Surprise Get-away

JR and I headed out for my surprise get-away Saturday morning after packing. I was told to pack layers and that the first leg of the trip would be around 7 hrs. in the car. This was all I knew.

I thought we might be going to Ft. Lauderdale to catch some spring training. But when we didn't hit I-10, I knew I must be wrong.

After about 2 hrs. in the car, JR finally told me where we were going and what we were doing. We were going to stay over night in Asheville, NC (where we spent some of our honeymoon) and then we were going to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500.

Now, I know some of you may be thinking that this isn't a romantic get-away. And while there were no candles or violins... it was a perfect get-away weekend. JR planned the entire thing. He searched for-ev-er to find the cabin we stayed in on our honeymoon (but couldn't find it). And the first person he thought of when he was first made aware of the opportunity to get tickets to something he's wanted to attend since his teenage years, was me. And let me tell you... that makes me feel loved.

Plus, JR is continuing to share every aspect of his life with me. THAT is romance to a girl like me. :)

So, here's the report on the weekend.

Saturday, since we had several hours in the car together, we talked about EVERYTHING. We talked about the kids, Reformed doctrine, I read Deuteronomy out loud, we talked about different possibilities for our future... you name it, we talked about it. (without being interrupted by the kids!)

We got to our nice hotel that JR got at a great rate and I got to pick a restaurant. I chose indian cuisine. We ate and piddled around without having to get the kids to bed at 8, and enjoyed time together.

Sunday morning, we got up and were on our way to Bristol (1.5 hrs. away) by 6:30. We listened and sang along with some praise songs and I read more Deuteronomy and arrived around 7:45 am.

Now a little something you, dear readers, should know is that JR and I only packed flip-flops. We live in Florida, therefore, we live in flip-flops. Well... it was 33 degrees when we got out of our car and started the hike from the free parking to the race area extravaganza. Our toes were FROZEN!

There are all kinds of trailers set up with souvenirs and companies giving things away. And yes, it starts before 8 am even if the race doesn't start until the afternoon!

We found the RaceWay Ministries worship service and joined in and then walked around to take in all that the race day had to offer.

Around lunch time we found a stand that were selling Philly Cheese-steaks and we chowed down. After that we headed in to check out our seats. They were incredible! They weren't too high that we would get a nose-bleed (like some of the seats in the stadium) and they were high enough that we could see the entire ENTIRE track.

We explored a bit, walked around the track, people watched, and marveled at a HUGE shopping cart that had a huge engine in it.

Finally the pre-race started. There were fireworks, parachuters, flags, tributes and everything including a flyover by a C-130 - it was pretty overwhelming and filled me with uncharacteristic patriotism. They introduced the drivers and then it was time.

JR borrowed a scanner from his poker buddy, Scott, and we tuned in to Dale Earnhardht Jr.'s radio frequency. The driver's started their engines and they were off!

It was amazing. Junior started in 35th place due to a horrible qualifying race. So he had a lot of ground to make up.

"He's at your door... your bumper... still at your bumper. Clear!" came over the headset. Over and over as Junior passed his competition. With every car that he passed, my excited built. When a caution came out I waited in eager anticipation for the pace car to exit the track and T.J. to say, "green flag on my signal... Green, green, green!" The engines roared back into their race speed and pushed the pedal to the metal.

Since the track is only a half of a mile, the cars did one lap about every 15 seconds. So 500 laps didn't really last all that long. And I was amazed that I was engaged the entire race. Junior finished 14th.

For the last few laps, JR and I headed down right next to the track so we wouldn't get trapped in the 160,000 person mass exodus. THAT was thrilling. The cars zoomed past us at speeds around 140 mph. I was pelted with rubber and track debris as the cars shook the entire stadium. Awe-some!

Then began our trek back out of the raceway and back up to our car. With the throngs of people, we reached our car and promptly got in the massive (MASSIVE) line heading towards the ONE exit. After some creative driving on the part of my husband, we got near the exit and checked our map. Since everyone was driving right, we decided to follow the map and go left. We drove through little towns and disregarded what MapQuest and where everyone else headed, and forged our own way back to a highway we needed to get home. And we avoided being stuck in traffic for an additional 3 hours. Go team!

JR (the Man!) drove all night and got us home a little after 4 am. We crashed and woke up around noon today and headed back over to Debby's to see our kids.

It was a great, memorable weekend. And I'm so blessed that JR is the man that he is.

Here's a slide-show from our weekend.