I've been watching NASCAR for a few years now, after many years watching Formula 1. Not actually watching, more like having it on to accompany whatever I'm doing - on TV you miss the speed and sounds of a real race. I once had a taste of stock-car racing when I volunteered at the Edmonton Indy, and thought the thunderous sound of a V-8 pushrod engine at 9500 RPM was AMAZING.
So I'm planning to see a race - in Bristol, Tennessee ...
| 2012.08.21 |
Into the South |
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After about 12 hours from home to Charlotte Airport, I'm on my own with a rental car, a red Kia Rio, a gutless but eminently thrashable econobox. And we get off-track pretty much outside the airport, but not badly, making a wrong turn down Tuckaseegee Road and stopping in the parking lot of Ridgeview Baptist Church to recoup and call Mom and get a little acquainted with the firm but friendly British fellow in my phone.
And get acquainted with the heat. The air is warm and thick and persistently so. 80-something degrees and 70% humidity or more. It's not burning like prairie heat but a slow steaming that didn't stop until I got on the plane back home. It's just part of southern life. And air-conditioning if you have it, and I had it!
Back on the right road, it's five hours of highway driving on 485 around northwest Charlotte and then northward on I-77 as the sun fades into rural and mountain darkness. Then seamlessly west on 81 to Bristol. A direct introduction to the US roadway system and traffic density. Seems to be lots of fresh asphalt and concrete and white and yellow paint all the way, and a couple spots of construction. There's a lot of truck traffic but not a lot of population. In addition to the usual gas/food/lodging stops, there are lots of rest stops with washrooms and some sort of visitor-oriented center, and benches and tables outside. Even in the dark the air is warm and thick, and the trees chatter with the scratchings of chicadas and frogs and whatever else is chirping and buzzing away in the dark.
I try the radio several times, and for the most part it's country music or talk. I finally catch some jazz from the NPR station in Roanoke VA to carry me through the northernmost parts. Otherwise I drive with it off, just the sound of the car and traffic around me and my own head. I've never had a car radio that worked for more than a year so I don't need it, which is good because for most of the trip except around Wilmington radio in these parts was the same unlistenable noise - definitely nothing like CKUA.
I meet my hosts Nikki and Jim and their little dog Bingo. Very nice people! Though my Mom was concerned about her baby going off into the wilds of Big Bad America, these nice folks gave me a key to their home while they went on with their days. Old-fashioned trust, the way people used to be. Mom would approve!
Between Town
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Tucked into the trees | |
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"Home" for the week is a townhouse complex tucked behind a gas station and a bank along Volunteer Parkway ("the parkway"), the major route between the town and the track. Other than the 4 dozen units of the complex, there are no other residences or many people around - pretty pastoral. | |
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