 First
of all, John and I can't begin to tell everyone that has given us so much
attention and support how much we appreciate it. We are both having
a wonderful time and part of what makes it so wonderful is all of you out
there giving encouragement.
I would love
to have pictures to post on this web site everyday. I have been places
today that provided great opportunity for terrific pics but, unfortunately,
my Sony digital camera has a clock on it and other than the official Great
Race Watch and the analog electric kitchen type clock in each car, nothing
else that tells the time is allowed. So what I have done is to "lift"
some pictures from the Great Race web site and stick them in in a place
or two as it strikes me. This one on the left is the marshalling
point for all 120 cars as we get ready to enter the starting arch in San
Antonio.
Today started
early from the Double Tree Hotel with a car leaving every 30 seconds for
the 10 mile drive to the downtown San Antonio starting point called Sunset
Station. Starting about 9:00 am the station was packed with not only
the Great American Race cars, but also by several car shows with every
type of hot rod or antique car one could imagine. There was live
music and the place was jumping. I was very pleased to have Peggy's
cousin Betsy show up and spend some time. It was good to see her
again.
Anyway, being
in the Great Race provides one with a degree of instant celebrity.
Kids and adults will come up and talk to you and often ask for you to sign
their program. Now I have never signed my autograph for anyone for
any reason until today and today I did it dozens of times. That to
me is so strange.
At noon, with
the US Navy Band playing and confetti falling and Tom McRea, the founder
of The Great Race doing his MC magic, the first car got under way and then
another and another until all 120 had stopped under the starting canopy,
had been announced and taken the green flag to start his or her Great Race
journey.
We all headed
out of town based on our instructions and started with a 50 mile speedometer
calibration run on the highway headed east towards Houston. And then,
several hours after the grand departure from San Antonio the real timed
trial event started.
Above are a couple
of pictures of Great Race cars on the road and a bunch of happy drivers
and navigators at a lunch stop. These photos were not necessarily
taken during this stage of the race but are typical.
Now here I
am in Houston, downtown in the very nice Hyatt Hotel. My car has
been groomed and attended to by our support staff and the stress of today's
event has caught up to me. I would love to tell more about our afternoon
stop in the little town of Schulenburg, Texas and the wonderful reception
we received from the folks who turned out to welcome us, but I am beat
and I just have to get some sleep. I have to be up and shaking by
about 6:30 and that is way earlier than I am used to. More stuff
tomorrow about our trip from Houston to Fort Worth. |
