I Love Nascar

OK, OK - we are totally the definition of white trash, nascar fans. We made our annual Nascar trip to Vegas and boy did we have a great time. This was my first time enjoying the full experience - and by full experience, I mean camping with all the diehards, attending practice sessions, qualify, both races and a trip to "Victory Lane". Last year the boys camped out, but due to new babies and such, the girls didn't make it. We pulled our trailer down and had quite the experience. We were about 20 minutes from the track when we heard the loud "BANG" which was followed with a "thud, thud, thud". We thought we had a blown tire as it sounded just as a Diesel Truck tire sounds when it blows. We pulled to the side of the freeway, caught our breath and stepped out to see what the damage was. We both looked at each other with puzzled looks as neither of us could see a flat tire. Phil looked under the truck to find a strange addition to the drive train. One of the tie downs that had been holding our water tanks had gotten caught and had ripped off. The loud bang was the ratchet that had slammed into the bed of the truck (missing our window by 1/2 an inch) and the thud, thud, thud, was the tie down wrapped around the drive train. Luckily there was no additional damage and we climbed back into the truck to make our way to the track. Kevin & Kristy helped us set up camp and then we went to pick up Scott and Kristi from the airport - don't we all wish we had a plane to fly - they made it down in as much time as it took us to drive from Kevin's in Hurricane.
We spent the day shopping the trailers (Phil had to stock up on the new Jr. gear) - GO 88!, attending qualify, and going to the dirt track races (Wow! that was fun).
Day 2 began as the wind blew in some more excitement for us. Phil left our camp for all of 5 minutes to go and meet Keni when a wind storm (or should I say one gust of wind) came in, caught the awning and tore it off the trailer. Kristy and I were in the trailer and we thought we were going to blow over. It was the loudest, scariest sound (worse than the drive train incident the day before). We had the nicest neighbors who came to our rescue and jumped onto the roof to help us save our awning as Phil and Keni came back. Needless to say, I wasn't a very happy camper at the time. But with the help of our Nascar Camping Buddies, they rigged up a way to pull the awning in and tie it to the trailer so that we could make it home.

After that we were off to the races. Mom & Kristi went shopping for the cabin(and their personal shopper at The Great Indoors loved helping them fill - I mean stuff - the car with their bags - I guess you can say they were victorious in their shopping) and the rest of us headed to watch the Nationwide Series. What a fun and exciting race. That night we had this most amazing steak dinner. Props to the chef - Keni. If you didn't make it to dinner, you sure did miss out.

On Sunday, we went to the NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES. We had a blast. Kevin, Kristy, Scott, Kristi, Mom, Dad, Bruce, Kim, Keni, Big K, Rob, Sasha, Hal, Kat, Brian, Phil & I (plus some additional friends) were all there - and we are sure glad the Rob made it to his seat and that we didn't have to bail him out of jail - thanks for trying with the tickets. There was some trash talkin' between us all - but all, in all, we had a great time. Dale Jr. did awesome and Carl Edwards was pretty sweet too! Since he was knocked out of the Nationwide race, it was cool to see him win the Cup Series, we've always wanted to watch his backflip. Sierra and Savannah ask every week "Did the backflip guy, Carls Jr win?" We keep reminding them that its Edwards and Jr - two separate guys, not a hamburger joint. So yes, we did get to see him win.(He is not a cheater, he will forever be innocent until proven guilty). Don't tell Phil, but secretly, I wish that Jr could have won, I would've liked to see him in Victory Lane.

After the race Kevin, Kristy, Scott, Kristi, Keni, Big K (Keawe), Phil & I made our way to Victory Lane. We saw them do the post race inspections on the top 5 cars, saw the team garages, tried to score some tires and parts (Kristi even flirted with the NASCAR officials), and got Carl Edwards autograph. Quite the experience and a fun way to end a great weekend.

Thanks again to all who came and for those who didn't join us, you really did miss out. Thanks again to Nanna and Poppa for watching our girls to make it possible for us to have a fun weekend away.