Travels with Snowbirds Monday July 1, Talladega, AL

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I TALK ABOUT PICTURES FOR TODAY. I HAVE ABOUT 20 TO POST WITH THIS BLOG, BUT DID NOT WANT TO USE UP CELLULAR DATA TO DO IT. TOMORROW'S CAMPGROUND HAS WIFI, I WILL CATCH UP THEN.



The one all about Talladega Superspeedway

I fell asleep last night, at 9:00, or was it 10:00. Sitting at my dinette. I woke up at midnight. I rolled into bed and slept until 6:00 CDT. Winston wouldn’t let me sleep. He knew it was time to get up. I had turned the A/C off and it was cool, but I could see it was going to rain soon, so we went for a quick walk and we both got attacked by mosquitoes. Back into the rig, sprayed us both down, and back for walk. Winston has very sensitive skin, and bug bites really annoy him. So far, so good and he has escaped all bugs. I also wiped him down with a drier sheet and tied it in a bow on his collar, and that really seems to keep the bugs away. Sure enough, back inside and the rain started. The good news is the temperature is 20 degrees cooler than it was yesterday!! It rained enough for me to start the wind shield wipers and clean the glass. I looked at the weather, and it said it would pass in an hour.

At 10 I broke camp, leaving what I had put outside in my campsite, and was on my way the 5 miles to Talladega Superspeedway and International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum.

While I was breaking camp I had another door episode. BIG GROWL. Another camper, likewise breaking camp, saw my frustration and padded over in his socks to help me out. How do I say this politely. Southern Redneck named Earl. Cigarette hanging out of his mouth. His trailer looks like it hasn’t had a bath in 20 years. Nascar T Shirt. I knew the door wasn’t locked, so I just asked him to pull on it with all his weight and it came flying open. Earl figured out the problem. There are screws on the door that hook into the door latch, and they are too long. You can take your hand and screw them down, and they fit better. Earl thought they might have come loose from vibrations. I noticed that there are 2 strike plates, seeming as if the 2^nd was installed to compensate for a non staying closed issue. If it happens again (I will screw down those screws every day) I will remove the 2^nd strike plate. The things a girl can still learn. There were 2 women traveling with Earl, and they came over to say hello. His ??mother?? was led by ??his wife??. Mom walked with 2 canes, had braces on her legs, and spoke with a slur. She wanted to know all about Winston. She knew he was a Bedlington and never imagined she would see one. Wife was very shy and didn’t say a word.

They have really worked on the infrastructure here. The road leading to the track (Superspeedway Drive, of course) is 6 lanes, 3 each way, very wide, with a suicide lane in the center (for turning) and ultra wide, flat, gravelled shoulders. It looks like an airplane runway. On each side are very large grass fields, and I am sure these are the parking lots and ‘campgrounds’. The stands majestically rise up from the ground, it is quite impressive. I picked out a nice spot in the parking lot, turned on the generator and A/C and headed inside. I was just in time for the 10:30 tour…Of one, me. Bus driver, Bobby…..(why oh why did I want his name to be Billy Bob, or Bobby Joe….?????) had an accent that was almost too strong to understand. He was ancient, even older than me. I had my choice of bus seats, and I moved from one to the other to get the best picture. The rain was just stopping. I took a lot of pictures, all are here. Just to give you some idea what you are looking at: The grandstand is one mile long and holds 100,000 people. The taller section in the center is the handicapped seating, with elevators taking wheelchairs to the top. All other areas are walk up. You might notice some glassed in areas, VIP boxes, of course, and news booths as well. Talladega is the longest Nascar Track, 2.66 miles. All tracks are 45 feet wide. The steepest bank at Turn 1 is 33 degrees. You will notice a picture of the North Tunnels. I am sorry that one didn’t come out better. It is a very steep grade down, a short flat, then steep grade up, and is how all vehicles except trucks and RVs get to the infield. It was scary driving down. There is a separate entrance for large RVs and trucks that goes over the track, but is closed 24 hours before race time. Part of the reason I wanted to visit Talladega is I heard on the tour you could get off the bus and stand on the track and get a picture standing on that 33 degree embankment. They recently stopped doing that….to many people were running up to the top and falling back down and getting hurt. GROWL. But, since I did have the run of the bus, I got some good pictures anyway. Bobby had to stop for some workmen, and he waited until they were walking up the slope and I got some that I hope show you how steep it really is. You can only drive on that curve if you are going at least 80mph, otherwise you flip over. I have pictures of the 1 mile straightaway, and of the pit road. You will notice the cable on the guard rail fence. The guard rail itself is Styrofoam covered cement/rebar. The chain link fence is thicker than you would expect, but is strung with cable that looked at least 2 inches thick for extra support in the more dangerous areas. There’s another picture or 2 of open space with round shrubs – VIP camping sites. If you look at an arial view (I borrowed one from Wikipedia, hope you can see it), you can see that the track was built on top of the old Anniston Air Force Base airfield, and during races it is prized parking on the pavement of the runways. Other than me and Bobby and the workmen, there was NOBODY there. It is hard to believe 200,000 fill this place on race day. They can put 50,000 in the infield, that includes general RV camping, higher level/club campgrounds, specialty seating ($175/seat for race day includes covered seat, free food, separate rest room (which I guess is a big deal, he mentioned it 3 times). If you have an RV in the infield, you are there for the 3 days before the race then on race day, and must leave by 11 am the day after the race. Once in the infield, you are there. No leaving - you are there. You must really plan well and bring enough food and beverages to last that 4 days. For a large crowd in an RV that could be challenging. They have 2 huge shower rooms, 37 showers each, and Bobby said there were long lines all the time. Cost for the tour and museum, $16, and I forgot to ask for my $1 senior discount.

I toured the Hall of Fame and museum, but, honestly, I did not know what I was looking at. Lots of old race cars, lots of pictures, lots of trophies. There was a separate Dale Earnhardt exhibit, and a space dedicated to mini cars, motorcycles, and super high speed needle shaped thingys.

Winston was barking when I returned to Moya. The generator was running, but it didn’t get warm enough inside to cycle the A/C, so I wasted the gallon of gas it used for the hour I was gone……GROWL. I haven’t gone far enough to do a MPG check, but I can tell it is going to be sucky. Too much down time with the generator on, and lots of hills coming up.

Back at the campground I took a buggy walk around, and cloistered myself inside and made crockpot dinner (chicken, cream of chicken soup, Knorr’s herb garlic seasoning packet and I added a few frozen hash browns to soak up the extra fluid) and zucchini/carrot salad.) Since it’s only 2 o’clock, I am going to have to suffer thru the wonderful smells until 6.

I took a short walk to the creek, and decided it was too buggy to venture in, so back to the A/C I went. I saw owner Sue who asked me about the tour, then offered an explanation of another ‘group’ across from me. If I thought Earl’s trailer was 20 years old, this group was in a 40 year old trailer. It was lopsided. There are 4 people in it and a mess of dogs. A young couple and 2 teenage boys. I have seen a pit bull type, 2 dachshunds and some mutts. Today in front of their ‘unit’ I saw a pile of…….crap……that looked like garbage day. Sue told me this group had 10, yes 10 dogs in the trailer today. What???? I did not hear the A/C. There was no one home, either. Sue told me today was moving day for them. They showed up a month ago saying they had purchased a place up the road and were cleaning it before moving. They came back around 1:00 with a Budget Truck, hooked the crooked trailer up to it, put the ……crap…….into it, all 4 in the cab and took off down the street to their new home. I wish I knew how far it was, down the road, I would love to see it. 10 dogs??????

TV reception is wonderful via the air antenna, again, no NBC or ABC today. I gotta say, I did enjoy CBS morning show – it was news!!! I guess I didn’t realize how much my favorite ABC GMA had gotten away from the news!!! I think they jumped the shark, and are too much like Star magazine now. I want more news first thing in the morning. But, I did miss watching General Hospital.

The mosquitoes are nasty. As are the no see ums. I have doused myself with OFF 3 times today, and I scrub Winston with the dryer sheet to keep the tiny bugs off his butt. We did not spend a lot of time outside, just too buggy.

Off to crochet. On the road tomorrow. Tupelo. Think I will be able to find a PBB sandwich???

Kat out

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Comments

[denise]

comment
so sorry you didn't get your picture. really thought it'd be perfect for thr xmas card. guess you're meeting your usual cast of characters. aren't people interesting??? have fun and be safe! d

[NanaKat]

meeting lots of interesting people
I am posting yesterdays pictures today, awesome internet at tonights campground. I will be up all night!!!