Saturday August 27
Back to the race track for day2. This is qualifying day, each class has a practice in the morning and then qualifies in the afternoon. When we arrive at the racetrack Linda asks if I have the tickets. No, they are back at the hotel room so we turn around and go back to get them. We are still back at the track in time for the first practice session. Linda and I take the time to visit the racetrack museum and we all meet again in the grandstands for qualifying. Casey Stoner was by far the fastest qualifier and will start on the pole for tomorrow's race. On the way back to the hotel we stop at a Subway for a light meal. After we get back to the hotel C & C go for a walk around town. Linda convinces me to get on the bike and get a BBQ picture as we had seen a BBQ on the way back from the racetrack. This is another place with no parking in front but it is closed so I go through their parking lot and park on the sidewalk. Then I stand in the street when the traffic clears and get my picture. When I return Linda and I also go for a walk. We go by a Brazilian restaurant so we go in so that I can have a Capirinha which is the national drink of Brazil. Then it's back to the hotel to get some sleep as we want to leave early in the morning for the racetrack.
Friday August 26
We are on our way to Indianapolis for the races. We want to watch the practice sessions that start at 1 PM. Clint & Charleen are in their rental car and Linda and I are on our bike. Clint has planned a route that will take us through the farmland of Ohio except! Except that State Highway 27 is suddenly closed. No matter, we go around the signs and keep going. But then it is closed again and this time it looks serious. Clint goes on but I have a feeling that this time is for real. So I turn right and hit the detour button on my GPS. It quickly plans a detour route that will return us to Highway 27 in less than 12 miles and it does. The closure was for real and C & C had to backtrack. We are now ahead of them and pull over to wait in front of the Baptist Temple of Centerville. We waited for about 20 minutes. Those of you who are observant will have noticed that we do not yet have a BBQ picture in Ohio. C & C finally arrive and we are off again and this time I am leading. Once again Highway 27 is closed and this time we are detoured to Highway 44. Now we are moving right along until the next town where Highway 44 is closed. I turn left, the only choice, and hit the detour button and my GPS sends me around a few city streets and then right back to the road closed sign. We then notice a very small detour sign and follow it's directions. Now C & C are in front. The detour finally returns us back to Highway 44 until the next town. There are 2 signs for Highway 44 west one block apart, the GPS says take the first street which we do. But the street signs route us to the second street while the GPS tells us to stay on the first. We ignore the GPS and keep ignoring it for several miles until we reach an interstate highway to Indianapolis. At this time both the GPS and ourselves are in agreement. We stop for coffee and go on to our hotel in Indianapolis without further problems. After checking into the hotel we are off to the racetrack for an enjoyable afternoon especially as the fastest person in this practice is Casey Stoner who is an Australian!! We would have gone back to the hotel but C & C have left an electronic adaptor back in the Cincinnati motel and need a replacement so we go off searching for said replacement. After successfully finding the part we stop at a fast food for the evening's repast and return to the hotel for sleep and recuperation. However Linda and I need to wash some clothes so we are up quite late taking care of laundry issues.
Thursday August 25
We found no evidence that we could visit Fort Knox and lots of evidence that we could not so we went to the Jim Beam Whiskey Distillery and took a tour. I drank whiskey 40 years ago but do not care for it now. But I enjoy seeing how things are done and Linda said it would be interesting so we went. It was interesting but short. They had some sampling at the end. I remembered why I do not care for whiskey.
After the tour we continued on to a motel in Cincinnati where we were to meet our Australian friends. On the way there the highway went to one lane on the other side and the traffic there was backed for almost 3 miles. I was thinking how lucky we were and then we arrived at the edge of Cincinnati and our luck changed. Linda says she was proud of how I controlled my temper in the heavy traffic. It took about 45 minutes to go 12 miles. That is pretty fast by California standards but I no longer am a Californian. Clint was waiting outside for us at the motel. We had a cheerful reunion and went out for dinner to celebrate the reunion and Charleen's birthday. We went to the Outback Steakhouse as it was within walking distance. Although they advertise genuine Australian food Clint & Charleen did not think that their menu was representative of true Australian fare. It was late when we finished eating so we called it a night when we returned to the motel.
Back to the race track for day2. This is qualifying day, each class has a practice in the morning and then qualifies in the afternoon. When we arrive at the racetrack Linda asks if I have the tickets. No, they are back at the hotel room so we turn around and go back to get them. We are still back at the track in time for the first practice session. Linda and I take the time to visit the racetrack museum and we all meet again in the grandstands for qualifying. Casey Stoner was by far the fastest qualifier and will start on the pole for tomorrow's race. On the way back to the hotel we stop at a Subway for a light meal. After we get back to the hotel C & C go for a walk around town. Linda convinces me to get on the bike and get a BBQ picture as we had seen a BBQ on the way back from the racetrack. This is another place with no parking in front but it is closed so I go through their parking lot and park on the sidewalk. Then I stand in the street when the traffic clears and get my picture. When I return Linda and I also go for a walk. We go by a Brazilian restaurant so we go in so that I can have a Capirinha which is the national drink of Brazil. Then it's back to the hotel to get some sleep as we want to leave early in the morning for the racetrack.
Friday August 26
We are on our way to Indianapolis for the races. We want to watch the practice sessions that start at 1 PM. Clint & Charleen are in their rental car and Linda and I are on our bike. Clint has planned a route that will take us through the farmland of Ohio except! Except that State Highway 27 is suddenly closed. No matter, we go around the signs and keep going. But then it is closed again and this time it looks serious. Clint goes on but I have a feeling that this time is for real. So I turn right and hit the detour button on my GPS. It quickly plans a detour route that will return us to Highway 27 in less than 12 miles and it does. The closure was for real and C & C had to backtrack. We are now ahead of them and pull over to wait in front of the Baptist Temple of Centerville. We waited for about 20 minutes. Those of you who are observant will have noticed that we do not yet have a BBQ picture in Ohio. C & C finally arrive and we are off again and this time I am leading. Once again Highway 27 is closed and this time we are detoured to Highway 44. Now we are moving right along until the next town where Highway 44 is closed. I turn left, the only choice, and hit the detour button and my GPS sends me around a few city streets and then right back to the road closed sign. We then notice a very small detour sign and follow it's directions. Now C & C are in front. The detour finally returns us back to Highway 44 until the next town. There are 2 signs for Highway 44 west one block apart, the GPS says take the first street which we do. But the street signs route us to the second street while the GPS tells us to stay on the first. We ignore the GPS and keep ignoring it for several miles until we reach an interstate highway to Indianapolis. At this time both the GPS and ourselves are in agreement. We stop for coffee and go on to our hotel in Indianapolis without further problems. After checking into the hotel we are off to the racetrack for an enjoyable afternoon especially as the fastest person in this practice is Casey Stoner who is an Australian!! We would have gone back to the hotel but C & C have left an electronic adaptor back in the Cincinnati motel and need a replacement so we go off searching for said replacement. After successfully finding the part we stop at a fast food for the evening's repast and return to the hotel for sleep and recuperation. However Linda and I need to wash some clothes so we are up quite late taking care of laundry issues.
 |
| Charleen and her $5 lemonade |
 |
| Linda tests a sidecar at a vendor's display |
Thursday August 25
We found no evidence that we could visit Fort Knox and lots of evidence that we could not so we went to the Jim Beam Whiskey Distillery and took a tour. I drank whiskey 40 years ago but do not care for it now. But I enjoy seeing how things are done and Linda said it would be interesting so we went. It was interesting but short. They had some sampling at the end. I remembered why I do not care for whiskey.
After the tour we continued on to a motel in Cincinnati where we were to meet our Australian friends. On the way there the highway went to one lane on the other side and the traffic there was backed for almost 3 miles. I was thinking how lucky we were and then we arrived at the edge of Cincinnati and our luck changed. Linda says she was proud of how I controlled my temper in the heavy traffic. It took about 45 minutes to go 12 miles. That is pretty fast by California standards but I no longer am a Californian. Clint was waiting outside for us at the motel. We had a cheerful reunion and went out for dinner to celebrate the reunion and Charleen's birthday. We went to the Outback Steakhouse as it was within walking distance. Although they advertise genuine Australian food Clint & Charleen did not think that their menu was representative of true Australian fare. It was late when we finished eating so we called it a night when we returned to the motel.
No comments:
Post a Comment