Thursday - After spending the night in Huntsville at my Granny's, she dropped me at Burger King Thursday a little before noon. And there was Franna already waiting for me. :)

I introduced them, and we chatted in the parking lot a bit, before my grandmother took off, and Franna and I had lunch. Then we headed off to her place, chatting and catching up along the way. We arrived around 2:30, and the tour began. I met her dog, Guinevere, and her month old puppies, Bud (short for Budweiser, of course), Bear, and Lily (figure that one out). They are very cute.

Then the Earnhardt portion of the tour started. LOL The pictures on the walls, the car collections... Then she started dragging posters out from underneath the bed. hehe She told me the autographed Sam Bass of Junior and the Bud car was mine, so I stood there, mouth agape, and then she told me I could have a poster of Junior's first Cup victory in Texas, which is very, very cool. I love them both.

After we put the posters back up, she showed me her scrapbooks of pictures, articles, and various magazines. All very cool as well. I love stuff like that, so it was fun. Then we sorted driver Beanie Bears out, and laughed at the vast assortment of them. We were drowning in bears, seriously. ;)

When we were done with the sorting of bears, there were dogs to feed, then ourselves to feed. We went out for chicken fried steak (yum), and came back and messed around on the computer, and watched TV for awhile, then went to bed early so we'd get to the track the next morning in plenty of time to do all our shopping and looking around before qualifying that afternoon.

Friday - Bright and early at 7 the next morning (you know, for a night owl like me), I got up and we prepared to leave for the track. We were gone by a quarter to nine, and it was a beautiful day, and a lovely drive up to Ft. Worth.

We made a stop for lunch, and still made it to the track about 12:30 p.m. We headed for the souvenir trailers, but that first trip nothing really reached out and grabbed me, so after looking around at the various car displays, one of which was the Dale Earnhardt, Jr. signature series Monte Carlo. God, that is one hot car. Franna and I decided we'd each take one. hehe We went up in the stands to see what was going on, and they were starting to roll the cars out on pit road for qualifying.

We wanted to make a pit stop before Junior's car made it out, and go back down to the car to get the rest of our stuff, cameras, etc.

The bathroom was first, and that's when Franna got stuck in the bathroom stall. Oh, I kid you not. She told me it wouldn't unlock, and I instantly went into panic mode. I didn't know what I was going to do, because there was no room for a grown person to climb out underneath, and it was way too small to try to kick in without her getting hurt. LOL So after about a minute of this, she finally wrenched it free, and we were both relieved. Apparently the paint on the door was pretty fresh, and it had stuck somehow. We had some laughs over that one, but only because I didn't have to go out and try to track someone down who could get it open. LOL

With that behind us, we made it back to the stands long before Junior's car made it through inspection. Qualifying finally started a little after three, and that alone was fun to watch. I kept an eye on pit road, and saw some of the drivers walking around, or coming out, and spotted Mikey instantly, strutting down pit road, his cap on backwards. lol

Eventually Junior's car made it out to pit road, and its driver sometime after that. Things are so crazy around him, that instead of walking down pit road like everyone else, they had to take a different way with him in a golf cart down to where his car was parked, then he had to sprint for it. Kinda sad if you think about it.

That's when the fun really started, because we had binoculars! hee He was just hanging out talking to the crew to begin with, then standing around forever, because he was about 45th of 47 cars. We ogled, we stared, and by God, we drooled! LOL There was one point when there he was, firesuit around his waist, leaning over the back of the car. *drools* It's a wonder we weren't flat out on the concrete at that sight. Hey, that's a nice rear spoiler would be putting it quite mildly. And those legs that go aaaall the way to the top, as Franna says. ;) The gawking continued till he pulled up his firesuit and got ready to make his run.

We were about dying to make another pit stop by the time he went out, so we just did make it till after it was all over, and we made sure not to have another ladies room crisis. ;)

There was another trip to the trailers, where I got a 1:64 scale Bud car, as well as one for my little brother, and a pennant for my room. That's about all that appealed at the time.

We debated staying for Trackside, but decided not to, as the fans were starting to get drunk and rowdy, and we wanted to get supper and crash at the motel instead. We headed off to McKinney, checked in, and went to El Chico's for supper. Then we went back to the motel, watched the news for the weather, and fairly sure all would be well for the Busch race, went to bed.

Saturday - Yet another bright and early morning, and we were off to IHOP. Mmmm. We arrived at the track about 9:30 or so, and heard the engines roaring, so we left our stuff, and went up to watch second practice. After that, we walked down to the Speedway Club to see where Franna's name is engraved on the wall along with all the other people who first bought season tickets. See? She's famous. ;) In our wandering down that way, we found a great stand selling pictures, and found an 8x10 of Junior and the entire Bud Crew/DEI gang in Victory Lane at the Daytona 500 that we just couldn't resist. It's really a great picture.

There was another trip to the souvenir trailer, but we ended up standing there for 20 minutes for nothing. They were sold out of the pendant I wanted. Grrr. Oh well. The Budweiser Clydesdales were on display, so that was our next stop. I'd never seen them in person, so I marveled at how huge they are. Crazy mutant horses. lol We made yet another trip to the car, and found that her hubby wasn't feeling well, so he stayed there, and after we dropped off our stuff, headed back up to watch Happy Hour.

After Happy Hour it was back to the car (can you tell we did a lot of walking?), then a stop for water, and it was off to watch the Busch race.

We cheered Martin Truex, Jr. on all day, and listened to the scanner. That is one laidback guy. Even when they got in trouble with loose lugnuts, he was cool, and it was Bono that got upset when Justin Labonte messed up their exit of the pit stall. He was going nuts on the radio. We had yummy pot roast sandwiches for lunch somewhere in the middle. The racing wasn't boring at all, but it did seem like there were a lot of cautions sometimes. One of the funniest comments all day was when there was a debris caution, and the 8 guys were talking on the radio. I do believe Martin asked what the caution was about, to which someone replied "One of those dangerous spring rubbers." lol

We left when it was finally red flagged with 5 or 6 to go, and Martin was in 12th, so we knew he wasn't going to get this one. Listening to the radio once we were back in the car, we were overjoyed to find out that he'd pulled off 10th in the race and second in the points, and we declared it a successful day overall. Franna thought of a way around the construction in Denton so getting to and from the track would be easier the next day, and we were excited about that, too.

After dropping her hubby off at the motel, we went to grab some supper at Chik-Fil-A, and took it back to the motel room. We just had a picnic on our beds, lazed around, and had no trouble going to sleep that night. Which was a good thing, considering daylight savings time was about to start, and we were going to lose an hour.

Sunday - Race day started at 6 a.m. (Yes, it is a wonder I'm still alive.) We got dressed and ready to go, and Franna checked on her husband, to see if he was feeling any better and what he was going to do. He still wasn't up to going, so she told him bye! and we left. lol

We had a quick breakfast at Jack in the Box, and took our new found route to the track, and the traffic wasn't even that bad till we got pretty close. We were parked by 9, and grabbed our tickets so we could go ahead and get in so we could make a pit stop and get a bottle of water. After getting back to the car with our newly acquired free Dallas Star-Telegrams (Junior was on the front page), we settled in for some reading, and people watching. The article on Junior was very good, and before I had finished it, Franna had made her way to their race section, where she discovered that the parade lap with Junior had been auctioned off the night before for $16,000! We knew he'd be expensive, but dayum!

We also managed to be highly amused by the SUV full of Stewart fans who were cooking breakfast right across from us in the parking lot. They had a Thermos pop-up grill/ice chest combo, and this guy cooking thought he was the Grill Master, you could tell. They had a good-sized market's worth of stuff dragged out, and it turns out they were only making breakfast burritos.

Made another run up to the vendors for lunch, and brought well-stuffed pot roast sandwiches back to the car to eat. After we were done, it was almost 11:30, so we packed up our stuff, and headed for our seats. The driver introductions were fun, but then I'm easily amused. We clapped for most, ignored some, and then booed the hell outta the Keebler Elf! It was like thunder in there there were so many boos. And don't let Franna tell ya she didn't join in, because she did! hehe

I booed Jeff Gordon once, for good measure, and so Toxx wouldn't wring my neck. LOL The most cheers were for Junior by far, but judging by the 8s and 3s we saw all weekend, it was most definitely an Earnhardt crowd. More boos for Keebler on the parade lap, and more cheers for Junior, who was in the back of the pickup with what looked like a young girl, so daddy's money probably bought that ride.

By far, the strongest reactions were for those two, and they were on far opposite ends of the spectrum.

After the rest of the preliminaries, the race finally started, and went on for quite some time without incident. We tried to listen to Junior's frequency, but it was constantly being interrupted by the concession stands somewhere, so we heard a lot more of Spanish than we heard of the 8 driver and crew. Turns out it was the same for them.

Contrary to what people that watch on TV seem to think, there was lots of good racing, and passing, but the thing about Texas is you have to have a car that can catch other cars, because they do get really strung out on long runs. The only time we left was halfway through the race, and it was slightly boring for a bit after we got back, but things started happening near the end. There were many cheers when Gordon lost the lead (thank God!) due to an alternator problem that was sadly remedied shortly thereafter.

Poor Kasey was working in that second groove at the end, but he just never could catch Elliott. I knew Junior didn't have a shot at the win, so I was just praying he'd hold onto a top 5, while I rooted for Kasey to win. In the end, Elliott was the victor, and that was cool with me. We left as he was doing his donuts and burnouts on the frontstretch, so we could beat a lot of the traffic.

We more or less zipped out of their around 4:15, and we agreed that it had been a good day. We got our good weather, Junior had a top five, and neither Gordon nor Keebler had won. Short of a Junior win, we couldn't have asked for a better day. ;)

We were back at the motel by a quarter to 6, and we picked up Franna's hubby and headed to Braum's for supper. Only we found an Olive Garden along the way, and stopped there instead. Braum's was after supper for ice cream cones. lol

Went back to the motel, watched Victory Lane, and ultimately crashed pretty hard. We were exhausted.

Monday - We slept and then some. We didn't even wake up till Mr. TRL called our room at nearly 8:30 a.m. Shocked at that we got ready to go, checked out, had Jack in the Box again, and headed to Dallas and the IMAX theater to see the NASCAR movie. We got there around 10, and discovered the first showing wasn't till 12:30, so we went to visit Franna's stepdad not too far away.

We arrived back at the theater around 11:45, and were the first ones in line when they started taking tickets. The movie was pretty awesome. It's not like I really learned anything I didn't already know, but the 3D aspect was really cool. It was just a fun ride. All the Junior haters will be glad to know for the most popular driver, that's not in it much. But other than that I give it three stars for presentation. ;)

We had lunch about 2:30 and got back to Franna's a little after 4. We got our stuff in, and chilled for the rest of the evening. Things didn't look good for getting me home on Tuesday, because the stormy weather was moving in, so we didn't really have plans for anything Tuesday.

Tuesday - Woke up at 8:15 in the morning to rain and thunder. Sure enough, the weather people were right this time. Fifteen minutes later, the power went out. Since there was nothing to do without the electricity, we decided to go back to bed, and proceeded to sleep for another two hours. lol

We watched an old movie, then went out for lunch for barbecue. We dropped the guys back off at the house, and went to run errands. Wound up at Wal-Mart for groceries, and I fell victim to the NASCAR ladies collection they have there. So I got a Jr. tank and shorts. lol

I got the tour of the big house when we got home, and it's going to be cool when it's done. We had steak for dinner, then we spent the evening watching a '91 North Wilkesboro race, because I'd never seen one. When she discovered I'd never seen the '99 IROC race from Michigan where it came down to Dale Sr. and Jr., we had to pull that one out and watch it, too. We were having a good time with that one, that was the best IROC race I've ever seen.

Everything was starting to catch up with me, so I went to bed pretty early that night.

Wednesday - We left Franna's about 10 a.m., headed for Brenham, and got off the highway at Madisonville and took the scenic route. The countryside is beautiful this time of year with all the wildflowers, and the bluebonnets especially. We had lunch at Sonic in Navasota, and I was home by 1 p.m.

I can never thank her enough for this trip, and all the fun I had. She is an awesome lady.

And if you don't understand some of that, it was primarily written for my race board, so there'll be some things you don't understand. LOL

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