My Sonoma Weekend

This past weekend was one of the most awesome, memorable weekends I have had in a long time. I'll give you a brief synopsis of my weekend.

SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2009

9:00 AM: left the house to pick up my rental car at the Fresno Airport. Made a detour en route.

10:45 AM: picked up rental car at the airport.

11:00 AM: left Fresno en route to Vallejo.

2:15 PM: arrived in Vallejo, ate lunch prior to checking in to The Ramada Inn.

2:45 PM: checked in, unpacked, and relaxed prior to dinner.

6:00 PM: arrived at La Strada Nostra, an Italian restaurant on Hwy. 29 in the south part of Napa, to meet my fellow Fox Sports Bloggers (above image) for dinner. A fantastic time was had by all that were present, including a blogger from Yahoo Sports (not pictured) that was in our dinner party. The food was fantastic, the drinks flowed freely, and the company was even better. We hung out at the restaurant until 8:45 PM. A few of us then hung out at the lobby of the Gaia Hotel just south of the restaurant until 10 PM.

11:30 PM: lights out.

SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2009

5:30 AM: awoke and got ready for a VERY long day at Infineon. Made arrangements with YeeMum to pick her up at 7:00 AM.

7:00 AM: YeeMum and I left for the track, arriving at 7:45 AM. We had hit some traffic about a mile east of the track, and there was a slight delay in parking. We waited about 10 minutes for a shuttle to pick us up and transport us to the track.

8:15 AM-12:00 Noon: several of us hung out with Kristen at Kurt Busch's pit to start out. It was interesting listening to Larry, one of Kurt's crew members, explain the process of constructing and deconstructing the pit area before and after a race. I also hung out at Kevin Harvick's and Kasey Kahne's pit areas. (I must have brought Kasey some luck, as he ended up winning the race, LOL.) Jeff, Kasey's catch can man, and I had a good, but brief conversation. I ended up taking a picture with two of Kevin Harvick's crew members (below).

These guys are cool! One of them complimented my Harvick crocs that I was wearing! I couldn't resist having my picture taken with these guys. The picture was taken around 9:30 AM (approximately). I had bought a Pit Pass earlier; that's why I was down in the pit area hanging out and taking pictures of various crew members, some of the cars that were racing that day, some pit signs, and other unusual objects. I even had a few pics taken of me sitting in front of Harvick's pit.

Some unusual pics:

Lugnuts from Jeff Burton's pit (left); Kevin Harvick's pit sign (right). Could the missing Maltese Lugnut be in Burton's pit? Nah, Burton's not running well enough, LOL.

12 Noon: I decided to take my seat. I was sitting where I had a clear view of Jimmie Johnson's pit, as seen below. Chandi (Jimmie's wife) was not there at the time of the picture, but was there during the race.

2:20 PM: Green flag waves, Brian Vickers takes the green flag. He led the first few laps of the event. He was strong at the beginning but faded down the stretch.

The race was scheduled for 110 laps, but a caution with two laps to go extended the race another three laps. Had the caution come on the final lap, the race would have ended under caution. Green-White-Checkered finishes are always exciting, and especially on road courses. Everyone knew that this was the last restart of the race. Kasey Kahne was in front of Tony Stewart at that point.

5:05 PM (approx.): Kasey Kahne takes the checkered flag roughly a second and a half ahead

of Tony Stewart. Here are a couple of pics to mark the occasion:

The picture on the left is Kahne taking the checkered flag with Stewart giving chase. The picture on the right is Kahne's right arm extended as he emerges from the #9 car.

7:15 PM: after a nearly two-hour wait, YeeMum and I finally board a shuttle to take us to the parking lot. We're both exhausted, but she's a happy camper because her driver (Kasey Kahne) won the race and she was able to see him win in person. Once we got to the car, it took us an hour and a half to finally hit open traffic just west of Napa.

9:00 PM: we stop to get a burger and fries in downtown Napa. After not having eaten all afternoon, a burger and fries was a welcome sight (and taste).

10:00 PM: I drop off YeeMum at her motel. I thank her for a great time together and that I am glad that she was able to make it to Sonoma.

11:30 PM: Lights out.

MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2009

6:30 AM: awoke and decided to take my time showering, getting ready, packing for the trip home, etc.

9:00 AM: left Vallejo after a light breakfast and filling the car up with gas. Took my time getting into Fresno. Surprisingly, there was very little, if any, congested traffic.

12 Noon: pulled into Fresno.

12:45 PM: returned rental car without problem.

2:00 PM: arrived home.

That was my Sonoma weekend. I had a fantastic time, and my life is richer for not only the experience, but for the new friends that I made. Thank you all, and I'll see you down the road. Let's make this an annual event!