. When they have a crash at this track, they call it “the big one” because they run in a pack and at that speed they can’t react fast enough to avoid getting in the crash so the crashes usually involve a lot of cars. This race was no exception. There were two “Big ones” at this race, both with cars ending up on their roofs. After the race we found a BBQ joint and had some good ol’ southern BBQ, including green fried tomatoes and deep fried pickles, some pretty good stuff.
November 2,2009
Back to reality
It was such a good weekend we hated to see it end but it was time to go. So we boarded the plane and headed back to California. I will post pictures to our photo site soon.
November 3,2009
Motorhome fixWell as I said earlier, the motorhome needed some fixing. One of the guys that went with us to Talladega owns the shop where I got it fixed. He ordered the part before we left so it was there waiting when we got back. I took it over to the shop this morning and they ran more diagnostics on it to make sure they weren’t replacing good parts. After installing the new part all the trouble codes went away. We were all happy to see that. The trip back to Havasu tomorrow across the desert will be the real test. I am sure we will make it ok.
Wow sounds like you have been having a great time at the races.... Sorry you had troubles but glad you had them fixed... Lucky your friend was able to help you..
ReplyDeleteHave FUN & Travel Safely
Donna