Days of Thunder

We have had such a great weekend and I feel much more relaxed. Yesterday we packed up our cool-bag and drove down to Homestead to the NASCAR championships. Now, I am no petrol head, neither is Angus but we have a very clever friend who is an 'aerodynamicist' (I think that's what you call him) for one of the teams and seeing as we don't get to see him very often and he was just down the road we decided to check it out.

I am so glad we did. Not only was it simply lovely to see Tom, but the racing was awesome! As we turned off the turnpike we could see the enormous track grandstand looming ahead of us. There were aeroplanes circling above with advertising banners streaming behind them, a vast car park rapidly filling with big, 4x4 trucks (everyone drives a truck over here) and the roar of race car engines audible before we had even got out of the car!

"I love big events", said Angus with a shudder of excitement.

I knew exactly what he meant. A county show at home in the UK, a festival or a football match, the atmosphere of a large event is just brilliant and it has to be said that nobody does large events quite like the Americans.

There were tailgaters with bbq's, rock bands, beer stands, corn dogs, a lot of baseball caps and cars! Oh the cars! They were so fast and so load and SO cool! Even Coco (in her protective ear-muffs) seemed to enjoy the thrill of the race - literally.

Catching up with Tom was just what I needed.  I love making new friends but the easiness that there is with old ones is sometimes just such a relief.

Anyway, should you get the opportunity to go to a NASCAR event then definitely do it, even if you don't like cars, do it for the experience. The noise, the smell, the people and the speed is straight out of 'Days of Thunder'. I would also be prepared to lay money on the fact that some of the drivers were dead-ringers for Tom Cruise!