Kim's New Wheels !

Kim had some foot surgery done on her right foot April 23rd. She had a large bone spur and, because the cartilage was worn away between her big toe joints, she was in increasing pain. The joint bones were rubbing against each other.

This made it so that most shoes pressed down on this spot...more pain.

After surgery...no weight on her foot for two weeks.

She sat in our lazy boy chair on pain medicine and rested.

Our cat, Hobbes, kept her company. Guess who got to do ALL the chores for those two weeks!!??

Here are the x-rays from this last Thursday when she was FINALLY able to take her walking boot off after 6 weeks and walk freely (and pain free) for the first time in months!

Side view showing the bottom horizontal screw to fuse the 2 joints together as well as the 2 vertical screws front and back.

Top view showing the "plate" that makes sure the joints stay solid. LOTS of hardware in there.

We had two questions for the doctor: (1) will this set off the airport security alarm? ANSWER: it might but if you take off your shoe, they'll just wand that area. (2) will it rust? ANSWER: no, it's surgical steel.

Anyway, you should have seen Kim's face when she was walking around the hospital afterwards. Joy all over her. FINALLY, pain free feet. Congratulations Kim for sticking through it all.

Steve

Daytona International Speedway

Daytona is the first race of the season for NASCAR and it's the "SuperBowl" of racing for the sport. We've (well, actually Steve only) thought of visiting as soon as we got to Florida so....

...on our way down the east coast of Florida, heading to St. Augustine, we stopped off to take a tour. You will have to read the entire blog because I saved the best for last...way at the bottom.

Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959, but the history of auto racing at Daytona
goes back much farther than that.
In 1936, the precursor to today's Daytona 500 was born on a course that went down 1.5 miles of highway, then turned and came the same distance back up the beach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytona_International_Speedway

The official tour tickets.

Our tour bus that pulled us around the track. We got let out on the backstretch. Interestingly enough, the entire racetrack has banking. The backstretch has 3 degrees. The Start/Finish has 18 degrees and the corners have 31 degrees.

NASCAR, and other forms of racing, have now instituted “Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barrier” wall systems. This is a floating wall inside the original wall, with foam and steal separating the two walls. The concept? When a car impacts this wall, it will give way making the impact much softer than hitting a concrete wall at the same speed

The SAFER barrier consists of sections of 3/16 of an inch thick steel tubing, 28 feet long and 8 inches by 8 inches in diameter, backed with thick, closed-cell foam block and retrofitted to the existing retaining wall of a racetrack. .

Photo showing the connecting cable system to strengthen the SAFER barrier.

Photo showing the connecting cable system to strengthen the SAFER barrier.

As part of the tour, we got to see the garages for the race cars.

Kim in Victory Lane ! (after winning my heart)

We got to go into Victory Lane where they roll the winning car after the race.

This is where you see the driver dowsing everyone with whatever the sponsors drink happens to be...Gatorade, Pepsi....etc.

The race is over, and you’re team has just picked up that ever important win after a hard fought day. Your driver has done his burnout and his polish victory lap, pulled into victory lane, and has gotten his Gatorade bath. After he gets his TV and radio interview, its time to pack the hauler and head to the house… Nope, not so fast.

It’s hat dance time.

I’m sure you’ve seen it. Whether you have been at the race live, or watched it on TV. Part of the victory lane activities is the traditional hat dance. The whole team gathers around the driver and the trophy and proceeds to take photo after photo, changing hats each time. Each hat represents a NASCAR sponsor, track sponsor, or team sponsor. There are Goodyear hats, Sunoco hats, series hats, sponsor hats, track hats… You get the picture.

The amazing cornucopia of hats that are ripped through during this chaotic few minutes would make even the Mad Hatter crazy. And its all done to show everyone involved a little love. Each entity represented in the hat dance will receive one or multiple versions of the photo for their records. They can and have been used in posters, advertisements, sponsor materials, and for office decoration.

These photos let everyone know that your company was part of a winning effort. It's really fun to watch them....and, even though everyone else is back taking showers and eating, these guys are still doing the dance BUT, they don't mind a bit....THEY WON THE RACE !

Joey Lagono in the middle of his hat dance.

Right before the photo is taken, the team has already changed hats.

The drivers' meeting room where all the drivers and owners gather before the race to go over the rules and any last minute instructions. You can see our sponsor's hat - DIXON, CALIFORNIA !

They painted the seats all these colors for looks...there is no more meaning than that.

The front grandstands hold over 100,000 people ! The back stretch stands hold another 50,000 people ! Then there are all the RVs and campers in the infield....it's one of the largest cities in Florida on race day.

We got to go up the the press box at the very top to view the entire track.

They had a dirt bike race right before we got there so all that dirt you see is where the green grass and Daytona logo is usually seen.

....like this !

View looking towards the last turn heading towards the Start/Finish line.

Now...for the best part....it was windy out so you'll have to listen closely to hear the narration.....and our laughter at seeing these 31 degree turns. You cannot believe how much of an angle they are until you see them live. The movie might take a moment to load but it's worth it.

View up the turn from the tour bus. Imagine cars going over 170 mph three-wide going around here !

Another view to show the steepness.
The tour director said you have to go a minimum of 95mph just to keep from slipping down.

In 2010, they completely re-paved the entire track. This is showing them scraping off the old road. Again....check out the turn angle.

Then they went and re-paved it....they used tractors at the top to hold onto the paving machine
so it would not slip down as it paved.

Like I said at the top.....that was the best part....seeing the steep angled turns....amazing !

Afterwards, we hung around the always-present Gift Shop but only bought a 50-cent postcard.

Nice, nice tour. Our director has followed the race for over 30 years as a sports reporter and now works full-time giving tours. He was a wealth of knowledge and very willing to answer all questions in depth.

Tampa Bay Sailing Race

Eeeeek ! What are we getting ourselves in to ??!!

Our friend from Tampa, Phil Waller, invited us to go out on his 42' sailing boat for a Thursday night race. We agreed ! When we got there we were told were to be "Rail Meat". Wha???!!!

Rail Meat: When a boat if sailing in high winds, it heels, which means it tips over onto it’s side. If the wind is blowing over the starboard (right) side of the boat, that side of the boat will be tipped up. And vice-versa, it the wind blows over the port (left) side of the boat, that side of the boat will be tipped up. How much the boat tips depends upon the setting of the sails and the amount of wind there is. Today, we had gusts of wind up to 30 mph, which is a lot of wind when you’re sailing.So, the “rail meat” helps to keep the high side of the boat down by sitting on that side with our feet hanging over the edge, and sometimes our upper bodies hanging out through the lifelines, with only our bottoms on the rail (edge) of the boat. Thus, the term “rail meat”.

There were a total of about 12 of us on the boat. 5-7 of us were for the weight...the others worked the sails.

Our Captain, Phil (Captain Bligh)

Noooo! Trim THAT sail !

"What do you think Number One"?

"I think we should do something with that sail in the water " !

Heading out of the harbor.

This large sail (I forget what it's called) is the one that goes back and forth as we change direction. We (the Rail Meat) had to climb over the top...UNDERNEATH....this sail to get to the other side.

....leaving our competition behind.

....waaaaay behind

Kim sat down with the Captain and kept and eye on him.

...and asked LOTS of questions (for future use when we buy OUR sailing boat)..

Tampa in the far distance....we got waaaay out there.

Heading towards our next to last turn as the suns sets.

The view from First Place.

In between the tacks, we could enjoy the scenery.

This was only a partial lean...we got waaaaay over.

It was a great time. We were out for over an hour. We always wanted to do this and Phil was very gracious in asking us out. Now we want to buy a sailboat...but a much smaller one !

USS Alabama battleship

After settling in to our RV park in Milton, Florida called Avalon Landing, we went back to Mobile the next day to visit the USS Alabama battleship military park.

Obviously, we did not take this photo from the air. This shows the immense size of the ship next to those tiny cars in the parking lot and the submarine in the upper right. HUGE !

We saw the USS Kidd destroyer in Baton Rogue and were impressed but this one...WOW ! Monstrous. As a comparison, look at this photo....

Battleship in the middle and destroyer on the bottom.

It took us about 2-3 hours to tour the ship. They had three self-guided tours with Blue, Yellow and Green arrows showing the way...all the way from the very bottom decks up to the very top.

View from one of the upper decks.

That tiny cowboy in the picture is me....shows how large these guns are.

This is the ammo that the guns shot.

The description of the armor.

You can see the projectile with the yellow tip in the left foreground.

This is what it looks like when all three guns shoot. I would not want to be on the receiving end !

Captain's formal dining area where special guests would be entertained.

One of the many kitchens on board. The ship had a compliment of around 3,000 people to feed.

Ymmmmmm.

They had a scale model in one of the lower decks....take a look at the detail !

The ship had observation planes that were catapulted off then retrieved with the hook.

The ship had many many more guns and anti-aircraft guns and they all did damage but the big ones where the most impressive.

View from the very front....looking over the edge was a LONG way down.

This is inside the large guns where the projectile went before shooting.

This is inside the main guns turret looking sideways. There were three gun chambers.

There are three of these guns on the ship. Each turret goes down to the very bottom deck. It took 140 guys to man each of the three 16" guns.

Here is an animated GIF file that shows how the projectile is loaded below decks, then the powder (explosive) is added, then it's loaded into the gun on the top deck, then WHAM !

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Animated_gun_turret.gif

and this cross section....

The weight of the guns dictates that it bets anchored waaaaay down below.

Bob Feller was a sailor on this ship.

They had this set up where he bunked.

USS Alabama...nice visit.

The park also had many airplanes, tanks and two submarines on display but it was all too much to take in in one trip.

Aircraft listing: http://www.ussalabama.com/aircraft.php

USS Drum: http://www.ussalabama.com/uss_drum.php

Military equipment: http://www.ussalabama.com/military.php


We just cruised through the sub (USS Drum) and airplanes before heading home.

If you're ever in Mobile, Alabama, go see the USS Alabama....you'll love it.