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Sunday at the auto fair was a lot slower. When we got there in late morning, I'd say there were maybe 2/3 as many cars and dealers as on Saturday. And people left all day. By the time we were allowed to leave, at 4 pm, the track was nearly deserted.

Which gave us the opportunity of a lifetime: to line up and do a lap around the track. What an experience! A real Nascar track. Georg waited for us just after turn 2, and used his camera to take that little movie I posted yesterday. Then we all took some photos, and then finished our lap. We went really slow because both Stink Bug and Miss Vicki have serious mechanical problems. In fact Miss Vicki broke down on turn 1 and missed being in Georg's movie. But Dean got it started up again and caught up in time for the photos. A security guard stopped us at one point, but luckily Dave was in pole position and sweet-talked the guard into letting us finish our lap. Whee! It's a shame Danny and Chris missed it. Danny said that the bucket truck's clutch has gone bad and he couldn't drive it slow like that, and Chris hadn't finished packing up all his stuff. If it were me, I would have come back and finished packing later, but I guess he didn't want to leave his things unattended.

The auto fair was an extremely male experience, which didn't really surprise me. Out on the track, where the cars were for sale, the ratio was about 30 men to every woman. Though I did see a girl, about 10 years old, walking around with her parents and taking pictures. I thought it was cool that a guy would take his daughter to the car show with him. On the other hand, in the pavilion where we were, the male-female ratio was more like 5-1. I even saw two women who seemed to be there together, without a man in tow. It's kind of sad that out of the thousands of people I saw, there were only 2 women unaccompanied by a man, But still, score one for the girl gearheads! On the downside, at one point I saw a dealer selling signs with people's names on them. You know, "Mike's Garage" and so forth. I asked him if he had one in my name and he totally smirked at me when he said no. Jeez! I can understand why it wouldn't be profitable to bring signs with women's names, but he didn't have to be a jerk about it.

My main impression of the auto fair was how happy everyone was. Thousands of people, all so happy to be there. People told me stories about their cars, even showed me photos. I don't know a damned thing about cars but I smiled and showed appropriate enthusiasm. It made me wish I were a gearhead too, so I could have shared the experience with them.

I felt honored to be invited to participate in such a big event. And being in the company of such amazing art cars made it even more of an honor. Meeting the Button King was actually a little intimidating. He's kind of an art car legend. I take it back about him being like your crochety scary grandfather. Georg and I talked with him on Sunday and he was much more friendly. He remembered that I had said Georg wanted to meet him. It turns out he has two button-covered coffins: the one he brought to the show, which is for his museum, and another one which is decorated with pearl buttons and is for his own burial. He told us that we could see them both at his museum, that is until he "goes." I asked him about the Pearl Kings and he was familiar with them, though he called them Pearly Kings. He said that they use pearl buttons which are more expensive. His buttons are all donated. A Japanese button manufacturer had brought him to Japan to perform, and had given him 50,000 buttons. And a French button company gave him two barrels full. Besides that lots of people send him buttons from all over the world. He said that he has never bought a button!

Miss Vicki was another car that I really wanted to see. I didn't know this before, but the car was designed for Tiny Tim to ride in during a parade. That's why it's decorated with tulips, and it's named after Tim's first wife. Miss Vicki is a Dodge Dart that was sawed in half and shortened by about 3 feet, thus removing the back seat. I was glad to find that out because I could never figure out what it was about the proportions that made it look so funny. Like a clown car or something.

Stink Bug, Heaven and Hell Car and Buckit Truck are all cars that I had seen at previous events, but I had never met their owners before. That was really nice, to meet Carolyn and Mike, Chris, and Danny. And it was great as always to talk with Tim (Plaidmobile) and Dave (Aerocar) . One thing I really appreciated about this event was that being rather lengthy, and with only a few art cars there, we all got the chance to hang out and talk. Most of the events I go to only last one day, and I'm so busy setting up equipment for the parade that I don't really have time to talk to the other drivers. Houston also lasts for several days, but there are so many things going on and so many cars there, that it's just a crazy scene. Although this was a huge event, the art car part of it was small. So I didn't feel so much pressure to cram as much experience as possible into every day.

The auto fair was amazing. We had the best time. I have tons to write and many photos to upload. In the meantime, for your enjoyment here's a sneak preview of the Lowe's Motor Speedway Art Car Cup. (warning, large Quicktime file.)

Today was great. The weather was beautiful, there was a huge crowd, I took lots of photos, people loved the art cars. I didn't run the bubble machine at all because it was windy, which might have blown the bubbles back in onto those super expensive concept cars. Also the lot next to us was full of street rods, so it would have been bad if they blew outside too. I just couldn't deal with all that anxiety over some fricking soap bubbles so I left the machine off all day.

It was a bit of a bummer not to have my bubbles going, but instead I worked on beading. Which people seemed to really get a kick out of. It's kind of weird to be working on the car with a crowd of people watching over my shoulder (literally -- I was sitting just inside the chain so the spectators were right up behind me). But as Tim McNally said, once you get used to people staring at you while you drive, it's a short step to not noticing people staring at you while you work. Sometimes the spectators talked to me but more often they talked to each other as though I couldn't hear them.

On the way in Georg and I stopped at a supermarket ("Bloom," an upscale Food Lion) and got sandwich stuff for lunch. It was really nice to eat real food instead of horrible fair food. I could probably come up with lots more to say, but instead I'm going to chill and watch Carefree and then go to sleep. We have to check out of the hotel room before heading to the speedway tomorrow. Carly said that tomorrow morning will probably be a bit slow so we'll aim for getting there around 10:30. I wonder if they'll let me leave early? It's kind of a bummer that Georg and I have to drive home separately. Also a bummer is the realization that all the legendary barbecue joints in Lexington, which we have to drive right past, are closed on Sundays.

Today was a good day at the auto fair. It rained on and off but there was still a decent crowd, lots of people came to see the art cars. Overall the response was really positive, though I guess people who wouldn't dig art cars wouldn't have come over, so I was only talking to the people who were inclined to like it. We opened up the garage door and I was able to run the bubble machine for most of the day. The wind did blow a fair number of bubbles back in but Chris, the guy next to me, hung up a curtain between our two cars to keep the bubbles off his art. That seemed to work pretty well.

I was interviewed by a TV show. It's an NC-based car show called "Rev Me Up." They said that in Raleigh they're on digital cable channel 140. I gave the woman my email address, she said she'd let me know when the show is going to air. They interviewed me and Dave Major (Aerocar), and they also got lots of footage of the button car because he's from South Carolina. But unfortunately the Button King wasn't there at all today so they couldn't interview him.

When it stopped raining I walked around the track and checked out the cars for sale. It was a dizzying array of classic cars. I entertained myself by trying to figure out what makes one 1930's Ford worth $12,000, another worth $30,000, and another worth $80,000. To me each car looked perfect on the outside, all shiny chrome and new paint. But the prices varied wildly. Clearly the value is under the hood. Many of the cars had signs explaining the details, but that didn't help me at all. Because I know so little about cars that I generally couldn't understand the abbreviations on the signs.

Later on Dave told me that the really expensive cars are the ones that have been souped up with all the modern conveniences: a new, high-powered engine, power windows, power brakes, etc etc. To me it seems like that would ruin the value of the car as an antique. It would be like finding a gorgeous 300 year old cabinet, then stripping it down and putting some weird faux finish on it. Dave said that some collectors do view cars like that. They try to restore the car to its original condition, using only replacement parts from the correct year and so forth. But a lot of people turn their classic cars into "street rods," an antique body but a new car inside. I had no idea.

I was surprised to find that almost 100% of the cars for sale were American. Out of hundreds of cars I saw a couple of Beetles, one Porsche, and one Datsun. Everything else was American. I would think there would be a market for souped up and/or restored classic foreign cars too. Maybe this show skews towards US made cars. I wonder where people go to buy classic Minis or Mercedes or whatever?

I didn't really look at the dealer booths because I have no interest whatsoever in used car parts. But I understand that anything you could possibly hope to buy for an American car, you could find here. That is, if you can find it. It's like a gigantic swap meet, with people dragging around little wagons loaded with car parts. I guess if you were really into restoring your car, trying to find the booth that had the part you needed could be fun. Like an Easter egg hunt.

I also wanted to go outside the track and look at the car clubs, but I decided to save that for tomorrow so Georg and I could check them out together. Dave gave me a ride back to the hotel, but we got stuck in terrible traffic. Which actually wasn't so bad because it gave me a chance to talk with him. He's a great guy. Really nice and easy to talk to. He's the person everyone wishes was their grandfather. The Button King, on the other hand, is like your crochety kind of scary grandfather. He's the guy that would be threatening to take everybody out behind the woodshed, and you'd never know if he meant it or not.

But anyway I was talking about Dave. He's a big airplane enthusiast, his career was an electrician for small aircraft. Which sounds like a really high pressure job to me, like being a doctor except that a single mistake could kill a dozen people in one go. But he said it appealed to the perfectionist in him. He had been to Kitty Hawk for the recreation of the Wright Brothers' flight, which was apparently a really big deal. Bush was there and a bunch of astronauts and all kinds of important people. Dave mentioned how much he wanted an NC "First in Flight" license plate. Apparently NC plates are really hard to get. As it turns out, I still have my MOJOJOJO plate. I never turned it in after I got my MAHJONGG plate, because I thought Georg might want it for his car. He kept politely demurring, which I failed to understand because I just couldn't imagine how anyone could not want a MOJOJO license plate on their car. So I never turned in the tag, and it's been years. I think that if the DMV was going to get on my case about it, they would have by now. So I promised to send the plate to Dave. And I'm writing this down here so I will remember to do it.

Georg got here around 7, totally wiped out from a tough drive down. We walked to an Indian restaurant near the hotel that turned out to be really good. Better than anything I've had in the Triangle, and I think our Indian food is pretty darn good. Tomorrow we're going to head in to the show a little late as I hear there's a mad rush to get in when they first open. I know I had tons more to write about, but it's all gone from my head at the moment. Now time to upload my photos and go to bed. I haven't been sleeping well since I got here. I think it's from drinking tea with dinner, which I don't normally do. Tonight I had water and here's hoping I sleep better.

It rained pretty hard and there weren't that many people there today. although I heard that low attendance was expected today because people are still setting up. The biggest crowds are expected tomorrow and Saturday. It might rain again tomorrow but Saturday is supposed to be clear.

It turned out that I couldn't run the bubble machine. Because first of all, the cars are indoors with a painted concrete floor. Which would have turned into a slippery hazard if it were covered with liquid soap. Also, my car is about 15 feet away from the two most expensive cars on display: two retro Buick concept cars, both convertibles. I would have felt uneasy about getting soap bubbles all over the exterior of a car like that, but the upholstery? No way. Carly and Harriet (the folks from the speedway) said they would find the owners and ask them what they thought. But I felt like the answer was clearly no, we can't be spewing bubbles all over those cars.

We came to the decision that when it stops raining, we'll open the garage door next to my car, pull my car partway out, and have the bubble machine outside. In the meantime, today I read my book and chatted with the other drivers and the few spectators. I talked to two very nice gentlemen from coastal NC who were excited that I was from Durham. One of them was from Franklinton and knew the Triangle pretty well. We talked about Pittsboro and they knew the store Beggars and Choosers, which was cool.

(I just have to add an aside here that watching TV without a DVR is so frustrating! I keep reaching for the remote to fast-forward over the commercials.)

I did some patching of raggedy carpet in the morning, and the spectators really seemed to dig that. People came to look and ask me questions while I was working. I asked Georg to bring me some beads so I can do more work over the weekend. I think that will be more engaging for people than me just sitting there reading a book. Although my book (about Elizabeth I's early life) is very good. It's a pop history, which I think is good for the circumstance. A more thorough, drier history might be hard to focus on. Though Elizabeth's life was so amazing and full of drama that it would be hard to write a boring book about her.

Carly ferried me back to the hotel around 3, there was no reason for me to hang around since the bubble machine wasn't running. Due to a mixup about when I was going to be brought back here, I didn't end up eating lunch at all except for a granola bar. Then by the time I did get back, it was so late that I decided to wait for dinner to go get food, and just have another granola bar as a snack to tide me over. And let me just say that three granola bars for breakfast, lunch and snack may sound like a good idea, but it really isn't. I fear that I may have put myself off my granola bars. Which would suck because I really love them, they are the perfect thing when I don't have time to eat real food.

Anyway I took a nap for a couple of hours, had dinner, and now I'm chilling and watching Survivor. Tomorrow I have to be ready to go at 8 & will be spending all day at the show. Then Georg will meet me after the show. Yay!

We weren't delivered to the hotel until about 7:45 pm, but there was a Chili's (I know, it's a chain, but that's all there is around here and it's the best of the bunch in my opinion) close enough to walk over there, eat a mountain of fajitas, and still get back in time to watch the elimination on America's Next Top Model. Alas, poor Lluvy. I loved your unusual, Shelly Duvallish beauty and I hoped you would do a lot better. Alas, your photos uniformly sucked and they were probably right to cut you.

Okay, so, the car show. It's hu-u-uge! I thought it would fill the speedway, which would be big enough, but it takes up a big parking area outside too. The art cars are right in the middle of things. It's UMJ, the Aerocar, Miss Vicki, the Buckit Truck, Heaven and Hell car, Plaidmobile, the Button King, and the Stink Bug. I only got to talk to Dave (Aerocar), Chris (Heaven and Hell car), Danny (Buckit Truck) and Dean (Miss Vicki). The others had already set up and gone by the time I got there. We're set up inside a building with a few really choice classic cars, and each car is roped off. Because we're special! Our "handler" I guess you would call her, a student intern named Carly, says we're here because Mr. Wheeler, the president of the Speedway, likes art cars. Three cheers for Mr. Wheeler! Clearly he has good taste.

Setting up UMJ took about ten minutes: just a quick once-over with Windex, set up the bubble machine, and done! My only mishap was overfilling the bubble machine so much that the bubble juice leaked out of the machine, ran down the edge of the windshield, and dripped onto the ground under the hood. Where I thought it was an oil leak and freaked out. Chris reassured me that oil wouldn't be clear like that, and while we were cleaning it up we realized that it was soap and figured out what had happened. Whew!

The electrical outlets are in the ceiling so I can't start it up until tomorrow, when someone with a ladder will reportedly come by and plug me in. I hope the night security guard gets to see the bubble machine in action. I had a nice chat with her this evening while I was waiting for someone to ferry me back here. I had set up my camp chair next to the car and was reading a book (Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne by David Starkey) when she came by and started chatting with me. She seemed to really dig the car and asked me a lot of questions about it. She told me that she works from 6 pm to 6 am! What a schedule! She said her husband works as a guard in the local prison, so the night shift actually works out well for her.

Most of the cars weren't there yet when we left today, and Carly says that tomorrow is when most vendors and clubs come and set up. She said that Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the big days. Which is good because the weather is supposed to suck tomorrow. Heavy rain all day. Carly is going to pick me up here at 10 am, and I may ask her to bring me back to the hotel early tomorrow too. If I have to spend all day there tending the bubble machine, I'd rather it be on days when lots of people are there to enjoy it.

On my way out the door to dinner I ran into Chris, who suggested we all go out to eat together. I confess, I made up an excuse to beg off. I just wanted to be quiet and read my book while I ate. I'm not an anti-social person (well actually, I kind of am) but we're all going to be hanging around the speedway together for days. So I wanted some alone time tonight. While walking I saw a bird's nest in a tree outside the hotel! It was really nice to find a little encroachment of nature in the middle of this vast display of bland institutional landscaping.

Now I'm chilling in the hotel room. Which is nice, a bit small but it has a couch, a desk, decent cable and free wireless. What more do I need? I think I'll post my photos now, and then maybe get some work done. Or maybe just read my book.

I'm at the hotel in Charlotte. It was an easy drive, I didn't push it but the speed limits have gone up again -- 70 for part of the way! --and it took about 2 hours. Now I'm chilling for a few minutes before heading to the speedway. I got directions online, but they seem to conflict with the signage on the highway. I think I'm going to abandon Mapquest and follow the signs. After all, how lost can I get? (that's a joke, as you know if you've ever been in a car that I was driving.)

Once I get to the speedway I guess I'll park my car, set up the bubble machine, then cool my heels until the shuttle is ready to bring me back here. There are a bunch of hotels right by the speedway but they put me up in a Holiday Inn about 5 miles away. I wonder if it's hard to get a room right there during an event like this. Or maybe the room rates go up & it's more economical to have us a few miles away. Whatever! As long as I can walk to restaurants I don't care. There are two right beside the hotel but they look pretty blah -- a chain Japanese steak house and a chain New Orleans theme restaurant. I saw a big-ass strip mall as I was driving in, I bet there are lots of places there.

Cleaning an art car is an involved business. I guess everyone has their own method, but this is what I do:

1. hose off the car.
2. wash all the flat surfaces, beads and carpet with a sponge and bucket of soapy water.
3. rinse off with the hose.
4. fire up the steam jet cleaner. do yard work while steam cleaner is heating up.
5. spray all the toys with Tilex.
6. clean each toy and mah jongg tile with steam cleaner.
7. rinse again with hose.

I should have probably washed it again with the sponge to get rid of the residue left by the steam cleaner, but as it was the process took all afternoon. I'll take some Windex and paper towels for a quick clean-up when I get to the show. After all that I was pretty much wiped out. Georg took care of dinner, and he even surprised me by going to another Target and getting more bubble juice! Four more bottles; now I definitely have enough.

I still had to do laundry and pack, but that wasn't hard. This is the easiest time I've ever had of packing for an art car trip: I don't have to pack food or plan clothes for any special events, if I forget anything I can ask Georg to bring it, and I'm not messing around with web cams. Normally I have to take my computer bag and a separate equipment bag, but this time the equipment (battery chargers and the like) fit in the computer bag.

Now I'm almost ready. Just have to go to Stoneline this morning since I can't go this evening, go to the bank, write out Thirteen's medication instructions for the kennel, and decide whether to give her a bath or have them do it. On the one hand, it would be nice not to worry about it. But on the other I don't know if they have the sensitive skin shampoo that Thirteen needs.

Tomorrow I drive out to Charlotte for the auto fair. So today is preparation day: have to drive around, take care of errands, clean the car, pack, and try to get some work done. Work isn't so pressing this time because I'll have net access at the hotel, so I can work in the evenings while I'm there. But still there are some things I want to get out of the way before I go.

The one thing concerning me is bubble juice. I've been to Target and Walmart and I could only find four bottles. I need to keep the bubble machine running all day for four days, and I don't think that will be enough. Trouble is, I'm not sure exactly how much I need. At a normal event I'd want two bottles for just one afternoon. But normally I'd lose a lot from spilling out of the machine while I was driving, which won't happen at the auto fair. Still, I'm sure four bottles isn't enough for four days. Maybe I'll have time to try more stores tomorrow morning.

Speaking of Walmart, curse them! I've been trying not to shop there, because of that whole "destroying local economies" thing and the "sending jobs overseas" thing, and then there's the "workplace discrimination" thing. So I haven't been there in a long time, but I really need bubble juice so I went there today. And they had summer bulbs, things I really wanted, and they were so cheap! I couldn't help but buy some. Okay, a lot. I usually buy my plants from small nurseries at the farmer's market or through the mail. I'm uncomfortable with giving money to Walmart unless absolutely necessary.