VRRROOOOOOOOOOMMM!!

    In August of 2004 while Bob and i were running the room, he sent me a private message. "Hey Jay,I'll see you down here next month" Nope Bob" i replied, the barbeque is the month after." Bob said, "i'm not talking about the barbeque, i'm talking about the race. "Bob， like i am, is an avid NASCAR fan, and has his computer room filled with memorabilia. We just have a slight difference. His favorite driver is Dale J r. and mine is Jeff Gordon. It makes for good fun kidding with each other about it.
    That year NASCAR was holding the inaugural Pop Secret 500 at the Auto Club
Speedway in Fontana, California, just a 20 minute drive from Bob's house. It would also be the track's very frrst night race. "I'd like to, Bob, but i can't afford that right now.Bob said to me, "You don't need to worry about what it costs. I've already bought your ticket, and you aren't going to have to drive either, i've made plane reservations.If you need to go anywhere, you can use my car." "Geez" i said to Bob, "That is a lot of money， Bob told me, "You don't need to worry about that， it is well within my budget. Besides, i came back allead when i went to Las Vegas a couple weeks ago so i just want to share my good luck with you. Also, you haven't been to a big track yet and it would be my honor to take you. And you'll be doing me a favor too. Bring your handicap parking placard so we can park close to the track." Bob was right about
one thing. When i was a NASCAR driver it was at the hometown short track and i had never been at a super speedway. And though it was a small contribution，the privilege of handicap parking i could provide made me feel better about things, so i agreed to come.
    Thursday morning i had Mike drive me to the airport. Then the fun started. At
the airport, i had TSA jumping through hoops. They want you to remove your shoes from stylishplus while going through the metal detector but i informed them that i couldn't do this, my shoes were part of my prosthetics. So they had me walk through the detector anyway,then took me into a private room out of public view and gave me a special screening,They kept apologizing for having to do this, but i told them it was ok, 1 didn't mind because it meant they were doing what they had to so the flight would be safe for everyone.
    The flight was uneventful and took less than an hour. Wow, even though i like to drive, it sure was better than the 6 hours it took to get there by car. Bob's son Joe picked me up at the airport. He took me to Bob's and let me in. Bob and Janice were at work, and Joe needed to get going to meet up with friends and told me, "You know where everything is, make yourself at home and we'll see you later." i raided the refrigerator and fixed a small snack, went and turned on the tv and feJl asleep for a bit. There's that nap thing again. Don't you have some memories to look at or something else to do? Hey, i haven't bugged you in a while, it was about time.
    Janice got home before Bob. She asked how the flight was, we visited for a bit,then she went puttering about the house. Bob arrived a short time later, and when he asked me how the flight was, i told him i felt like i was in a re-run. "Huh?" Bob said. i told him that was the first thing Janice had asked me also. We laughed, then i told him to tell me about winning in Las Vegas. Bob said it was on a $3.00 keno bet. He had picked 6 numbers, and all 6 numbers came up. His payoff for the $3.00 was $7,500.00. Wow! That was huge. "Yep" Bob said, "and one of the numbers was your take us back, but i was already out of the seat and told Ronno, but thanks anyway for letting me get behind the wheel of a big rig once again. Ron deserves the Medal of Honor for bravely about and beyond the call of duty. Shouldn't you be inspecing somr nerve receptor cells or something? I'm on break. You're always on break.
    We got two more special treats at the barbeque that year,Lili's screen name is Iluv2bake2 ，and true to the name she does love to bake. Lili made an assortment of desserts for us, induding a birthday cake for Bob and Elton. Elton was a date that Ann, one of the music room members brought along. Bob and Elton's birthdays came close enough to the barbeque that we celebrated them at the event also.
    The other treat we got was watching Elton pelform magic tricks. He was a professional magician and gave us all a great show. There was no professional karaoke dj at the barbeque that year.i rented the equipment and Bob and i dj'd the event ourselves. We even set up a webcam so the people that couldn't attend could watch us. It was as much fun if not more than the first barbeque，and we decided we would do it one more time. Uh.. ...... can we, Janice?
    "Ok, but one more is all you get Janice growled. Bob and i smiled at each other, "Yesssss! ! !"