Now is the Best Time! Our 2024 Florida Road Trip (complete)-RL update!

[mickey916]

I also married a NASCAR fan and am now one by default
We went to the Charlotte race 2 years ago. We visited Dale Jr’s garage. We are heading to Bristol in a few weeks for the first time.
Looking forward to seeing what you thought of the Hall of Fame, we enjoyed it!

I would love to see a race at Charlotte and Bristol! DH has been to Bristol and the Poconos with his dad. I've only been to the NH Speedway with DH. Someday I'd love to go to the race at Daytona too.

We visited Dale Jr's garage too (report on that coming soon). What a great tour!

 

[Paulaparm]

I would love to see a race at Charlotte and Bristol! DH has been to Bristol and the Poconos with his dad. I've only been to the NH Speedway with DH. Someday I'd love to go to the race at Daytona too.

We visited Dale Jr's garage too (report on that coming soon). What a great tour!

We go to Pocono every year as we only live about 45 minutes away!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Native Californian here. I grew up eating great Mexican food. I could tell just from the picture of the salsa that you guys were in for a disappointing meal. Sounds like your next days lunch was a big improvement!

 

[mickey916]

We go to Pocono every year as we only live about 45 minutes away!

That's awesome!

 

[mickey916]

Native Californian here. I grew up eating great Mexican food. I could tell just from the picture of the salsa that you guys were in for a disappointing meal. Sounds like your next days lunch was a big improvement!

It was all pretty bad! The next day was much better though!

 

[mickey916]

5/2: NASCAR Hall of Fame, Speedway Club, & Race Shops
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On last year’s road trip we wanted to go to the NASCAR Hall of Fame but didn’t realize it was closed on Tuesdays, the only day we had available. This year I made sure to fit it in the schedule.

We arrived as soon as they opened and headed to the main auditorium for the introductory movie. There was a countdown clock indicating the minutes until the show. When the countdown reached 0, an employee announced the movie would be delayed as they were waiting for a school group to arrive. There were about 10 of us waiting for the movie. Soon a couple hundred middle school students processed in and the theater was completely full. The movie still didn’t start however as a teacher was making a presentation explaining what NASCAR and stock cars are. I looked at my husband and said, “Why don’t we come back later for the movie and go see some exhibits?” It was a good decision.

We had about 20 minutes of exploring the different displays before the wave of middle schoolers came through the museum. There were a bunch of very cool looking interactive exhibits but they were all consumed by the students. Honestly I think the ticket office should have let us know the museum was going to be packed with students. We would’ve come back at another time. The kids were all very well behaved but they just made it way too crowded to get to the exhibits. At $54 for tickets, we really weren’t able to get our monies’ worth.

After we left the museum we went to check out Joe Gibbs’ racing. Unfortunately they were unexpectedly closed for the day. Since it was time for lunch, we knew exactly where we wanted to eat: The Speedway Club at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Our server brought over the complimentary bread service of cheddar biscuits.

These were served warm and were delicious!

Last year we had tried the burger and chicken sandwich so this year we decided to try a couple entrees. We started with side salads, DH ordered Honey Mustard dressing and I had Blue Cheese.

The salads were simple but very fresh tasting.

DH ordered the Chicken and Waffles: Pearl sugar sweet mini waffles and battered chicken strips fried golden brown; served with maple syrup, fresh berries and powdered sugar

Being Northerners, chicken and waffles are a new phenomenon to us. My DH absolutely loved this. The chicken was perfectly seasoned and fried, the waffles were crisp, and the fruit & syrup gave the meal a great sweet contrast to the savory chicken. What a beautiful, tasty dish!

I ordered the Cajun Pasta with Shrimp: Linguini tossed in a Cajun cream sauce with tomatoes, parmesan and basil.

This was perfectly seasoned, with not too much heat. Just a phenomenal dish!

The food at the Speedway Club is just excellent and it’s cool to eat while overlooking the track. There is always something going on. On this day there was a road course Mustang Driving School driving around the track.

After our meal, we stopped by Hendrick’s Racing but their shop was also closed due to filming some sort of commercial. We hung around in the parking lot for a bit to see if we could catch a glimpse of one of the drivers filming the commercial but we had no luck.

We headed from Hendrick’s to Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing. There was a little museum type area to walk through but all the video displays were turned off. There were a couple displays of crashed cars but there was no access to see the shop floor. There was a receptionist at a desk that completely ignored us. So we walked around a little and headed out.

Other than our phenomenal meal, we weren’t very successful on our agenda so far: Hall of Fame crowded, Gibbs closed, Hendrick closed, RFK open but not much to see.

Our last NASCAR stop for the day was Trackhouse racing. The receptionist was super friendly and told us all about the drivers. She let us take a picture of Ross Chastain’s car that he drove during his infamous “Hail Melon” incident at Martinsville in October of 2022. If you don't know what that is google it, it's pretty impressive.

What a different experience at this shop! So welcoming and excited to talk to us about the Trackhouse team. What we didn’t realize until we left was that we had actually shown up fifteen minutes before they closed and yet the receptionist spent forty-five minutes talking to us and showing us around. We were very impressed with Trackhouse racing.

After our NASCAR day, we headed to Jetton Park to get our steps and enjoyed a light dinner of PB&J sandwiches, having had such a large lunch.

Total steps: 14,582

Up next: a free tour of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s shop, a hidden gem museum, and another great meal on our last full day in Charlotte

 

[BellaBaby]

I agree the ticket office should've let you know they were expecting that large crowd! I wouldn't have been happy at $54 for tickets.
Trackhouse racing however, saved the day! How kind of the receptionist to take the extra time to show you around!

 

[honeymo78]

We headed to Plaza Ice Cream for dessert after our rocket viewing and shared an All American Sundae with all chocolate ice cream and extra peanut butter.

Wait, you can get this with extra peanut butter?!?!? I"m definitely asking for extra pb sauce next Saturday.

 

[mickey916]

Wait, you can get this with extra peanut butter?!?!? I"m definitely asking for extra pb sauce next Saturday.

Yes! I think they charge you an extra 69 cents...totally worth it!

 

[mickey916]

I agree the ticket office should've let you know they were expecting that large crowd! I wouldn't have been happy at $54 for tickets.
Trackhouse racing however, saved the day! How kind of the receptionist to take the extra time to show you around!

She was so nice! We felt bad when we discovered that we were there past closing but she didn't seem to mind at all!

 

[Paulaparm]

Sorry you didn’t have quite the day you envisioned! At least Track House was a win. I’m definitely a fan of theirs!

 

[mickey916]

Sorry you didn’t have quite the day you envisioned! At least Track House was a win. I’m definitely a fan of theirs!

It didn't turn out as planned but was still a good day. They can't all be perfect. We're fans of them as well. I'm still hoping Chastain finds a way into the playoffs. We'll know tonight!

 

[mickey916]

5/3 Mooresville, NC: JR Motorsports, Memory Lane Museum, Havana 33
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As I was researching this trip I discovered that Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s racing team, JR Motorsports, offered free tours on Fridays. A few weeks prior, I signed us up for the tour.

First we were given a tour of the studio for his podcast, the Dale Jr. Download on Dirty Mo media. Sadly due to his disassociation with NBC, it’s no longer available to watch on Peacock or NBCSN. My DH really enjoyed watching this podcast.

Here’s a cool photo of him and his dad…

We were then given an unbelievable tour of his entire shop floor. For proprietary reasons, we weren’t allowed to take any photos but were given complete access and explanations for every area on the shop floor. It was incredible.

At the end we were allowed to take this photo of a restored early Dale Earnhardt Sr. race car.

I would highly suggest all NASCAR fans to take this tour at JR Motorsports. It was excellent!

We then took a long beautiful walk at Lake Norman State Park. After getting in our steps, we stopped by a nondescript space metal building called the Memory Lane Museum in Mooresville, NC. This is a privately owned collection of NASCAR vehicles, memorabilia, and cars used in movies. What an incredible collection! We were the only people in the museum and it was just mind-boggling to see so many significant vehicles on display.

Here’s my attempt at capturing the sheer volume of vehicles:

Here is the actual car used in Talladega Nights:

Here’s what was left of Geoff Bodine’s truck after he crashed (and survived) at Daytona in February of 2000.

They had an original Hudson Hornet (the basis for Doc Hudson in Cars).

There were also lots of vehicles used in movies, especially George Clooney’s movie, Leatherheads.

This was just such a fascinating museum. I would highly recommend any NASCAR fan to seek it out. As we were leaving we chatted with the woman at the front desk who we believe was actually the widow of the man who owned the collection. She expressed to us that it was getting difficult to maintain the costs of running the museum. We really hope if she decides she can’t do it anymore that someone takes over this incredible time capsule of racing and motor vehicle history.

For dinner, I checked TripAdvisor for nearby suggested restaurants in Mooresville. One recommendation was for a small Cuban restaurant in the lobby of a condo building called Havana 33. We headed there and were seated immediately.

We opted to share a Cuban appetizer sampler and a Cuban sandwich.

The sampler clockwise contained: 3 Tostones, 3 yuca fries, 3 crunchy pork bellies, 2 croquettes (one ham and one chicken), a Cuban eggroll, and three different Empanadas (beef, chicken, and spinach). The sauces were a spicy oregano ketchup, pink sauce (ketchup & mayo), and garlic mojo.

We had no idea that this sampler was going to be so huge. It was fantastic! Every single item was fresh and flavorful.

Here’s an inside view of the Cuban Eggroll:

So good!

We also shared a Cuban sandwich which was also phenomenal.

This was so much food that we couldn’t possibly eat all of it. We ended up taking half the Cuban and half the Sampler home. This food was so good it was even delicious heated up in the microwave a day later in our next hotel.

It was by far the best Cuban food we’ve ever had and we’ve eaten in Little Havana and Key West. This restaurant was in such an out of the way location, I truly hope they stay in business. One of the top ten meals we had the entire trip.

Total steps: 15,494

Up next: touring the Richard Childress Museum on our way to a one night stay in Harrisonburg, VA.

 

[DJFan88]

It didn't turn out as planned but was still a good day. They can't all be perfect. We're fans of them as well. I'm still hoping Chastain finds a way into the playoffs. We'll know tonight!

Love it, will check these stops out on our way up sometime. Son loves Blaney, so hes already in and my husband seems to favor Larsen. I only watch here and there right now, but back in the day Dale Jarrett was my favorite.

 

[mickey916]

Love it, will check these stops out on our way up sometime. Son loves Blaney, so hes already in and my husband seems to favor Larsen. I only watch here and there right now, but back in the day Dale Jarrett was my favorite.

We are all Kyle Larsen fan's too. We also like Christopher Bell. I liked Dale Jarrett back in the day but Earnhardt was always #1 in our house.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Glad you had a better day seeing more. That Cuban food looks amazing!

 

[mickey916]

Glad you had a better day seeing more. That Cuban food looks amazing!

It was surprisingly amazing!

 

[mickey916]

5/4 Travel Day to Harrisonburg - Stopping at Childress Museum
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As we traveled to our next stop, Harrisonburg, VA, we stopped by the Richard Childress Museum in Welcome, North Carolina. Dale Earnhardt drove for Richard Childress Racing from 1984 until his death in 2001. Other than historical information about Richard Childress, the museum is predominantly filled with race cars driven by Dale Earnhardt.

Here’s a quote I found interesting:

His estimated net worth is currently $250 million.

Here are a few of the cars in the museum:

We enjoyed seeing the cars and reading the stories about Childress and Earnhardt as DH remembers every race they referenced.

We then continued to Harrisonburg, VA and checked into our hotel, Residence Inn, Harrisonburg.

This hotel was excellent, clean, comfortable, spacious, and quiet. We still needed steps so we walked around the various shopping plazas near the hotel. For dinner we warmed up our leftovers from Havana 33. They were still very tasty!

Total steps: 15,316

Up next: heading to our last vacation spot of the trip, Lancaster, PA

 

[erinch]

I live in Lancaster, PA! Looking forward to see what you did in my town!

 

[mickey916]

I live in Lancaster, PA! Looking forward to see what you did in my town!

We love the Lancaster area! We went every summer to Strasburg RR and Hershey Park when our boys were young.