California, Day 3

Sunday, June 24th

Up early and checked out of the hotel. It’s Race Day! Drove over one bridge or another to get to the Sonoma area. It was pretty, but cold and foggy! Ended up just driving right to the track (Infineon Speedway) instead of taking the little bus that I had planned. Traffic into the speedway was light. Parked my car in a lot, thought I paid very close attention to where I had parked. Of course, this is the wine country and it’s very hilly, so I had to walk up and down quite a few hills to get to my seat. Found my seat and wandered down (meaning I’d have to walk back up) to the main area where they have all the fan stuff. Found the Mark Martin AAA booth and got my picture taken with his car. Wandered back up to my seat and waited, and waited, and waited for the race to begin. Finally after all the pre-race crap and a cool air show, the race was on!

Well, I’m glad I got to see a road course race in person, but I certainly don’t need to do it again. While I could see ¾ of the track from where I was, I couldn’t see some of the best places where they were passing all the time. It was hot, and people kept getting up and wandering up and down the stairs, so that ended up blocking my view half the time. I had brought my own water, but eventually ran out and the places selling stuff had run out as well by ¾ through the race. I decided to beat the traffic and leave a little early. I had my radio headset so I could listen to the rest of the race. By this time I was also quite sunburned, despite having put sunscreen on and reapplying throughout the afternoon.

So back up the hills to the parking lot. At the top of the hill looking down, I picked out what I thought was my car. I kept it in my site as I walked down the hill to the lot. I got to the car, and it was a gold Subaru, just not my gold Subaru! So I wandered the lot for about 30 minutes trying to find my car. I was hot, tired, and very thirsty and seriously about to lose my mind when I finally found it. Thankfully, there were a few cautions at the end of the race making it longer, otherwise I would have had to sit in traffic that I had left early to avoid!

I left the track and made it back to the Bay Area with very little delay. Don’t know how much traffic there would have been if I had stayed through the whole race, but I was glad to get going. Drove back through the East Bay, and back up and out. Eventually I stopped for drinks, snacks, gas, and a bathroom. That is when I realized how sunburned I was! Kept driving through the afternoon all the way to Merced, CA where I had a reservation at a Super 8 (what else?).
Got to Merced in the late afternoon/early evening. Checked into the hotel. One of the nicest Super 8’s I’ve stayed in. They had just remodeled. Wandered around town to find the Wal Mart. Found Wal Mart and stocked up on food and other essentials for my Yosemite trip. Stopped by a Carl’s Jr. and got a Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich for supper. Went back to the hotel and crashed