Virginia for Labor Day and the NASCAR Race at Richmond

We spent the week of Labor Day in Virginia. We were the guests of Gary and Marie Allen and had a great time! With all the travelling Evan and I have done to Virginia in the last year, Gary and Marie have graciously taken us in and have become like adoptive parents to us. They live in beautiful Williamsburg and thanks to their hospitality, their house really feels like a home away from home. The biggest highlight of the week was finding out definitively that we were going to be moving and when. It was great to be able to share with them in praying over the situation and then celebrating the good news since we had to be far away from home. Thanks again Gary and Marie for hosting us!

Gary is really into cars and is a big fan of NASCAR. The weekend at the end of our stay was the weekend of the race at Richmond. Gary got us all tickets and Evan and I attended our very first NASCAR race. We went to the Friday night race which is known as the Nationwide Series. The "big boys" race on Saturday night as part of the Sprint Cup but the Friday night race is more affordable and less crowded. The great part is that some of the big names race both so the Friday night race is definitely the way to go for people just wanting to check it all out. Gary and I showed up early so that we could walk around the grounds and check out all the booths that were giving away free stuff. That part was just like OU weekend at the Texas state fair minus the rides and concession stands. The race, however, was unlike anything I had ever seen before. We went up to our seats during time trials for the Sprint Cup race and the noise was UNBELIEVABLE. And that was with just one car going around the track at a time! I have been to some very large and very loud football games in my time but this was the loudest noise I had ever heard. I definitely got a rush standing on the walk way at the bottom of the bleachers watching the cars race by at 185 mph. Even if you couldn't see them or hear them, you would feel them race by. Since the race was on September 11th, there was a very nice tribute to those who lost their lives during the attacks in 2001.

Evan arrived just in time for the race to start and Gary got us set up with the appropriate "gear." We each had a headset connected to a scanner so we could listen to the commentary of the race but still protect our ears. At the advice of Gary, we listened to the start and the first couple of laps with out the headsets. The noise was indescribable! While I could have done without all the people around us smoking, I really enjoyed the race. There were no huge crashes but it was a pretty close race. Having the headsets, scanners, and Gary's coaching allowed me to keep up with the race pretty well. If I didn't have anyway of knowing which cars were leading, it would have been boring but the headsets/scanners solved that problem. Thanks again Gary for taking us to the race! Here are some pictures:

Gary and I at the National Guard booth with Dale Jr.'s car

The pace cars leading the pack out of the pit just before the start of the race

Evan and I at the Allen's country club Saturday night