Karens Road

I was reading through My Document’s folder and ran across a post I had written about our trip to the Indy 500 last year. I never posted it! So, this is a year old but I want it in my blog so I will always have it. Sorry it is so late.

I had not realized it but I had never sat in the grandstands for the Indy 500. I have attended but always wandered around the infield. It must have been 30 years since I had attended the race. I had no idea it had been that long. When we were in our twenties, Lynn and I went down the night before and spent the night in a friend’s yard. I cannot imagine doing that now. Oh the carefree days of our twenties. LOL
We left Sunday morning and our first quest was to find Krispie Creams. Do you know that some convenience stores do not receive donut deliveries on holidays? Well, it is true and a travesty if you ask me. Having that Krispie Cream is what starts the day off right. After finding donuts and coffee, we headed toward Indianapolis. Traffic was not as bad as we expected until we neared the speedway. I kept thinking of the price of gas as we inched our way toward the parking area. We passed a high school that was earning money by parking cars in their lot. I would have gone in but hubby said it was too far to walk. I could see the track and thought it surely wasn’t that far but he has done this the past few years so I trusted his judgment, thank goodness. We traveled on and parked in a field. The field was full of campers and tents of those who had come down the day before. They had grills set up and were playing Frisbee and lawn darts. Oh, and drinking whatever tickled their taste buds. We walked past many inebriated souls.
Some of the campsites were cozy. They had all the conveniences of home. There were many large motor homes. There was a tragic event because a motor home’s exhaust went into the vents of a nearby camper and asphyxiated the occupants. One man died and the rest of his family is still in the hospital.
We walked quite a distance to get through all those campers. We arrived at the road leading into the grandstands and joined the others wading their way toward the gates. It felt like we were cattle being herded toward the slaughter house. Thank goodness the weather was beautiful. If it had been hot, I’m sure I would have felt claustrophobic. Our wait to get up to the gates was long. Each bag had to be checked for contraband. Some folks did not know of the size limit on coolers allowed in the seating area and so there were coolers left along the road.
Scott Dixon, winner of the 2008 Indy 500 race.