Day 48: Racing Down the Coast

So long, Flagler Beach! Another crazy narrow road, but unlike at the Smoky Mountains, the edges were trees, not rocks. The posted clearance was 8’6″ (nearly 4 feet lower than our height). Rob was not fazed by these signs and drove us through expertly again to get us back on the highway.

*I needed to clean my camera lens, but you get a sense of the trees over the road*.

Our next stop was Daytona International Speedway! We’re not big NASCAR fans, but we’d never been to a track and Daytona is one of the most famous. We arrived in time for the first tour of the day at 9:30 am.

As luck would have it, we were there on one of the ~60 days a year when the track wasn’t being used, so we got to go ON the track. Also, our tour was small, with only 8 people instead of the dozens normally on a tour. Our guide had been doing it for 14 years and said the day after Christmas is the busiest tour day.

The biggest surprise for all of us was just how steep and narrow the 31 degree banked turns felt. A highlight was being able to run up the start/finish line, which I hadn’t realized is also at an angle (18 degrees to be precise). We even got to take a picture at Victory Lane. It felt so small and plain compared to what you see on TV when it’s packed after a race.

*Trying to capture the slope of turns 3 and 4*

*Pit road, so plain without all the people, cars and action*

*Below the flagstand. They’re more thrilled than it looks.*

*View from the 3rd level of the stands. They are 15 stories tall at the top.*

After the tour, we went briefly to the adjacent racing museum. One interesting thing was that they always have the winning car from the most recent Daytona 500, still covered in champagne and confetti. As we were leaving, the tour guide came out and gave the boys each a lugnut that was used in the most recent race.

*Denny Hamlin’s winning car from this year’s 500.*

We boogied out of there as a rocket launch was scheduled for 12:14pm near our next stop. Travel was smooth sailing to Titusville, FL, and we arrived at the Manatee Hammock Campground at 11:55am. We parked the RV and then walked over to the dock only to find out that the launch had been scrubbed just minutes before launch due to a malfunctioning camera. We would be there two more days, so our fingers were crossed that the launch would get rescheduled for when we were still there.

In the evening we did a family bike ride and the boys played with a new campsite friend. Seeing them playing is such a reminder how much the kids are missing social interactions. They haven’t played with anyone other than during our meet up in St. Augustine since before we left for this trip.

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