Road Trip Part I - The drive there

Since many come from all over the country to race the GNCC’s, the majority of us have a long “race” to run before the real race begins. With many races being over 8 hours away, there is a lot of time to do nothing but drive.  For us it’s a different story.

        First things first, the meeting place: George Richards, Dave Ecker, Jan and I meet in Hamburg , PA.   PA seems to be a centralized location for all of us. We are lucky enough to have friends with a motor home. So, we unload everything from the Jetta into the motor home.  It sure is nice driving in a motor home (until it’s your turn to fill her up), everything you need is at your fingertips.  We make sure at least someone has directions to the track so we can put it into the GPS, unless the human atlas (aka Jan) is with us. LOL! 

        Batten down the hatches boys, we have lift off.  Once we get on the road, we talk about where we are sitting in points and how we need to finish to stay in position.  There are always the endless stories about what we have done in the past two weeks, including the many parts we had to replace, child hood stories, and not to mention race stories.

        Eventually we switch drivers and the radio comes on. We usually find a good station that plays rock & roll.  Most of us have XM Radio, but we always seem to forget it.  LOL.  Instead, we like to sing and play the name that group game.  With me being the youngest, I must say I hold the record! WAHOO! In between the commercials and the songs we don’t know, the snack bag comes out.  There is nothing like a good cosmic brownie and a Red Bull or Code Red Mountain Dew to keep you going.

        Eventually the phones start ringing.  Usually its fellow racers trying to see if you have left yet, where you are, and where and if you are stopping. With three drivers and me being the co-pilot, we try to drive straight through and then sleep.  The hot spot is Wal-Mart, but we like to find the nearest Cracker Barrel.  After our early breakfast, it’s off to Wally World (Wal-Mart).  Once we try to find a parking spot amongst all the other racers, its time to raid Wal-Mart.  You can always tell when its getting close to hit the road again, it’s a mad dash to the nearest exit only to get on line and wait again at the track.  We are finally here and its time to get settle in, do last minute adjustments and before you know it, you’ll here the famous words  “TTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNN seconds”. 

Stay tuned for next months article ‘Road Trip Part II - The drive home’.  I wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas.  May Santa bring you all your gifts and dreams to life!

Ride hard, be safe, and have fun!

Vol. 7

Archives
Vol. 1

  Vol. 2  

Vol. 3

Vol. 4

Vol. 5 

Vol. 6