Day four--racing and repairing, continued:
As I said in yesterday's message I decided to skip this morning's race session and instead fix the car. I bought a fan belt one size wider than the one it replaces and in under an hour I had the new belt installed. It sits just a bit higher in the pulleys and is clearly a better fit, After a test drive I pronounced the job done.
The race this afternoon was an "All comers" session, meaning that instead of the race group being comprised of cars more or less similar in displacement and potential performance, the session was open to anyone registered to race at the event. Thus, the grid was quite large--about fifty cars--and rather disparate in terms of speed potential, which made for a lot of passing and being passed.
Sebring International Raceway is an interesting and demanding track. It runs on some of the abandoned runways of the local airport which actually started life in WWII as a B-17 bomber training installation. The racing surface is a mixture of old concrete and newer blacktop and It is flat as a pool table--Any elevation change is due to settling and repaving. It is 3.7 miles long with 17 turns, some very high speed and some quite slow and tight. The course is extremely rough in some places and things happen fast. View some videos on YouTube!
This afternoon was not my best day--just before the green flag I accidentally hit the fuel pump switch while downshifting for turn 17, and by the time I figured out what was wrong I had lost 4 or 5 positions. I drove somewhat inconsistently and due to my glove's being slick I missed several shifts. My lap times did not improve very much from those of yesterday and I got lapped by some of the leaders just before the checker--always disappointing. But I have my final race session tomorrow at 10:00 AM and I hope I will have better news to report in my next message!
Following the race I will check out of the hotel and begin the trip back to MD. The forecast seems good and I plan to drive north through Ocala National Forest--Google Earth promises a lot of scenic two lane roads through some remote country. I'll report again manana.
Best--Michael
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Day five--Leesburg to Brunswick, GA: A sentimental journey
I left Leesburg this morning, my destination for the day being Brunswick GA with a stop in Jacksonville FL.
I drove east, then north through Ocala National Forest--a mixed bag of shady Live Oak hammocks and cutover stands of slash pine. Apparently logging was a big industry prior to the area's designation as a National Recreation Area. (
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/florida/recarea/?recid=83528). The roads are classic Florida two-laners, mostly arrow-straight through the pinelands with some twisty sections occasionally thrown in. Since today marked the conclusion of Daytona Bike Week the roads were profuse with Harleys, mostly bearded dudes on two-wheelers with a good number of Mom's and Pop's on trikes thrown in. Most were pretty scrupulous about driving at or under the speed limit and I had a good time passing through the packs.
In the middle of the forest stands the crossroads town of Barberville--famous for the Barberville Yard Art Emporium. It is one of the wierdest places I have ever seen and I've attached several pictures, or visit the website at:
https://www.barbervilleroadside.com/. If you're looking for any unique lawn statuary this is the place to go--no matter what you want I'm pretty sure that they have it! About this time the skies darkened and it started to rain, but I was fortunate and skirted the worst of it. Eventually I reached Palatka, the northern terminus of the forest roads and I took four-laner and eventually I-95 bound for Jacksonville.
Aside from racing at Sebring and back-roading it to Maryland there were two other things I wanted to do on the trip:
The first was to visit my first cousin Michael who lives in Jacksonville and is one week my junior. My mother and his father were siblings, I grew up in Miami and he in Jacksonville, and when we were young kids on the occasions we were together I just wasn't very nice to him. As we grew older I behaved better toward him, but I felt I owed him both a visit and an amend, and since we are both 82 there is no time like the present, so I took the opportunity to see him. He and his wife recently moved into assisted living and have some health issues--I'm glad we got together.
From Jacksonville I set out for Brunswick, GA where I've stopped for the night. The reason for my visit is to visit the grave of Nancy Philson Clark, a fine woman who for 6 or 7 years worked as "house-keeper" for my family when I was in my pre and early teens. Nancy was the grand-daughter of enslaved people and she was of Ogeechee or Gullah heritage, a mixture of Native American and African. Since both my parents worked it was Nancy who I saw when I left for and came home from school, and she was a constant source of love who tried to teach me her traditional values. She retired to her home in Brunswick, GA in about 1957 and though we occasionally corresponded I never saw or spoke with her again. She died sometime around 1975 and I visited her grave in Greenwood Cemetery about 30 years ago. I will do so again tomorrow morning before getting back on the road.
It's been the usual long day so I'm turning in. Enjoy the photos.
Best--Michael Oritt
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PS--sorry, I'm having trouble posting the pictures