We were all up by 6:00 AM and on the road by 7:00 because we had a three-hour drive to get to Wakarusa and Bremen (where we were leaving our motorhomes) before driving in the car to Indianapolis to be in time for the start of the NASCAR race. Neither Rosanne nor Graham have experienced a NASCAR race up close and personal before so there was a definite sense of excitement in the air.

First, we went to the Travel Supreme service centre and parked our rig and then followed Graham and Gayle to Bremen where they were camping for the week. After getting their motorhome settled in, the five of us piled into our car and headed to Indianapolis. The Brickyard 400 was scheduled to start at 1:30 and our saviour was the fact that we have gained an hour because we are now in the Central Time Zone. As we got closer to the racetrack the traffic became more congested but somehow we found a parking spot near an entrance and arrived in our designated seats just minutes before the race began. We were among a crowd of a couple of hundred thousand other race enthusiasts in extremely hot, humid weather and no one was complaining.

Fortunately Gayle had a large paper serviette with her because once the race began we needed earplugs and we quickly fashioned some out of the napkin to preserve our hearing. Yours truly found the ten cautions frustrating as hell and actually napped with my chin resting on hand several times during the race but my racing buddies were wide awake and completely mesmerized by the entire event. I'm afraid I am not as enthusiastic as them but I had a good time anyway despite the noise, heat and hard seat.