The trip from hell or how me and Jr got something in common.

[TOMMAY]

I thought I was the luckiest guy in the world.I'd never been to a Nascar race and when my boss said he'd been given a free all expense trip to the Daytona 500 and couldn't go and I could go if I wanted to,I leaped at the chance.

Our flight left at seven am on Saturday and that was the first mistake.I stopped for just one on Friday nite intending to leave in time to get a good night's sleep.Only problem was I ran into a couple of friends and before I knew it the bartender was calling last call and when I got home I was afraid to go to sleep,knowin' I'd sleep right through the alarm.but anyway we made the flight ok and had a two hour layover in Charlotte where I took a nap and my snoring woke me up in time to catch the connecting flight.

Got to JAX ok,but had to rent a Ford which made me kinda ill,especially since they described it as a sporty two door and it was a six cylinder mustang which I could becycle faster than.But anyway we got to the hotel ok about noon and the Cuban behind the counter said we couldn't check in til three PM cause they didn't have any clean rooms.I thought to myself they musta hired my ex wife.I sure wanted to lay my head down by then but I didn't raise too much hell.We decided to just drive on down to Daytona and check out the sights since I was startin' to feel good enough for a cold beer I know I'd live through another day.

We got off the interstate at St.Augustine so we could see the old city and drive down A1A along the beach.Pretty little city,course those war protester's didn't like me too much.One of them stuck a brochure in my window and I threw it back at him and we got in a cuss fight and I was about to exit the Mustang to continue the conversation when the light changed and the cars behind got to blowing their horns,plus there was a gang of about six pretty angry looking peace lovers headed my way so I went ahead and left.Rest of the day was pretty good,found a steak house with a bunch of Harley's outside,spoke their lingo pretty good since I used to ride back in the sixty's and seventys,had a good meal and a few cold ones.

Got back to the hotel bout nine and my prepaid room hadn't been paid for so I had to put it my credit card,too tired to argue,had to hold my breath til it cleared,knowin' it was pretty close to the limit.Got a good nights sleep and up bright and early.

Left the hotel about quarter til seven,figuring i'd get to the track early,boy was I wrong.Got within two miles of the track and sat in traffic for two hours waiting to get into that swamp they called a parking lot.Thankfully I'd had the foresight to lay in a small supply of beer in the car.

We stopped by a hospitality tent and got a hotdog and cold drink and went on up to our seats.Ol boy next to me was drinking the biggest beer I'd ever seen,said he'd gotten it downstairs so I had to have me one,twentyfour ounces,eight dollars!!!How many people can say they've drunk the worlds most expensive beer.

The race was fine except for the rain.It was kind of a blessing though,there was a women in front of me that sure looked a lot better with a sack over her head.

We finally left about five o'clock after the second rain delay to try get out ahead of the pack which worked fine,we were on the interstate in no timeand making good time for about twenty miles then dead stop.Two hours later we passed the jack-knifed tractor trailer that was blocking traffic and made it fine after that.

We were up at two thirty Monday morn to catch our early flight,turned in the rental car and stood in line to get our boarding passes forever it seemed.You guessed it,flight cancelled,snowed under in Charlotte,no other connector for US Airways,can't get out til Wednesday.God,what else can go wrong.Went back down,rented a car,another frickin ford and headed out for home on I 10.Made that four hundred plus miles in about six hours but I was one tired puppy when I got to the airport to turn in the rental car and get my truck and head home for a shower and on to work.

You guessed it,this day ain't over yet,my battery is dead as a hammer.Called my daughter who lives close by and she came and jumped me off.She couldn't understand why I was laughing so hard.I told her I was just feeling famous cause me an Earnhart Jr got so much in common,can't neither one of us get too far on a dead battery.

Good Luck

Tom