Atlanta Motor Speedway

The biggest racetrack I have ever seen.  http://www.atlantamotorspeedway.com/ if you want to check it out.

Aren't these clouds beautiful?

Alan drove the RV around the track.  During the show and shine portion of the pre-race Alan was invited to drive the RV around the track.  I stayed in the grassy center area to take pictures.  Pretty awesome!

Here is Alan driving the RV around the track!  Scared me to death when he went past the banked sides of the track!

Clearwater Beach, FL

It was wonderful to see my parents and Aunt Kathy and be able to spend three weeks with them before heading off.  I hadn't seen them in two years.  It took us two extra weeks to get the RV wrapped in the 1ShopAuto.com logo and so we had a wonderful time visiting Clearwater Beach, fishing,golfing, shopping and Alan had time for a few business meeitngs too!  Here are some picutres:

The boys at Clearwater Beach, FL.  There are thunderheads accumulating in the background of this photo.  We had such a beautiful time at the beach.  I loved the water temp - it was probably 92 degrees!  Perfect...

We went to a Pawn Shop and found this awesome Ukele.  Ryan loved the whole pawn shop experience so much he wanted to have us stop at one in every town we visited.  It was pretty fun.  We got a good deal and the boys love it.  Aaron has been playing guitar too.  They are teaching themselves from Youtube videos and the del Sol songbook.

With my Dad at the Fort Harrison.  What a beautiful hotel!  We watched fireworks from the Sandcastle and had a front row view across the canal.  It rained right up to the time that the fireworks show began.  We were in shorts and tank tops, sitting  in the rain, watching fireworks.

Aaron made this delicious Peach Tart.  He found a Paula Deene recipe and got all the ingredients and made the thing himself.  It was fabulous!!

At Honeymoon Beach.  Another lovely Florida beach.  The beaches down here have dunes covered in grassy type plants along the beaches.  It's quite beautiful.

We went fishing out on a mass-fishing boat.  Ryan caught the first fish of the day in our party.  A grey snapper.  Aaron caught a couple too.  Alan and I were bust.  I felt kind of odd fishing this way as I'm used to lake fishing where you have to be quiet and there are just a couple people in the fishing hole.  Here there were 100 people on the boat - all with rods at the ready - waiting for the signal from our captain.  As I looked down the line I wondered what the fishes view was from underneath.  The water was only 30 foot deep and imagine having 100 pieces of bait lowered to you all at once!

We decided to clean them ourselves.  We baked them in butter and lemon.  Delicious, but bony...

Here is the RV all wrapped.  Both sides and the logo on the back!

Me and my Mom...

Things I've noticed since arriving on the South East Coast.

I've noticed a few things that are different over here in the southeast...

1.  They don't use paper covers in the toilets.

2.  In Florida there always seems to be a Publix (grocery store) paired with a Chase Bank on the corner.

3.  In Florida there seemed to be a lot of corners with both a Walgreens and a CVS, one on each side. 

4.  We discovered something called 'Sweet Tea'.  We've lived all these years with slightly sweetened tea and now the kids can't get enough sweet tea.  This stuff is like sugar water with a little tea!
5.  There are huge trees here.  Florida had huge trees and was very jungly.  Georgia had even bigger trees.  They must be as tall as a football field is wide.  Then they get a little smaller with each state north.  They're beautiful and there is a lot of wooded area.  I'm pleasantly surprised at our countries vast green-ness out here.
6.  The clouds appear to be closer to the planet's surface in this neck of the woods.
7.  The Atlantic and Gulf are nice and warm!  The Gulf has virtually no waves but the Atlantic is acceptable for the non-surfer type.
8.  There are a lot of motor speedways here on the east side of our nation.  I'm astounded as to the size and quantity.  It seems like every little town we pass has their own speedway.  That's good for 1ShopAuto!

Life in the RV - time on the road

By:  Tara - July 23, 2013

I'm enjoying the down time and being disconnected from my regular pursuits and distractions.  The boys have been practicing guitar and ukele.  By the end of the trip we'll have "Eye of the Tiger" down.  

I haven't figured out how to load videos or I would post one of us practicing...  Something wrong with Google right now...

Life in the RV - 1st three weeks

By:  Tara Brown

Life in the RV is pretty pleasant.  The RV is 38 feet long and has three slide-outs in the kitchen, living room and master bedroom.  Alan's made quite a comfortable work space in the front passenger area where my parents had built a desk.  Alan and I sleep in the bedroom and the boys are on the fold-out couch.  We've got a routine down now and things are working out quite nicely.  When the RV is closed up and we're on the move it's very tight and then we pull in, slide out and get comfy!  I've driven the RV quite a bit now and it's not too difficult although it requires 100% of your full attention at every moment!

Life in the RV - 1st three weeks

By: Ryan Brown 

Life in the RV is almost the same every day. Dad wakes us up at eight in the morning and then we go into my mom and dad's room and keep sleeping while they keep driving to the next state. Then when we get there we get up but its not the same as back home because the dogs aren't there to wake me up so it's a lot different. We get up and eat then we go do what we are going to do for the day. Then we get back at around five and I practice my ukulele and draw then we have dinner. After dinner we draw some more play, more ukulele, then watch TV, and then go to bed. And that's what we do in the RV.

Life in the RV - 1st three weeks

By: Aaron Brown

Life in the RV is kinda boring because there's not that much to do. The daily routine is dad wakes us up, we go into mom and dad's room and sleep while they drive. When we wake up we stay in bed for awhile and read our books. After that we go see mom and dad and eat breakfast, usually cereal or a bagel. We drive for a while then stop at an RV park and see what we can do for the days that we're in that state. The next day we do what we planned and that's it.

Editor's Note:  We have traveled to one state so far and been out on the road for a total of 4 days!!!  The first couple weeks in the RV we got to spend in Clearwater, FL with my parents.