Vacation, Day 8, 10/28/2009, Part 3

Just a few of the sights from Wednesday, our first full day at Talladega.


Now that's a big rig! I wonder if the folks inside had to rent two sites for it.


Another view of the big rig. It's at the dump station which is exactly what you think it is.


These innovative flag poles caught my eye. They actually swing back and forth in the breeze.


Wonder if the guy used to be a Boy Scout? Look how prepared he is, brought his firewood, lawn chairs and plenty of flag poles.


Toys on both sides of this camper trailer--to the left, a TV satellite, to the right, what looks to be a blow-up play pen or some such. Must be a Boy Scout here, too.


And there, in the distance, part of the grandstand at Talladega Superspeedway. I think that tallest section is the Tri-Oval Tower, maybe also it includes the Oval Hill Tower, North and South sections. I knew I couldn't remember for sure, so I Googled without much success until I decided to go to Google Images. That's when I searched for Talladega Superspeedway Tri-Oval Tower. Imagine my utter shock when the third photo, that's #3, was a photo that I took in April, 2006, and had put onto this blog in April, 2008. It's a photo of Kay and Mama sitting beside the fire in the very same campground I went to on vacation. Really! Isn't that a hoot? You'll have to scroll down a little bit to see that particular photo, though.


Remember the trailer that had been brought over earlier and left? Here it is again. Now there's a golf cart that must have arrived on the flat-bed trailer parked to its left. I wonder where the road-worthy vehicle is that drove it there? How far did they come? I hope it's not far because they'll have to make two trips home, one for each trailer. These must be some real race fans.

And so are the folks in the big rig. That's a Montana license plate on it, at least 2000 miles from Alabama to Montana. Wow.

Vacation, Day 7, 10/27/2009, Part 3

Boosted colors at Picnik.


Somewhere along I-20 we stopped for fuel. I took this photo mainly because I couldn't figure out what the heck it was. Does anyone know? I'm guessing some sort of air conditioning that goes to the truck's cab through those giant yellow tubes.


I should have stepped out of the truck and asked these two men, right?


A surprising sight. It's on I 459, a bypass at Birmingham. I found this on the Internet: " ... in Liberty Park ... the Birmingham Area Boy Scout headquarters as its neighbor, the statue shines, literally. Its torch, powered by Alabama gas, has only gone out twice in its history." I couldn't tell if the flame was lit, but after reading this, I'm assuming it was.


Caught the windshield wiper as we drove by TNT Fireworks Supercenter. Southerners do enjoy their fireworks!


I like this view of I-20, about 25-30 miles or so from Talladega Superspeedway.


Whoopee! Almost there!


Off the interstate, headed for the campground, I noticed this ice dispensing station. Look at that man, loading his cooler at a chute, sort of like going to that ice/snack room so essential to a hotel stay. Ice proves to be even more essential when you're at a campground with gigantic coolers full of food to be cooked, grilled, and/or fried. It won't all fit in those small refrigerators in campers.


Another campground essential, free beads! Oops, I meant to say firewood.


And finally, the most essential element to a campground, portable toilets! I do not jest. If you happen to be tent camping or some such, without your own toilet, then you will go into one of these--I guarantee it.


Milton's been in the office at our campground, checking on this and that, I'm sure. Now he's talking with some of the guys, about this and that, I'm sure. Oh, by the way, another campground essential is barely visible on the right side of the photo--the golf cart. Each camping rig, be it a truck and trailer like us or a motor home, is led to the camping site by one of these men on a golf cart or a four-wheeler. One more by the way, take note of the orange tractor in the background. Depending upon the weather, it can become a campground essential, too.


From the truck window, Milton looks at the ground--it rained on us off and on all the way east, and it's easy to tell that it's been raining in Talladega, too. Milton and Kay always have two camping sites reserved, one that they will use, one that friends end up paying for and using. The one that friends use is higher on the slight slope in that section of the campground, and no friends were due this race, plus it might rain some more during the night, so we parked on that one. More on that in the next vacation post.