Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Pell City

... I guess by being realistic I should succumb to the fact that I WILL be homesick at some point so it might as well be right in the beginning. I think I've found some really cool people to stay with my first two weeks abroad, so I think they will aid in distracting me from feeling alone and scared so far away from home. Well, that's all I have to say for now. My next post will be from London! 'Till then...

xo,
jenna p.

... For someone who's life is on the road, and is required to eat out for almost every meal, the idea of the continental breakfast is quite appealing. It's free, and it's right there at your hotel. It should be almost like eating at home... but it's not. Continental breakfast has come to be the equivalent of school or prison breakfast, but without the fake eggs.

Every morning I drag myself to the hotel of the day's lobby, hoping ...

Wow - there are few racing moments I will remember for the rest of my life. Winning the British GT, Standing on the Grid at Daytona, Sebring & especially Le Mans. Tallegeda is another one I think I will always remember, weather brilliant, another Police Escort in and out with Sirens on. Words will not describe it, so I will let the pictures tell the story.

A very special day,

... at as crew. We started by collecting our Sprint View headsets, these are little Screens which allow you to see the TV, look at the stats, replay incidents and listen to the drivers talking to their pits, something I think F1 could learn from. Then off to get our programme and finally and importantly our Caps.

Qualifying was unfortunately rained off, so as I write we haven't as yet seen a ...

We had a one night stop over in Moody. We passed Talladega raceway on the way there but as it was a longer drive we didn't stop off along the way. We also got held up in our first traffic jam. A truck had gone off the interstate and crashed. Delayed us by about 40 minutes. The Super 8 wasn't the worst or the best motel but we both slept well after dinner at Cracker Barrell.

As most of you know I have been sick since my last blog and yesterday was pretty much a write off. I arrived in Birmingham at 11.45am after taking a 4 hour ride on a Amtrak train. The train ride was quite comfortable. I was able to get two seats to myself and there is a lot more leg room on a train than an airplane. The taxi driver had never heard of the hotel I was staying at and couldn't find it on his GPS. Luckily I had the additionally information that it was off a certain ...

A few days ago we realized that the day we leave, marked in our brains as Memorial Day, comes a week earlier than we'd been thinking. Oops. At least we saw the light soon enough so we won't miss the flight. (Memorial Day this early in May feels very odd.) This trip is no big deal but will serve well as a test travel blog. Something to play with between meetings and meals.

A little over a week and we'll be on the road! Our Volkswagen Eurovan Camper is just about ready; it's getting a new "kitchen" water pump tomorrow and then we'll actually start loading it up. We'll be traveling pretty light: the Porta-Potty, one roller bag each, one sleeping bag and Therma-Rest each, one pillow each, a new Coleman grill/stove so we don't have to ...

... WAS THE 4TH OF JULY HOLIDAY AND THE HOTEL WAS VIRTUALLY EMPTY (NOT THAT I MINDED, ALMOST, JUST THE TWO OF US). THE GROUNDS WERE VERY WELL KEPT. THE ROOM VERY CLEAN. ANYWAY WE HAD A WONDERFUL TIME. WE WALKED THE GROUNDS. THIS HOTEL WAS ON A HILL SO IT WAS HIGH UP. AT THE END OF OUR CORRIDOR WAS A LARGE PICTURE WINDOW. WE SAW SOME GOOD FIREWORKS FROM THERE. WE PLAYED GIN RUMMY ...

Here we are in Alabama, the birthplace of Marty. She found a map at the visitors center that actually shows the town where she was born. Yesterday was good. After the trip down the Natches we had a drive on I-20 with a lot of trucks. Why don't they put all that freight on the train? We are planning a stop on Huntsville to visit Martys cousin and to see the old family home; then on to Chattanooga.