Day 8

Well last night, Haley and I thought it would be best to push through and make it to our final destination, Harrisonburg. It would have been a 9+ hour drive plus stops. When we woke up this morning we decided we weren't in the mood to be in the car that long. So we had a tentative plan to stop in Charleston WV. We checked out and started to drive towards the interstate. At a red light Haley asks, “Would you like to see the race track?” She was referring to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I was like, heck yeah. So, she put it in Google maps and off we went.

It is an amazing place. We drove in under the track up to the museum. From here you could only see turns one and two. It gave me a perspective of how big this place really is.

We arrived just as they were opening. Couldn't have planned it any better. There were only a handful of people in the museum the whole time. The displays are amazing. Being able to get right up to the cars and in some instances, touch the cars, is very cool!

Haley asked which was my favorite. Being a huge fan of all motor sports, NASCAR is my favorite. Penske is my favorite team and Blaney is my favorite driver. So, I was thrilled to see they had his car from last years Coca Cola 600 in the Penske wing.

I was also cool to see the Indy 500 trophy, the Borg-Warner Trophy. I was surprised to find out it is the actual trophy on display.

Because there were not many people there, we were able to walk up to the simulators right away. I did a lap time of 40 sec. The wining qualifying time this year was 38.11 sec. I probably wouldn’t have qualified with a my time, but being within 2 seconds is pretty good, I think.

There are several other cool cars to see there as well. I highly recommend the visit for any race fan. Haley said she enjoyed it, and she isn't into racing at all.

By the time we were done we were both ready for breakfast. We found a coffee shop near the track which naturally had a racing theme.

I had a french toast egg and cheese breakfast sandwich which hit the spot.

We found our way back to the interstate and started on our way home. Since we weren't going to make it home today, we decided to stop near Charleston, WV. We found a hotel and casino place. Haley has never been in a casino.

Pretty nice place. We were pretty hungry by now, but the only food was a cafè in the casino. So, we took our baggage up to the room and went across to the casino.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best food. But, we were hungry enough to eat anything.

I’m not a very good gambler myself and Haley didn't understand what all the hype is about casinos. I told her this was a small one and the bigger ones have mire flare and excitement. They gave us a new member $7 to play. We just did the machines. No big winners, but we didn't loose anything. We went back to the room to catch the world cup games and called it a day.

Tomorrow will definitely be the last day of driving. Not sure what or where we might stop and see along the way. Come back and find out!