Las Vegas Motor Speedway Feb. 29-Mar. 2 2008
Friday, Feb. 29 (LEAP DAY!)
My first race weekend of the year WHOO HOO!!!
This one would be a little different, as it would be en route moving between San Diego and Bakersfield, CA. I would be doing this race weekend with the truck loaded to the tip top with my (not so!) portable belongings, and the cats in tow. It would also be a good test run to see if my good buddy, LeadfootRN, and the cats can get along, as she would be my roommate in another month. Nice to have someone to share the bills with for once!
The trip to Vegas was uneventful, other than a little detour into Miramar Air Force base (Top Gun, anyone????)…the exit to the road that the Time Warner offices were on branched, and, you guessed it, I took the wrong branch. So, I was able to enter Miramar…by 20 feet, to do a u-turn and go back out, following the directions the nice man in uniform at the gate gave me. So I can now say that I have been on a US Airforce base.
Meeting up with LeadfootRN in Barstow, we grabbed a late breakfast and headed off, me in my loaded down truck with 2 complaining cats, she in her little red sports car, to make the last leg of the trip to Vegas. The idea was since I knew where our rented condo was, she would follow me.
Well, as you can well guess from the nickname, that didn’t last long, and before long she was a little red speck in the distant traffic, my poor, loaded down truck taking longer to get up to speed.
I wondered how long it would take her to notice I wasn’t anywhere near behind her…on an open road, once I’m up to speed when my truck is loaded, I can match her speed no problem, (an object in motion or something like that!). BUT in the congested, 18-wheeler-ladden traffic of I-15 heading to Vegas, LeadfootRN was able to dart through…but I was not. THEN one poorly timed big rig decided the 55mph right lane was NOT the place for him, so he upped to 70 (shame shame!!!) and pulled into the left-hand lane, effectively preventing me from going any faster than 70---for about 15 minutes, as we passed a stream of trucks. LF, of course, was NOT doing 70….
Finally she realized I was no-where in the vicinity and pulled over, thinking I was further behind her than I actually was, and waited…and I buzzed past her right after she did that. I guess I made up some time once out of that crowd of trucks, huh?? Funny thing was, if I hadn’t texted her “Buh-bye!! Just passed you!” she would likely STILL be sitting there waiting for me today!!
I’m a good little Leadfoot, I stay wthin 10 mph of the speed limit…most of the time….LFRN had no such compunction, and caught back up quickly at the outskirts of Las Vegas, so we continued with the original plan and she followed me to the condo.
We lucked out, through a pet-friendly hotel site (remember, I had the cats with me) we found a condo for the same price as a room at any of the local one-star hotel chains…found out later that it was still in the process of being renovated, and with it’s proximity as a little apartment/condo complex to the strip, they were keeping rates low to get people to come, get it “on the map”, so to say. I bet that introductory rate will triple by next year.
Brand spanking new condo with 52-inch flat screen TV, for $90/night, and room for the cats to not be confined to a small hotel room all weekend. Not bad!!
One negative. They ignored my request of a first floor condo, due to the fact that I was moving, and aside from certain things I wasn’t going to want to leave in the truck all weekend (TV, computer, 2 17-20lb cats….) it would make life so much simpler just to walk in a door with no stairs leading up to it. I knew from the layout, similar to many an apartment complex I have lived in all over the country, that there would be no elevators.
Can you guess where this is going?
Yup. Third floor. And booked solid, so no way to switch. UGH!!!
After 6 trips up and down those stairs, everything important except the TV was in, (which got covered in blankets in the back of the locked truck in the hopes that no-one would see it there), I was thankful I hadn’t bothered to shower early that morning, because I DEFINITELY needed one before we headed out for the evening.
The only other negative was that, even after having maintenance come up to check it out, it was found that the “High speed internet” advertised did not work. My theory: they had JUST finished the redo on the condo, and had not remembered for whatever reason to have them hook up the internet when they hooked up the cable.
Now we had decided that Friday night, rather than go see the truck race and all the festivities at the track, we would take in a show, so we had tickets to see the full Blue Man Group show. I had seen them at pre-race the year before and loved it, so I knew it would be fun, and it was.
Even when they buried the audience in heavy-duty toilet paper, and my claustrophobia reared for a second until I could get it cleared off me and see again. Truly a fun show, and it was nice to have an excuse to get dressed up for once.
Well, “home” to bed…all race days start early, and the next morning would be no different. Have to take advantage of that one day in the Neon Garage and on pit lane!!
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