RVGal
Whaaa?
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2005
If I wind up doing a trip report about my latest grocery shopping expedition, stop me and slap me around okay?
You asked for another report, I'm a good homie, you get another report.
Daytona 500. The mere mention gives me chills. The good kind. A little background to this trip...
Last February (2007) my husband (Brad) and I (Tricia) were watching the Daytona 500 on tv like we do every year. We were at my sister's house because my oldest sister and her family had decided to come up for a visit that day and we were gathering at my other sister's house. Brad & I were alone in front of the tv. We are the only Nascar fans in our family. Would a family gathering have been planned for Superbowl Sunday? No. During the World Series? No. During the Stanley Cup playoffs? No. But the Daytona 500? Sure! Nobody cares but the two of us.
So, we're sitting there. Occasionally having one member of the family or another walk in to make a joke or laugh at our expense. There is a fine and blurry line between poking fun at and making fun of. Most of my family sticks to the poking fun at side, which is fine. My brother is the only one that crosses regularly and firmly into the making fun of arena. He seems to think that if he accidentally acknowledges the existence of Nascar, he might lose an IQ point or something. Sigh. He does love to rain on my parade.
Anyway, we're watching tv and a commercial comes on reminding everyone that tickets for next year's race go on sale at the end of this race. Oh, and they mention that next year's race is the 50th Anniversary. I looked over at Brad and said something about how I've always wanted to go to the Daytona 500 and one of these years we're going to make it. He looked at me and said, "Okay, how about next year for the 50th?"
Brad was the mastermind behind this trip. I want to give full and complete credit to him. He started going online immediately after the race to get us tickets. He spent hours on the computer surfing to find us a hotel. The first hotel he found us was the Ramada directly across the street from the track. They wanted $350 a night, with a 5 night minimum stay.
He kept looking. He tried everything. The Daytona Beach Chamber of Commerce wished him luck (and chuckled a little). He started looking at the surrounding area. It seems that everywhere within reasonable distance of the track is booked in person by regulars. Basically, as they are checking out after the race this year, they book their room for next year. Breaking into that inner circle is next to impossible.
Unless you are married to an incredibly focused, motivated, and *ahem* frugal man like my husband.
He woke me up at 1am one night. His eyes were excited. I thought, "Well, I'm sleepy, but okay..." Then I realized he was pointing to the computer. Oh. Not what I thought. I struggled myself awake and saw that he had booked us rooms for Daytona. At that moment, it was "well Woo friggin Hoo now let me go back to sleep". Of course, once I was made aware that he had booked us at the La Quinta that is less than a mile from the track (i.e. walking distance) and managed to secure the rooms for $149 per night for only the 3 nights that we wanted... well, I was much more understanding about how excited he was. It took months of him spending hours looking every day to happen upon that little gem. We still think it was an accident of luck, but we'll take it.
At this point I should mention the other players who will join into our story later. My best friend (Leta) has been a Nascar fan as long as I have. We went to our first race together back in the mid 80s and we were both hooked. I called and asked her (during the 2007 race) if she would like to go to Daytona with us. She said sure, to get her 2 tickets, she didn't think she'd even still be with her boyfriend (Mike), but she'd find somebody to bring along. One of Brad's good friends (Tim) is also a huge Nascar fan, so he called (again, during the 2007 race) and asked if he and his wife would like to join us. He said sure, get him 2 tickets.
So, Brad got us 6 tickets along the SuperStretch (thats the back straight) and 3 hotel rooms at the La Quinta on West International Speedway Blvd.
About 3 weeks before the trip, Tim called Brad to say that his wife had decided she didn't want to go. He was scrambling to find someone to go with him. Two weeks before the trip, we get an email from some guy saying he was a friend of Tim's and he needed information about our seats and hotel because he was bringing his 14 y/o son along and was trying to get a ticket off eBay and such. He wound up buying a ticket on the OTHER SIDE of the track and gave it to Tim so he and his son could sit together.
Leta never did dump Mike. She should. She knows she should. He's a control freak. And I mean that in the most text book sense. He has slowly isolated her from all of her friends (except those of us that aren't willing to be pushed away). He uses anger or guilt to cause her to modify her behavior. CONTROL FREAK. So, needless to say, since this plan was not of his making and not with his friends, he was bound and determined to make the biggest mess of the trip as he could.
I told Brad in the last 2 weeks prior to our trip that whatever happens with everyone else, happens. We are going to go and have a good time. It is not our job to babysit anyone. It is not our job to entertain anyone. We invited capable adults to join us for an outing and that is it. If the make it, fine. If they don't, fine. I'm not worrying over anyone else. I'm not changing my plans for anyone else. I'm not altering my behavior for anyone else. That became our mantra and it helped us enjoy ourselves a million times more than we might have otherwise.
In the weeks leading up to our trip, there was a lot of turmoil in our life. Our 6 year old had some health issues that we worried were going to keep us home, but in the end it all worked out.
Okay, so there is the back story. A pre-trippie, if you will. I'll be back with the road trip in a bit.
You asked for another report, I'm a good homie, you get another report.
Daytona 500. The mere mention gives me chills. The good kind. A little background to this trip...
Last February (2007) my husband (Brad) and I (Tricia) were watching the Daytona 500 on tv like we do every year. We were at my sister's house because my oldest sister and her family had decided to come up for a visit that day and we were gathering at my other sister's house. Brad & I were alone in front of the tv. We are the only Nascar fans in our family. Would a family gathering have been planned for Superbowl Sunday? No. During the World Series? No. During the Stanley Cup playoffs? No. But the Daytona 500? Sure! Nobody cares but the two of us.
So, we're sitting there. Occasionally having one member of the family or another walk in to make a joke or laugh at our expense. There is a fine and blurry line between poking fun at and making fun of. Most of my family sticks to the poking fun at side, which is fine. My brother is the only one that crosses regularly and firmly into the making fun of arena. He seems to think that if he accidentally acknowledges the existence of Nascar, he might lose an IQ point or something. Sigh. He does love to rain on my parade.
Anyway, we're watching tv and a commercial comes on reminding everyone that tickets for next year's race go on sale at the end of this race. Oh, and they mention that next year's race is the 50th Anniversary. I looked over at Brad and said something about how I've always wanted to go to the Daytona 500 and one of these years we're going to make it. He looked at me and said, "Okay, how about next year for the 50th?"
Brad was the mastermind behind this trip. I want to give full and complete credit to him. He started going online immediately after the race to get us tickets. He spent hours on the computer surfing to find us a hotel. The first hotel he found us was the Ramada directly across the street from the track. They wanted $350 a night, with a 5 night minimum stay.
He kept looking. He tried everything. The Daytona Beach Chamber of Commerce wished him luck (and chuckled a little). He started looking at the surrounding area. It seems that everywhere within reasonable distance of the track is booked in person by regulars. Basically, as they are checking out after the race this year, they book their room for next year. Breaking into that inner circle is next to impossible.
Unless you are married to an incredibly focused, motivated, and *ahem* frugal man like my husband.
He woke me up at 1am one night. His eyes were excited. I thought, "Well, I'm sleepy, but okay..." Then I realized he was pointing to the computer. Oh. Not what I thought. I struggled myself awake and saw that he had booked us rooms for Daytona. At that moment, it was "well Woo friggin Hoo now let me go back to sleep". Of course, once I was made aware that he had booked us at the La Quinta that is less than a mile from the track (i.e. walking distance) and managed to secure the rooms for $149 per night for only the 3 nights that we wanted... well, I was much more understanding about how excited he was. It took months of him spending hours looking every day to happen upon that little gem. We still think it was an accident of luck, but we'll take it.
At this point I should mention the other players who will join into our story later. My best friend (Leta) has been a Nascar fan as long as I have. We went to our first race together back in the mid 80s and we were both hooked. I called and asked her (during the 2007 race) if she would like to go to Daytona with us. She said sure, to get her 2 tickets, she didn't think she'd even still be with her boyfriend (Mike), but she'd find somebody to bring along. One of Brad's good friends (Tim) is also a huge Nascar fan, so he called (again, during the 2007 race) and asked if he and his wife would like to join us. He said sure, get him 2 tickets.
So, Brad got us 6 tickets along the SuperStretch (thats the back straight) and 3 hotel rooms at the La Quinta on West International Speedway Blvd.
About 3 weeks before the trip, Tim called Brad to say that his wife had decided she didn't want to go. He was scrambling to find someone to go with him. Two weeks before the trip, we get an email from some guy saying he was a friend of Tim's and he needed information about our seats and hotel because he was bringing his 14 y/o son along and was trying to get a ticket off eBay and such. He wound up buying a ticket on the OTHER SIDE of the track and gave it to Tim so he and his son could sit together.
Leta never did dump Mike. She should. She knows she should. He's a control freak. And I mean that in the most text book sense. He has slowly isolated her from all of her friends (except those of us that aren't willing to be pushed away). He uses anger or guilt to cause her to modify her behavior. CONTROL FREAK. So, needless to say, since this plan was not of his making and not with his friends, he was bound and determined to make the biggest mess of the trip as he could.
I told Brad in the last 2 weeks prior to our trip that whatever happens with everyone else, happens. We are going to go and have a good time. It is not our job to babysit anyone. It is not our job to entertain anyone. We invited capable adults to join us for an outing and that is it. If the make it, fine. If they don't, fine. I'm not worrying over anyone else. I'm not changing my plans for anyone else. I'm not altering my behavior for anyone else. That became our mantra and it helped us enjoy ourselves a million times more than we might have otherwise.
In the weeks leading up to our trip, there was a lot of turmoil in our life. Our 6 year old had some health issues that we worried were going to keep us home, but in the end it all worked out.
Okay, so there is the back story. A pre-trippie, if you will. I'll be back with the road trip in a bit.