6/16 - The trip to Mall of Georgia!

What started out as a shopping trip for Father's Day, ended up as a United Nations experience!

Stephanie and I planned a girl's day out and David, Don, and the boys were not included. We were going to go to the Mall of Georgia for the day! Unfortunately, we never made it!

Steph picked me up and we soon realized that the road we needed to take was a parking lot. No problem, a quick U-turn and we're on our way to the secondary road. Seems everyone else had that idea, too. Quick turn down a street and......WE'RE LOST! LOL

We decided to go to Gwinnett Place Mall instead. No problem! Get on the right interstate and get off at the exit.....problem! No left turn and no other way into the Mall. SOoooooooo-----quick U-turn on the on-ramp and we get into the mall! Finally!

We went to Sears first to get Don's gift! All three of the people who waited on us had different accents. Great to hear them. I noticed everyone in the mall was different from us. No scared, just intrigued. Steph said the area is very diverse because of school and technology groups.

Off to lunch.....no problem! Except the restaurant isn't open on Saturdays. Now what to do with picky eater MOM! She (me) decides a Chinese restaurant would be ok. The food was good, but the waitress who spoke little English kept coming to the table and asking if the food tasted all right. I think she meant (hope she meant) was the meal all right and not the food! LOL

Steph decided to pit stop before we headed out again. She didn't come back and she didn't come back and she didn't come back. Finally! She's back. Turns out when you visit the restrooms, the door signs are Hawaiian! Also there are six other doors back there. When she came out of the restroom, she couldn't find the right door back into the restaurant. Glad she told me to look out or I'd never made it back either!

We headed back to the house where Lensey and Adam were to meet us. They came over to celebrate Father's Day with David. Good to see them!

Uneventful evening....just more rain! LOL

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

6/15 - The trip around Stone Mountain

A quacker or two?

Trey driving the Duck Boat!

Patrick and the surprise at Stony Fountain

Trey and Stony Fountain

David and the woman at Stone Mountain Park Village!

Janice arrived about the same time Steph and the boys did. She looks great! She has breast cancer and her hair is growing back in and looks great!

We headed out to the park! Steph and the boys have season passes for most attractions - except the ones we chose today! LOL We wanted to ride the Duck Boats. We'd ridden them in Boston and enjoyed it and thought the boys would, too. Well, one of them did!

Patrick was tired and didn't want to wear his life jacket. He was tired and didn't want a nap, but Stephanie prevailed and he ended up going to sleep with the life jacket on just as we got underway. Normally when they ride the Duck Boat into the water, it's slow and controlled, but not today. The driver hit the water at "full" speed. Kind of like riding a log ride! Patrick got drenched. He looked at his mother like she'd really ticked him off! Steph got a picture of him and then started laughing! She said she knew what Don was looking at when she got mad at him! Trey got to drive the boat and was thrilled.

Before we got on the boat, they gave each of us a quacker kazoo and we had instructions to quack at certain times and we did it well! The driver told one story where there was a wedding going on in the park and they all quacked at the bride. He said she was so thrilled she cried! LOL

After the boat it was on to the skylift. Trey really wanted to do this. Mimi didn't, but she did. David had command of Fearless Boy (aka Patrick) who was RUNNING down the mountain to the fence. What a day! LOL

When we got back down, David was walking along quacking his duck whistle - QUACK! QUACK! Patrick was about 3-4 steps behind him and would QUACK! QUACK! after PawPaw. People were really laughing at the two of them!

We got back to the village and David was "accosted" by a woman! Everytime we've gone to a theme park, he usually gets dragged into some sort of production and today was no different. It was really funny!

They have a fountain there called Stony Jackson and during the day it "speaks" to people and sprays water on them. Trey loved it and got soaked. I almost did until David pointed out where to stand (where it wasn't wet! DUH!). Patrick woke up from his nap in the stroller and wandered over to where we were - just about the time "Stony" got him in the back! He was less than thrilled!

All too soon it was time for everyone to go and Janice headed back to Macon and Steph and the boys headed home. We walked in the campground and met Jimmy and Pat Culpepper. He was a coach at Georgia Tech one time and a recently retired high school coach in Georgia. We had a great time talking to them.

Dinner and off to bed. Still raining every night!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

6/14 - Watkinsville, GA

Trey and Chrissy tangled up while exploring!

Chrissy and Patrick exploring the rocks at the campground at Stone Mountain!

My sister and her husband live in Watkinsville, GA (just outside Athens). My mother is staying with her while we travel. My sister and her husband left the country for a week so my brother is staying at my sister's house with my mother. Need a scorecard so far? I DO! LOL

Stephanie and the boys picked us up at the campground for the hour or so ride to my sister's house. Chrissy went with us. She normally naps while we ride, but not today! There were little boys to play with in the van and daddy was holding me back! She didn't take a nap - neither did Patrick or Trey!

We got to my sister's house and greeted the family. Mama looked great and Jeff was busy painting downstairs. We brought out laundry with us, so I started doing laundry. Mama had lunch almost ready and it was great when we finally ate lunch.

The sprinklers came on (watered from the lake out back). The first set water everything near the porch. Chrissy was off her leash and having the time of her life running back and forth in the sprinklers! Wish I'd brought my camera! They boys played in the second set of sprinklers out in the yard. Didn't bring extra clothes, but it's hot and they'll dry soon. Still no naps for anyone!

Spent the afternoon doing laundry and nothing! LOL Soon it was time to head back. Surely someone will take a nap now - NO WAY!

Chrissy was still excited! Patrick and Trey were wound up, too! NO NAPS! Back to the campground we go and the boys want to explore! We went exploring around the campground and found big rocks and sand to play in. I don't know which of the 3 had more fun!

Still no naps......

Steph and the boys decide to head home for dinner and we went in. I put Chrissy on the couch next to me and she promptly went to sleep! Didn't move all evening. Didn't eat either! I got ready for bed and picked her up to take her to bed. She was absolutely limp and never moved. Looked closely to see if she was still breathing! She didn't move all night! Poor baby was tired! LOL

Tomorrow David's sister is coming up from Gray, GA to spend the day with us. We're looking forward to seeing her and the park!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

6/13 - On to Stone Mountain, GA

Chrissy in her squirrel dog pose. Too short and slow to catch one!

About 250 miles to go today so we left Mooresville early. Fortunately, our route took us away from Mooresville and the traffic. We also got to by-pass Charlotte. Traffic not a problem!

Gas is now below $3.00 per gallon! BIG YEA!

We stopped for a break at a Pilot Truckstop that had an Arby's. We pulled in and parked and noticed several police cars next to us. Then we noticed a young man in handcuffs!

We went inside to get something to drink. While waiting in line, one of the police came inside and was looking around. I asked him if he needed us to move and he said we were ok. He talked to the manager and explained they were taking the guy away and the real owner of the car would be there in about an hour to pick up his car. He said the other 2 people in the car would wait inside the Arby's until their ride came in about an hour. He also explained that he'd told them if they caused ANY trouble, he'd be back and have a place for them to stay!

Rest of the day was uneventful. Got to Stone Mountain and got checked in! Steph and the boys met us at the campground and it was good to see them!

Plans were made to see the park with them the next day! Rain again! Hope it follows us home!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

6/12 - Mooresville - The Race Shop Tours

Amy and PJ from Race Shop Tours

David, PJ, and Matt Kensenth at Roush Racing

Matt Kenseth's Killer Bee's in Action!

Gordon and Johnson's cars

Junior's Racing Shop

Jenny and Junior

Jenny outside Roush Racing fountain

Mark Martin's car ready for next race.

Ginn Racing - new home for Mark Martin

They guy in gray is Chad Knause (Crew Chief for Jimmy Johnson) and the guy in the light blue is Steve Letart (Jeff Gordon's Crew Chief).

Hendrick Wall of Trophies

Joe Gibbs Racing

Gibbs Racing Mission Statement

Tony Stewart's car being readied at Joe Gibbs Racing

Carl Edwards car at Roush-Fenway Racing

Dale Sr. car at DEI Museum

Bud cars at DEI museum

We met Amy and PJ of Race Shop Tours at 8:30 a.m. outside Bob Evans Restaurant. Another couple was on our tour, Carols and Beth. We had opted for the Southern Tour, so we headed out!

I should have written down the order of the shops we visited, but I didn't so they've all run together now.

On our visit to Joe Gibbs Racing we saw the Gibbs cars being prepared for upcoming races. The shop floors are immaculate. Everyone is friendly and waves back. Sometimes the workers also speak to those on tour. Amy our guide knew most of them, so we got a lot of conversation.

In each shop, you pick up driver cards. The cards have the driver's picture, sponsor, and info about the driver and team. After visiting 10+ shops, I have a LOT of card! LOL

We visited Hendrick Motorsports where we got to see the two major crew chiefs on the floor and also walking out of the building. They really have nice displays for the fans.

Also on the tour was Roush Racing - now Roush-Fenway Racing. They have several shops and we saw three of theirs.

Michael Waltrip has a shop, but we didn't get to see it as it takes about two hours to see it all.

We stopped for lunch and saw some of the Penske crew. They were all exceptionally nice!

We visited Penske racing and WOW! It's huge and extremely clean! Lots of workers everywhere, cars everywhere, and pictures everywhere. Penske has the largest shop around.

We passed Jeff Hammond's PIT CREW School. It's also huge. Didn't get to visit there.

We went to Dale Jr.'s shop and came face-to-face with Dale, Jr! Sort of.....he has a wax figure of himself complete with stubble! I had my picture made with it and had it moved a fraction of an inch, I'd have freaked! We were talking with the young woman behind the counter and she told us it was lucky we came today. She told us that Dale would be holding a news conference there tomorrow morning and would tell everyone where he'd be going. She didn't know and only knew she didn't have to come to work the next day until 1:00 p.m. We learned a little later in the day that Dale would be going to Hendrick Motorsports! WOW! What timing!

We toured a few other shops and ended the day at the North Carolina Speed Hall of Fame. Soon it was time to head back!

Our tour guides dropped us back at our vehicle and ended a great day! GOOD JOB! We highly recommend taking the tour.

Back at the campground and another serious electrical/rain storm. Cooled everything off!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

6/11 - More fun in Mooresville!

We're camped along Lake Norman where a lot of the race car drivers live! Not any of them are close to us where we are. Bummer!

We received a DVD from Mooresville that gave info on what to do, shopping, etc. It showed neat little shops in downtown Mooresville so off we went! The two major streets in downtown are Broad and Main. A railroad track separates the two streets. The cute little shops we saw in the DVD weren't there! There were a lot of shops, but not any we care to do into. We turned down Broad Street and passed a cute ice cream shop. A nice looking older gentleman was coming out of the shop enjoying a cone. I kept thinking I'd seen him before.....and I had - Dale Jarrett! Missed that one.

We went to the Hampton Inn to use their internet. Nice to know you can stop in to use it and not be charged there!

Headed back to the campground and watched some tv, movies, etc. Early dinner as we have to be at Bob Evans Restaurant by 8:00 a.m. in the morning for our Race Shop Tour.

Fantastic electrical storm again tonight -2 nights in a row!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

6/10 - Mooresville, NC - RACE CITY USA

We decided to visit a local church before leaving Greensboro and went to Sharpe Road Baptist Church. Their regular pastor was gone to the Convention, but the guy filling in did a great job. We got on the road headed for Mooresville!

Just outside Winston-Salem we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch. The wait was 45-50 minutes and they were packed. We went ahead and put our name on the list, but I had a brilliant idea! We placed a "to-go" order and ate in the RV. It took about 15 minutes to get our food. By the time we finished and we ready to go, it was about the time our table would have been ready! Wasn't I smart! LOL

No problems getting to Mooresville except the transmissions getting worse. It's heating up and not wanting to shift right in first and second now. Glad the campground is close. In keeping with our water theme, were camped on Lake Norman and it's beautiful. There are HUGE houses and BIGGER boats here! The campground is older and has lots of permanent RV's, but it's not bad. We're close to the water and the ducks.

David was outside when a car pulled up. I noticed he and the guy were talking a good bit. Then he and his wife were at our door. They wanted to see the Airstream. Can't tell you the number of times we've done that to people so we didn't mind at all. Gordon and Rita are from Mooresville and thinking of buying an Airstream. They talked for awhile and then we all went to eat at Capt. Pete's across the highway. Had a great time and they were a great couple. Glad we got to meet you and hope you get your Airstream soon!

We watched a little TV and off to bed! Visiting Mooresville on Monday and hope to do the race shop tours on Tuesday!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)