I left off having just finished with my first trip to the Darlington night race. I admit, I thoroughly enjoyed the race and enjoyed getting "close" to my hero even if it was unintentional.
I was thinking about something too last night. I remember I kept having run-ins with rainbows. Now everyone knows that the NASCAR logo has the colors of the rainbow on it so I was quite surprised to see a rainbow in a sunny sky on the way to Darlington on the motor coach... (look close and you can see the colors just above the trees)
And again on the way home I saw one UNDER the plane.
How often can you say you flew "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"?? Sorry, I couldn't resist! I kept looking out the window waiting for the Wicked Witch and her damn flying monkeys to try and hijack the plane!
Anyway, back to the rest of the trip. We were going to stay in Myrtle Beach on Sunday and make the long drive up to Charlotte, NC Monday morning, but we decided against it. So Sunday, we packed up and decided to drive our Silver Dodge Charger rental car up to Wilmington, NC to see the Battleship North Carolina. It was about an hour and a half drive or 72 miles.
http://www.battleshipnc.com/
What an amazing piece of our history! We had a great time! We wandered around deck before attempting to go below. If you are claustrophobic at all, avoid going below deck! Kecia decided to wait for me on deck and I went below on the self-guided tour. I was totally freaked out. A couple of times I was alone and it just felt like there was something on that ship that didn't want me there. It was creepy and only after I got to the gift shop later did it come to my attention that the ship is haunted. Well you certainly didn't have to tell me!! The goosebumps covering every inch of my body was proof enough.
I love the way they have the rooms staged to give you an idea what life aboard the ship was like. I highly recommend that you take the journey. If anything, it will increase your respect for our men and women in the armed services.
After spending some time in the ship, we decided to head for Charlotte. Now that was a 3 and a half hour journey or 200 miles across NC. I was actually really looking forward to it since I'm in love with that State and really wanted to see more of it. Except for the milder winter and red soil, North Carolina is very similar in appearance to Michigan.
Kecia's driving had us safely to Charlotte that evening and tucked away in our hotel room real close to Charlotte Motor Speedway. I have never seen a race at that track but I have taken a track tour which consists of a drive around the track in a great big conversion van. I flew out to Charlotte by myself back in 2001 for a long weekend to see if I was interested in living there. I was, but that's not in the cards yet so it's still an item on my bucket list!
Anyway, we had to be up the Monday morning (5/14/2012) for our VIP tour with Garage Pass Shop Tours.
We had no idea what to expect, but during my communications with the company, our guide Stan told us he had kin who lived in Michigan. I think that set the tone of our visit!
We sat in the hotel lobby and planned out our route. The tour lasted basically from 8:30am-5:00pm or was it 4:00pm, now I can't remember. All I know is it was a long day but one I would glady repeat!
We started the tour at Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). There is only a viewing window available for fans to look down onto the already fabricated race cars. We were able to see them vinyl wrapping Kyle Busch's car. I guess I'm not that big of fan because I didn't realize that most teams have their cars vinyl wrapped now and not painted. I was told it was lighter than the paint and that the teams don't generally do it themselves they hire a company to do it for them. It is most certainly an incredible skill to have. It was amazing to watch them applying the decals to NASCARs specifications so quickly!!
Michael Waltrip Racing was our next stop. That facility is one that every NASCAR fan should see! Michael lets the fans close to the action and even into the Fab shop where they literally are constructing the chassis and molding the sheet metal into the shape of a stock car. It was absolutely amazing. Of course, no pictures are allowed in the Fabrication section but in the other parts of the shop you can take as many as you would like.
This is Kecia and I out by the haulers that had just returned from Darlington. You can see the backup car still at the top if you look close.
Michael Waltrip took an old movie theatre and created his race shop. It's a unique facilty, much like its owner!
STAY TUNED, MORE OF THE TOUR DETAILS TO FOLLOW VERY SOON....
Nice. :)
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