It's Bristol, Baby!!

Bristol Motor Speedway Marquee announcing our marriage

It's that time of year again, race time in Bristol, TN. Home of the World's Fastest Half Mile
Bristol Motor Speedway is far and away the most popular track on the NASCAR circuit. The races are always sold out and fans come from all over the country to attend the race. I'm told our little town of nearly 25,000 becomes the 3rd largest city in Tennessee!! I can believe it, getting around town takes an act of Congress the entire week.
Before Dale Earnhardt died, I used to love watching the races and attending them here in Bristol whenever I had the opportunity. He made it fun to watch and you could always count on him doing something unforgettable. After his passing, racing just wasn't the same for me. But attending the race in that tiny little oval track is an experience one never forgets, trust me! If you ever get the chance to go, grab it, you won't regret it!
Nowadays, while it is pretty neat to know that so many people love to be here in our little town as much as we do, it's pretty aggravating sometimes for us residents to get everyday things done in a timely fashion. Oh well, it's only twice a year, so we've learned to deal with it, not without alot of complaining though. :)
This year, Hubby and I had 2 tickets to Sunday's Food City 500, or as we call it "The Big Race" (the little race is the Busch race the night before) but we weren't going to attend. So the first person I thought of who might want the tickets was Randy, a fellow Andy Griffith Show fan and a member of "The Front Porch" an online message board filled with fine folks from all over the country, Canada and even one from Ireland, who are all fans of The Andy Griffith Show. So, I picked up the phone and said "Sarah, get me Randy's house" and asked him if he wanted the tickets. He said yes and after talking to him for well over 5 years on the Porch, I finally got to meet him and his lovely girlfriend, Sherry in person yesterday!! They drove up from Georgia late yesterday evening and met up with us at our auto repair shop. What fun it was to finally meet them in person!

Sherry, Randy, Angie & Robert

I've talked about The Front Porch on here before. I have been posting over there since mid-1997 and I've been able to meet a few of the 'Porchsters', as we call each other, over the years. Those folks over there have become like a family. We know each other's children's names, pet's names, and we send one another Christmas cards. The Porch is just as you would picture it, a place where we all sit and rock and enjoy one another's company, just as you would on a real front porch. We rejoice in one another's triumphs, we pray for each other's problems, we lend an ear (or eye in this case) to those that need to just talk, we laugh, we cry, we love and we cut up with one another. With all the bad things on the internet these days, it's a blessing to find a place to "hang out" that is not only fun, but safe for your children to read as well. It's a family atmosphere in the midst of all the less than acceptable sites on the net. Feel free to click on the link and join us, most of us have picked a "Mayberry" name and post under that ID, mine is *Mavis, Randy goes by Spot.
Anyway, back to the meeting yesterday, we took pictures, of course, and I hope we'll get to visit with them a little more before they head back to GA.

Randy, Angie and Robert

Sherry, Angie and Robert

So, if you're a NASCAR fan, remember when you are watching the race, I'm sitting about 5 miles from that track, listening to the cars from a distance. And once it's over, we'll just wait until August, for it all to start again. :)

Peace friends,