Let That Be a Lesson...

Apparently, Mother Nature did not like my comment about how cloudy it's been on our roadtrip so far.  As we were approaching Springfield, Illinois, we saw storm clouds ahead, and right now as I type, we're in between Rounds 2 and 3 of a 4-Round thunderstorm coming west-to-east across the Springfield area.

The first round seemed bad until the second one hit.  The second one had so much hail we could hear it bouncing off the roof of the RV.  The National Weather Service said to expect quarter size hail, and that sounds about right.  Lots and lots of lightning and thunder, but thankfully, none hit too close to the campground, and the winds weren't too bad.  I went into the front seat of the RV to take some video of the storm, and will post that later.  The power went out in the campground for a bit, so I'm working off the laptop battery.

Jeff has the Weather Channel app on his iPad, and it looks like Round 3 should be worse - and longer - than the previous two rounds.  Fabulous.

Ruth went to sleep in the middle of Round 2, and Henry just fell asleep.  They inherited my ability to sleep through anything, which is good for them.

It sounds like Round 3 is about to start.  The rain just picked up again and so did the lightning.  We had a fun-filled day in Springfield today, but we'll be writing about that tomorrow.  For now, we'll just hunker down and ride out the storm.

Here Comes the Sun!

We haven't seen the sun since we left Virginia.  It's been cloudy all of the trip, with rain sprinkled in throughout the days and nights.  

There was one moment yesterday when we were in the car when a little patch of bright blue sky appeared - it was such a surprise that I took a picture of it. 

I am happy to report that the sun is shining brightly this morning.  We're off to Springfield, Illinois in a few minutes.  It will take about 3 and a half hours to get there, give or take a stop at a gas station.  We'll spend this afternoon checking out the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, house and tomb. 

Henry's Review of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

After lunch, we went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and Hall of Fame.  When we got there, I found out they were giving a Grounds Tour today, and asked my Dad if we could do it.  Of course, he said yes.

First, we looked in the museum and saw lots of race cars that won in previous Indianapolis 500 races.  Some were really old, from the 1930's.  Then they called us for the Grounds Tour to begin.

The first thing we did was ride the bus once around the race track.  When you go around the turns, you would feel like you were leaning sideways.

At the Finish Line, the bus stopped and we got out. There's a thin strip of brick from when the track was first built, and when a NASCAR driver wins the Brickyard 400 race, they get out of their car and kiss the bricks.  Dale Jarrett started that tradition.  So Dad and I got our picture kissing the bricks, and then we took a family picture on the track.  Roger, the tour guide, pointed out marks on the track where Jimmy Johnson burned out his tires after winning the Brickyard 400 in July 2009, and other marks where Jamie McMurray did donuts after winning the race in 2010.  I ran on the marks and got my picture with them.

He also showed us where Dario Franchitti climbed the fence after he won the Indy 500.  We weren't allowed to try that ourselves, or else I would have done it.

Roger also told us that once when he was on the bus near the finish line, lightning hit the pole that shows what place all the cars are in, and he said it "lit up like a Christmas Tree." 

Then the bus took us to the Pagoda.  That's where the reporters watch the race and write their stories, and also where they some of the luxury boxes.  It's also where the winner gets his picture taken.  We got to sit in the Media Room, and I got to pretend I was giving a press conference.  When I was up there, Dad said "Speech!"  That was funny.

After the Pagoda, we rode the bus to Gasoline Alley, where the race cars get their gas and have garages.  When you go to the Indy 500 race, you can get a pass to go walk around that area and meet drivers.

I really liked the tour guides, Roger and Bill.  They knew lots of stuff about the speedway. 

Here's a slideshow of pictures from our tour.