Days 19-21 Update

Day number 19 proved to be pretty bloody cruisey. Went to Mainz and sat by the Rhine River for much of the day at a pop-up summer time beach bar with Kathi, Andrew, Anne, Pete plus special guests.

Migrated to a local restaurant for dinner, where a single small schnitzel would have been sufficient for the entire table. Subsequently felt unwell.

Day number 20 started in Hofheim, before a train ride into Frankfurt for a dose of shopping, and more sitting at a beach bar, this one on the Main River.

Fast forward to the 21st day, and the collective asses were put back into gear.

Went for a cruise from Frankfurt-Höchst to Rüdesheim and back to Mainz.

Through a couple of locks on the Main River, the scenery really picked up once we cleared the industrial areas and made it to the Rhine River.

First was Mainz, then Wiesbaden, Eltville (where the wine street party was on Saturday night), Oestrich-Winkel, and our destination.

Some pretty awesome scenery throughout, especially in Rüdesheim, with its vineyards clinging onto the steep hills.

Caught a chairlift to the top of the hill where there are several monuments. Very nice.

Finished the day with a shop around Mainz.

Trip Day 19 – 21 Frankfurt Area

Trip Day 19 – 21 Frankfurt Area, a set on Flickr.

Trip Day 16 & 17 Straßburg, Black Forest, Heidelberg

Trip Day 16 & 17 Straßburg, Black Forest, Heidelberg, a set on Flickr.

Day 3 Update

My burning question of the moment- where should I have my heart attack, in terms of who offers the best health care? USA, UK or Germany?

The reason is that I have had the best race track catering ever today.

Since the team is sponsored by bacon, we had bacon for breakfast, and bacon wrapped sausages for lunch. Brilliant.

Another question- what’s the deal with those four way intersections with stop signs in all directions? Everyone sits there awkwardly, before edging forward.

Blow that, I’m taking the initiative, and going for it.

Final question- what’s the deal with the red rear indicators??

So today was qualifying day at Sonoma, a lot of effort for everyone to lob up for only a single lap of action!

I was going to go up to the top of the mountain with Tim the spotter, but he took off while I was chatting in the hauler. So I spent the session on the pit lane, still pretty cool.

Marcos put it on P2 after an engine drama coming to the green flag… what could have been.

Watched the first 15 laps of the K&N Pro Series West race- there were four cautions in that time, so I left.

Perfect weather, a Mustang, California- so I just started driving, not really knowing where I was going.

Wound up in Napa, which is like Movie Scene USA. Everything is manicured to within an inch of its life.

Got lost further and wound up at an outlet shopping centre. Bad news, credit card copped a bashing.

Wound up using my male internal compass to drive back east, and stumbled upon Sonoma.

Stopped off at the Kunde winery- amazing place. Terrific wine, and a brilliant facility.

Home earlyish so I can get everything together to depart tomorrow morning- off to the track for race day, then back to the hotel over the road for one last night in the area prior to moving south to SF on Monday.