Catching up on the last few weeks

Yeah, so I said I was going to update the blog more often - that's not been going so well.  I'll try to do better.

So here's what's happened in the last few weeks - mostly explained in photos.

The middle of June had me in Michigan for a NASCAR race.  The track is located about an hour and a half from Detroit in the small town of Brooklyn, MI.  This track - like many - are in the middle of nowhere and so there are few hotels near the track.  For that reason, we stay in Ann Arbor, MI.  Ann Arbor is a nice college town with lots of good eateries.  The drawback is that it's a 45 minute drive (each way) to the track.  That really adds to your work day.  The 3 photos below are from the Michigan track.

From Michigan, I flew directly to San Francisco for the Sonoma Race.   Rather than fly all the way back to Florida on monday - just to get on a plane again early on tuesday, I spent a layover day in the Bay Area.

My long time buddy - Tim is going through a tough time in his life right now and it was important to me to spend some time with him.  Tim and I met in Los Gatos and had dinner and then walked to the park and had an excellent reminiscing session.   Tim is an inspiration to me and he'll always have a special place in my heart.

The next day found me in the crew hotel in Napa, California. for a week of NASCAR work.  The following photos are from that week.

This is the courtyard at the hotel we stay at in Napa.  I have breakfast out by this pond with the ducks swimming around.  It's peaceful.

Barry - from the TV show Storage Wars was in the TV compound in Sonoma.  I had to have a chat with him and take a photo.  He's the best character on that show!

Almost every day had us stopping at a winery on the way back to the hotel to sample the wine.  This photo is from the rack in one of the wineries.

A  year ago, I helped my niece Nicole get a job at Sportvision and so I am VERY lucky to get to work with her. She's like a daughter to me.  This is Nicole and I at Laird Winery.

This is Nicole and I at Silver Oak winery. I liked the wine so much there that I bought a $117 bottle of wine.  Sheesh!

This is the back of the main grandstand at the Sonoma track.  Notice the jets putting on an airshow.

After Sonoma, I headed home for a week off.   Starting on July 3rd, I began a week of work at the Daytona Track.  This race is especially good for me because I can work it from home.

After our first 'set' day, 2 of the crew (Jack and Drew) and myself took my sailboat SERENITY for a trip down the river to have dinner at a local restaurant.  It was good to get her out of the slip again.

Jack is good photographer and took this photo of me while we were underway.

While I was working the Americas Cup last year, I met an awesome Scottish lad whom I worked closely with.  He's a big fan of the movie Talladega Nights and so I convinced him to come down to Daytona and experience the race with me after the Rhode Island Americas Cup series the week prior.

Al and I on the roof at the Daytona Speedway

Sunset at the Speedway

One of my favorite bands - Train - played a concert before the race.  Of course my favorite song of their (Drops of Jupiter) was very last.

So after the Daytona Race, I got on a plane and headed to New Hampshire.  The race there is in Loudon - about 35 minutes north of Manchester where we stayed.

The day before I left to go to NH there was a big thunderstorm and it started a fire near our neighborhood.  This photo is taken from the street in front of our house.

This is the view out my hotel window in NH.  The hotel is planted right in centerfield of the local minor league baseball team.

Manchester NH is just 1 hour north of Boston and so Sam Adams is big in the area.  The local distributor had a 'tasting' night while we were there.

Taken from the airplane leaving Daytona.  This is the marina where my boat is.

The view of Daytona beach from the plane.

And that catches us.  

Bonus Pic:

Jan sent me this picture of my boy while I was in NH.