Friday morning, I was up and dressed early enough to catch Darryl before he left for the track. Even though Hot Rod had announced they would be starting an hour later, I knew he would be leaving quickly, and I needed his help with a peculiar situation. "We have to figure out how to get to the track this morning!" I said as I walked with him to put my stuff in the car. "What do you mean? This is the same way we drove into the track when we got here", He stated. "No, I mean all the extra people and luggage, my car will be rubbing the tires if I overload it." "Yeah, I have the same problem, the Dart won't handle a bunch of weight." As I loaded my bag in the car, I heard him fire up the Dart and head out of the parking lot. I was left wondering if he just blew me off or if my communication skills were suddenly lacking? I began to doubt myself when I tried to relate the problem to my own family, everyone seemed to be wrapped up in their own thoughts and oblivious to what we needed to do to get everyone to the track. "Look, we've got seven people and all their luggage to get to the track in 2 cars, so obviously the Satellite has to make two trips, and I need to even out the loads as much as possible!" "Great," Dale jumped in, "I'll wait for the second trip, so I can stay here and wash my laundry, I'm out of clean clothes". Dad was equally as helpful, "Yeah, I'll wait for the second trip, and Darren can ride with Boone in the Barnyard Viper." "So the two fattest guys left want to ride in the car when it's carrying four people, and one of them wants to keep his luggage", I stared them both down, "Now I understand why the airline industry gets so frustrated! One of you have to ride with Boone in the truck, you guys out weigh Darren by a bunch!"
I was able to wrestle everyone's luggage away from them except Dale's, then James and I headed to the track with Boone and Dale in the truck since we convinced him Rachael could handle putting his clothes in the dryer, and packing them in his bag! We unloaded the Satellite in a pit spot as quickly as possible, and I told James to drive back and pick up Darren, Pops, and Rachael. "Why me? I figured you would do it," He looked at me. "Because I outweigh you by 125 pounds! Why doesn't anyone understand I'm trying to avoid killing the tires... and make Dad drive, Darren ride shotgun, and you and Rachael in the back seat! "OK, ok", he laughed, "I was just pushing your buttons!"
As he drove away, Darryl walked over and asked, "Where's he going?" I stared at him, "He's going back to pick up the rest of our group! Robert dropped off Pops and Rachael last night, and returned his rental car. Lane dropped off Darren, and he and his Dad were in a different hotel across town! How did you think we were all going to get out here?" "You should have said something, someone could have rode out here with me", he stated. I decided to walk away, and look at a few of the other cars before I killed somebody.
