The boss is headed on a plane back to North Carolina and I’m in the airport for a quick (hopefully) flight from San Diego to San Francisco. We wrapped up the Las Vegas and Perris part of this West Coast swing, which continues the next three weekends in Tulare, Chico, Merced and Calistoga.
Our trip to Vegas was long last Wednesday. I stayed up the night before so I could sleep most of the flight, but that didn’t work out as planned. We had a flight that lasted an hour and 15 minutes from Charlotte to Atlanta, then a five-hour flight to San Diego. I was able to crash for about the first two hours before my legs started cramping. Those last three hours on that tight plane was anything but fun. Once we landed and picked up the rental car, we drove about five hours to Las Vegas.
I then became an old man and fell asleep by 10:30 that night. Ahhh, the exciting life on the road, right? I learned a couple of years ago that you have to sleep when you can because you never know when that opportunity will present itself again.
Somewhat well rested, we headed over to the track the next morning and put on a solid show. It lasted longer than anyone wanted — the feature took about an hour — but three red flags and nine total cautions will do that to any race. Tim Kaeding pulled off his first World of Outlaws victory since 2009 and it was neat to interview him after his celebration.
We then drove four hours to Perris, Calif., on Friday and had a staff meeting for a little longer than two hours. The positive on that day was the dinner that we all went to that evening. It was great to mingle with coworkers in a casual environment.
The following day we put on the first World of Outlaws race at Perris Auto Speedway since 2007 and I think it was pretty successful. It was cool to have a winged sprint car race in the Los Angeles market and I got the feeling that the spectators felt the same. Joey Saldana led all 30 laps to pick up his first victory of the season.
That brings us to yesterday, when we drove to San Diego, ate lunch on the bay and did a light site seeing. I also met up with a friend I hadn’t seen since college. It was a relaxing day in a gorgeous setting. Despite being a little windy, it was 75 degrees and sunny all day to create a nearly perfect atmosphere.
Now most everyone else is back in North Carolina or will be in the next couple of hours. I’m staying in California for the remainder of this swing and I get to stay with some close friends during the weekdays. Therefore, I am now waiting in the San Diego airport people watching and trying not to overhear this annoying conversation from two people next to me. I’ve seen some interesting characters walking around in here, including two ladies who were walking small dogs.
