Martinsville Speedway

Posted on by Annie

Let’s just say this post really has an audience of one: my brother. We talked about Martinsville when we were hanging out at Bristol, and how my dad would always call it “the paperclip” track because it’s got long straightways and tight corners. Same half-mile distance as Bristol, but different as night and day. Martinsville is open and long, not ringed all the way around with seating. At Bristol, I had to pay to take a tour to get on the track. Martinsville? I just drove up to the turn 4 gate and parked, then walked right onto the track…

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Sunday Serenity: Two Years On

Posted on by Annie

It was two years ago today that I turned in my laptop and badges and walked out the door of my employer for the previous four years. In doing so, I ended 4 decades of working full-time (a misnomer for high tech travelers, to be sure). I began a new chapter in my life, but I honestly didn’t know how things would go. Two years on, I’m happy to say things are going well. The first year was a struggle for many reasons: lots of things broke, including me a few times, and I fell into the classic trap for…

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Throwback Thursday: Bonneville Speed Week

Posted on by Annie

I grew up with the stories and the cars and the guys my dad worked with to build amateur race cars on nights and weekends, all in preparation for one hot week in Utah in August. Bonneville Speed Week was a highlight of his summer for many years, the one time he got to escape from being a husband, father, and office worker to go up to the salt flats and play with cars. This year’s Speed Week is coming up (August 11-17), so I thought I’d do a little picture show of some shots from the family archives. I…

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Quebec Views

Posted on by Annie

I feel like I’ve given short shrift to Quebec because it was toward the end of a long trip and there was such a social whirl involved in most of the stops I made in that province. So today I’m featuring some images that make me smile and remember beautiful places I saw earlier this month. On a hike with my friends Michel and Claudette, we saw this field of wild purple irises at Parc du Bic. And not two minutes away was this reflecting pool, nothing more than water trapped by rocks as the tide went out. Ephemeral and…

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Weekly Update: Jul 25, 2018

Posted on by Annie

This was a whirlwind of a week, kicked off by Breeze’s spa day at the Safari Condo service facility. I’m very happy with the updates and my shiny new window. Thursday I headed to my last Canadian stop, Frontenanc National Park. The drive was two hours of rolling hills, dairy farms, and just beautiful and peaceful scenery, one of the most relaxing moves I’ve done in my two-plus years. My spot was great: mostly shady and with enough room I could set up my new awning and outdoor mat. After all this time, I finally feel like I have a…

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