I’m still processing this weekend, working on posts and I just uploaded a buttload of photos. But I wanted to put up something for now. I’m trying to go in chronological order, to keep things straight for you and for me. As soon as I post this I’m off to downtown Chicago for some sightseeing. But first here’s what happened Friday morning.

Friday started out really good. Traffic was a breeze compared to Thursday and I had a Grande Cinnamon Dolce Latte from Starbucks to help ease me into the morning. I left at 9, so that I could be at the credentials trailer exactly at 10 when they opened. It worked out perfectly.

I have to give huge props to the Chicagoland Speedway staff for making it so incredibly easy to get in and out of the track. I’m getting ahead of myself a bit but when I left the track it only took me ten minutes to get out and onto empty city streets. If you have an infield parking sticker they give you another thingy to hang from your window so that you can take this one particular road to get in and out the track. Ingenious! I think Infineon and Las Vegas should figure out a way to do this, build a whole new road if you have to! It’d be worth it.

Anyway, back to the morning. I was stoked to learn that I was getting a hot garage pass. Suhweet. It’s a total crap shoot on what you’re gonna get. After that I headed to the media center where I quickly realized it was insanely early in the race day. People camping in the infield were in line for the portable showers. Neither the Nationwide nor Sprint Cup garages were open. The place was empty. The fans hadn’t been let in to the main gates yet either.

I checked out the media center, took pictures of the emptiness around me and then just hung out for a while. I picked up a schedule and some other random press releases — including the transcript of Tony Stewart’s press conference regarding his move to Haas CNC Racing, now Stewart Haas Racing; I hate that logo by the way. I’m not a big fan of the font.

At two in the afternoon I was set to meet up with Andy from ESPN’s communications team to take a tour of their production facilities. I had some time before all that so I walked around and over (and under) to the grandstands. I checked out the usual fan stuff like the merchandise haulers and all of the interactive attractions. Really it’s all the same, but I caught the performance of the band that later performed the National Anthem for the Dollar General 300. If anyone knows or remembers their name from the telecast post a comment. They were a pretty good country band. I saw them in the credential trailer earlier in the day and let’s just say I have a soft spot for rockers with long hair.

After listening to a few songs I headed back to the media center to take the ESPN production tour, more on that in the next post.

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What a day.

I woke up at 5am to get ready to fly out of San Francisco at 9-something in the morning. I was in the sky for close to 4 hours. I was so happy that I didn’t need to take a pee break during the flight, as I was wedged in between two people. Once in Chicago I was hit with the wacky local weather. It was hot, muggy and raining. On the shuttle bus to the rental car station I could see lightning in the distance.

So I got my car, or at least what I thought was my car, but I had to bring it back ’cause the license plate listed in my rental documents didn’t match those on the car. In the end they let me take the car that I was given, along with the navigation system that I hadn’t requested but because of their mistake I was getting for free! Wee! And how important that navigation system would prove to be, let me tell ya. I made my way to my hotel and caught my first glimpse of the hell that is Chicago traffic. If you think traffic in L.A. is bad you ain’t seen nothing till you get here. There seems to be a lot of road work going on, so maybe that’s adding to it. Either way it’s crap, but more about that in a minute.

My hotel is fabulous, I’m staying at the Renaissance Chicago O’Hare Suites Hotel and it has totally exceeded my expectations. The rooms are modern and super comfortable, plus there’s a flat screen TV with HD in the living room and a sick shower that I can’t wait to use in the morning. There hasn’t been that many times I’ve been this excited about a shower, so that’s saying something. To make things even better, this place even has its own Starbucks shop in the lobby! Starbucks = happy Valli.

Ok, so the credentials office was open today at Chicagoland Speedway until 8pm. I got checked in to my room by 6 and so I thought I’d have enough time to make it to the track to sign for my credentials. I ended up arriving fifteen minutes too late! Yes, it took me 2 hours to get to the track. There was a lot of traffic and in one particular stretch it was because of an accident involving a big wheeler. It sucked that I couldn’t get my credentials today and at least get into the track, but it’s no biggy since qualifying was called on account of the rain.

And speaking of the rain, we’re talking thunderstorms people. I haven’t seen lightning and thunder like this in such a long time. I really, really, really, really, hope it clears up and doesn’t come back. Driving in the rain in unfamiliar surroundings is not fun. I missed turns that I was supposed to make, so I was thankful for the navigation system, oh so thankful. On my way back to the hotel it was raining so hard that I could barely see the lines on the ground. I had no idea what lane I was in a lot of the time. Luckily at this point there weren’t a lot of cars on the road. Oh and they have all of these tolls on the roads every so often. It’s like 80 cents here and 80 cents there and then 30 cents there. I’ve never heard of such a thing. I come from California where we only have tolls on bridges. No biggie though, I plan on being better prepared for tomorrow.

One cool thing I have to say is that I got to drive a portion of Route 66 after I left the race track. That was pretty neat.

Okay, I’m super tired, off to bed I go. More tomorrow!

This is how it is here in Chicago, flat and green.