This week’s column is somewhat experimental. The circumstances under which it is being written are way out of the ordinary for me. For one thing, as I write, I am far away from the comfortable corner of the living room where I usually work. I am sitting in the office of my daughter’s house in Huntersville, North Carolina.
The way this area is growing is amazing. Huntersville is one of those little towns that became a bedroom community for which people who work for companies based in the Charlotte, NC area.
Last year, at the end of their street, there was a field with a couple of partially completed homes and a lot of red mud. This year, there are another 100 two-story homes, all apparently occupied. In addition, we saw that several other developments have sprouted along the streets we took to get here.
This would be a fun area for any NASCAR fan. The road signs on I-77 on the way down read like a NASCAR Directory. Mooresville, Kannapolis, Concord, North Wilkesboro, Winston-Salem …t he towns from which folks like the Pettys and Earnhardts hail.
On the way down we spotted the race hauler for No. 88, Dale Jarrett, headed north to this weekend’s race at Bristol, Tennessee.
However, racing is not the only sports interest in this area. Our daughter reports that the most talked about sports story in the area this week is about North Carolina State making it to the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s tournament.
In addition, local news from Charlotte yesterday lead with the story of a CBS “60 Minutes” investigative piece about steroid use by a couple of members of the Carolina Panthers football team.
Our plans for the week include a trip to Loewe’s Motor Speedway in nearby Concord. Last night’s Charlotte local TV news also included a story about local government in Concord taking steps to help convince NASCAR to keep “The Winston” All-star race at LMS.
The older grandson, “I’m almost 4!” also wants Grandpa to take him go-kart racing this week. Boy, does he know how to get to me.
Have to tell you one thing about the trip down here from Tiffin. If you ever plan to drive down here on I77, be prepared for a 10 mile stretch through Virginia that ranks with one of the more exciting drives I have made.
It’s a stretch of interstate that offers multiple hazards. In this particular area you can’t help but notice the “Truck run offs” strategically placed to allow truckers whose brakes have failed to head off the road onto a ramp of sand and mud, so they can get their rigs stopped.
There also are signs warning drivers to “Watch for falling rocks” and warning them to watch out for severe cross winds.
Runaway trucks, falling rocks and high winds. In addition, the scenery off to the East seems put there just to distract your attention.
As our son-in-law suggested, “Why didn’t they just build a tunnel?
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