Thursday, May 2, 2013

West Bound to South Bend

The first leg of the 2013 One Lap of America is complete.  It started at 6:45 this morning with me uncharacteristically leaving a few packing items until the day of departure.  Most if not all of the "gear" had been sorted out last weekend and was stored in the foyer (my wife loved that!), but some minor adjustments were needed and my "essentials" duffled.  From there it was another 15 minutes to pack the car.

After a few hugs, good-byes, and good lucks I dropped off Suze (that's my better half) at the public transportation hub that is Metro.  From there it was a short drive to Woody Hair's house - the official departure point for the trip west bound.  Four One Lap teams were leaving from Harwood's abode - Liam Dwyer and Brian Hair in a Boss 302 Mustang, Dick and Jerry Clark in a ZR-1 Corvette, Robert Grace and myself in the BMW E92 M3, and Woody in a BMW 1M sans Neil Simon who would be meeting us in South Bend on Friday after a business trip to Louisiana.  

Wheels were officially up at 9:15.  The next significant stop was lunch at the Kettle Brew Pub in Strongville, OH.  This has become a regular stop for what is a very late lunch in route to Indiana.  With bellies full we depart the brewery at 4:15 pm with another 250 miles to drive.  As Woody has had to drive thus far by himself, Robert volunteers to help out and drive the 1M for awhile giving the senior Hair a rest.  I drive the M3 solo.

The remainder of the trip is painless and we all arrive in South Bend and our home for the next day around 8:00 pm.  The One Lap crowd is a little light at this hour with teams slowly arriving from all points on the map.  Robert and I have other thoughts though and head to the motel bar to watch the Washington Capitals game and have a beer or two.  During the game we catch up with Mike Renner from the BMW performance center and Steve McGuire from United BMW near Atlanta, GA.  Brock Yates, organizer of the One Lap, also joins the conversation.  Nothing like a group of males sitting around talking about cars and going fast.  It's good to be back in South Bend.

With the CAPS having secured a victory and our beers finished, Robert and I say goodnight.  Tomorrow starts another day in what will become a long and tiring week.  So until tomorrow - goodnight!

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