Me with the Richard Petty car

Yesterday was a very cool day. I won a free pass to the Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC. Since Dave & Tari live there, the kids and I drove there the night before and stayed with them. They were also able to come to the track and watch.

So here's the deal as described on the website: "Your hands are on the wheel, your foot is on the gas, and you're in the driver's seat for 8 laps around the speedway in a 358 cubic inch V-8 NASCAR style racecar that roars with 600 horsepower. Prior to driving, students will go through 2 elements of safety and instruction training, in-car and on-track instruction. After driving like the "King", students will receive a graduation packet that includes a time sheet with a breakdown of each lap driven." Sweeeeeeeet. It was all that and a big ol' bag of Spicy Habanero Dorito chips.

Even though I started slow (only 110MPH or so) I got it up to 135MPH and finished among the top of our 30 person group! The way it works is that you are alone in the car (I got to drive in Kasey Kahne's #9 car) and must follow a pace car; no other racers go at the same time as you and the pace car, otherwise there would be a ton of accidents.

So I'm harnessed up in the car, turn the engine on and it growls. I am by no means a race car guy, in fact they said Micheal Waltrip was there, but I had no idea who that was so I missed a signature opportunity... Anyway, the engine is rumbling like 50 Harley-Davidsons, so I goose the gas just to hear it. All I can say is that if I hadn't gone to the bathroom before the race, I may have in that car. That car Roared! All you can do is grin, nod your head and say, "Yessir, 600 horsepower, thank you very much."

Right after that the pace car pulled in front of me and then took off... my pit guy gave me the 'GO' and I was off. First gear hummed till I was pushing 2500RPM as I was hitting turn-1. I was in third before I hit turn-2 and dropped it into fourth as I hit the first straight-away. I wasn't keeping up with the pace car for the first two laps and the flag-guy kept signalling me to get the lead-out. By the third lap, I was getting to feel more comfortable hitting those turns at 100+MPH and dropped the hammer. My score chart they gave us said my average MPH was 118.75 and that my top speed was 135 with a lap time of 45.47 seconds on a 1.5 mile track.

I wish I could have propped up a camera or something in the car while I was racing because that was incredible! I am very fortunate that it was free because I don't know if I could have dropped $400, but I can tell you I'd be temped to just to do it again!

I'll try to drop some more pictures here later.

Zoom-Zoom

Me with the kids before my race

Richard Petty Driving Experience

Just before I took off...

Heading to Lambeau Field

Amy and I are spending our vacation up in Wisconsin to see my family at the end of October. Amy, being the amazing wife she is, scored us tickets to the Packer game when they play the Cardinals on the 29th! This is the second time I'll have been to Lambeau, the first being when I was in middle school and too young at the time to appreciate the experience. Granted, the Pack wasn't quite in their glory years at the time... I think Lynn Dicky was still QB for them? Well, I guess you could say they're not quite in Post Season form now either, but I'll get to see Favre in perhaps his last season. Good or bad, it will be an amazing time.

Thanks, Amy. You are the best!

Wendy's Cannot Do Breakfast

Wendy's should stick with burgers.

When I saw that Wendy's was finally going to break down and serve breakfast, I was pleased. I like Wendy's if I'm on the road and in the mood for a good burger, I'd keep an eye out for ol' Wendy before hitting the golden arches or the more expensive Hardee's.

However, when the day finally came when I had an opportunity to check out how Wendy's breakfast could stack up next to BK & McD's, I was severely disappointed.

I ordered a southwest egg sandwich combo. The hash rounds are nearly identical to BK, and the coffee was alright. The sandwich left a lot to be desired though.

A few weeks later, I decided to go back and give it another go. This time I ordered an omlette dipper meal. They looked like large hash rounds, but with egg on the inside. Seemed like a good idea when I ordered them. They tasted like wet sand. I took a second bite, convincing myself that I wasn't going to waste it. I ended up not taking a third. Never again.

Sorry Wendy's. You're burgers rock, but leave breakfast to the other guys.

Richmond Church 10-Year Anniversary

Yesterday, we were able to drive up to Richmond, VA for church. Why would we drive 3 hours to go to church you ask? It was the church's 10-year anniversary; Amy and I had been on the team that went there to plant the church back in '96. We got to see a lot of old friends, some of whom we hadn't seen since we had move from there.

In the picture, we are with old friends, Ruben and Barbara Marbury and their three daughters. Soraya is next to Ruben, Krista is next to Amy, and Bryana is in front of Barbara. We were only in Richmond for only six or seven months when we moved with Ruben and Barbara to Cleveland to help with a church up there.

Before I even met Amy, she was good friends with the Marbury's. She would nanny for Krista when she was just a baby. It's because of them that Amy and I are together. Ruben has been like a father, brother and best friend to me and I am so grateful for their friendship to Amy and I through the years.

Friends from out of town

Amy's friend, Michelle, was in town and stopped by to visit. They were buds back in Virginia Beach and her and her husband moved to Elizabeth City, NC a few months before we moved down here to Raleigh. We invited them to spend the night because the kids were having such a great time together. Michelle's daughter, Faith, is reading a story to Kerrigan and her sister Micah at bedtime. What a great time we all had together!

Amy, Tiffany & Bethany during our impulsive visit last weekend. We went up to visit Rob and Tiffany since she had her last (yeah!) chemotherapy treatment. It happened to be Rob Rafferty's birthday, so we went over to celebrate with them. Happy Birthday, Rob! Glad we made the trip, we had a really great time.

Slip N Slide

Having fun in the back yard.