Greetings from Onekama, Michigan
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Lifetime Track #1,894 – Temporary figure 8
Lifetime Track #1,895 – Temporary oval
It takes a fearless spirit to live in the mystery……………more in “The Details”. This is really annoying….. or if I were king.……………more in “The Details”. I can’t ever recall seeing this……………more in “The Details”. Why hadn’t I discovered these opportunities in the past?…………..more in “The Details”. Three “fours”……………more in “The Details”. I developed a bond with another late night traveler tonight…………..more in “The Details”. Here’s a great trackchasing rules addition…………..more in “The Details”. I love seeing road course racing.………..details in “Race Review”. It takes a fearless spirit to live in the mystery. I woke up this morning in Joliet, Illinois. I went to bed in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Detroit, Michigan no less. Who sleeps overnight in their car in Detroit? Today is day #18 or my 27-day summer trackchasing trip. As Oprah says “It takes a fearless spirit to live in the mystery”. I woke up early this morning. I had to drive through the heart of Chicago to get over to Michigan. Chicago and Boston have the worst big-city traffic in the country. Pittsburgh has the worst roads. Nevertheless traveling through Chicago at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday should have been and was a piece of cake. TolI roads – They suck. However the toll roads in Chicago really suck. I’ve dealt with them since my college years. Nowadays if you have an electronic toll transponder there are two big benefits. First, you don’t have to stop to pay tolls. The transponder toting traveler also pays just half as much as the hapless unprepared non-technology savvy motorist. However, it doesn’t make any sense to get an Illinois toll road transponder if one lives in California. Therefore I paid what the unprepared paid. I paid twice the price for the tolls. This is really annoying or if I were king. What’s really annoying when traveling in Illinois is that many of the toll booths are automated. You might think, if you’ve been reading these reports for very long, that automation is a good thing. Automated booths as you might imagine don’t have a toll taker. I make it a point to not carry any coins on my person. Some 87-94% of the time I do not have a single coin “on me”. If I pull into an automated toll booth where the toll charge is 75 cents and I have no coins then I have a problem. I know that some of you are saying, “But Randy, I always have a few coins in my pocket just for situations like this”. Let me ask you this. Do you routinely carry $3.50 U.S. worth of coins in your pocket? If so, how much do you pay for a chiropractor every month? I have seen automated toll booths that do charge that much in exact change. If I were king I would establish a toll transponder that was good on ALL toll roads in the U.S. When you drove through your credit card would simply be billed no matter where you were in the country. Trust me that will be with us sooner or later. I can’t ever recall seeing this. While driving in Michigan I did see something I don’t see very often. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen this. By the way one of the benefits of going on these trips is experiencing things you don’t see at home. If everything you see on a trip is the same as what you have at home then why go on the trip? Today I saw two parking areas where people were selling their cars on a “by owner” basis. That’s not terribly unusual. However, these were organized lots with billboards advertising the situation. Sellers would pay $3/day for the privilege of having a “central area” where the public has come to know that cars are being sold by private owners. In both cases the car lots were in semi-rural areas. I suspect that the lot owners sensed an opportunity and seized the day. I just hope they pay income taxes on their revenues! After the afternoon racing…… Why hadn’t I discovered these opportunities in the past? Following this afternoon’s race I headed northward for what could be a trackchasing bonanza. Along the way I stopped at a 7-11 convenience store. I needed cash. 7-11 stores have Citibank ATMs in most stores. However, the store I stopped at had their ATM out of order. That wasn’t good. I’ve discovered two opportunities on this trip that I probably should have discovered much quicker in life than I did. The first was “sunglass readers”. The second was “flavored water”. For long distances I have excellent eyesight. However, I need glasses for reading. When I’m driving I often need sunglasses and the ability to read things, like directions and emails on my phone. Enter the “sunglass reader”. I bought a pair at Wal-Mart and love them. Next up on the “should have tried sooner list” is flavored bottled water. When I’m traveling I don’t drink as much as a I should. When I do drink I find myself drinking diet soda. I don’t care much for regular bottled water. There isn’t the “kick” that I get with diet soda. However, flavored bottled water is sort of in the middle. There is a little bit of “kick” and I suspect it’s a healthier alternative compared to diet soda. Three “fours”. Last night I only got five hours of sleep. That’s because the figure 8 racing in Illinois got a late start. I also had to get up earlier than I would have preferred due to this afternoon’s starting time in Michigan. Today I will be driving for three four-segments. It kind of goes like this. Drive four hours to my afternoon racing activity. Then drive four more hours to my evening racing activity. Then drive another four hours to my overnight lodging site. Does driving 12 hours over three different “shifts” sound less than entertaining for a vacation you might plan? I get that. However, if one of your vacations did have you driving three four-hour shifts how would you feel about sleeping overnight in a Wal-Mart parking lot at the end of the day? Did I lose you at that point? Maybe that’s why there is only one trackchaser zeroing in on 1,900 career tracks after today’s tracks were seen. From time to time I do need to pull over for my famous 12-minute power naps. It all comes with the freedom of being an independent Trackchaser. After the evening racing…… This would be a very productive day. I was headed back to the Detroit metro airport for a flight to the East Coast tomorrow. I seem to be able to handle these drives better now at my age than I did 10 to 15 years ago. I have no idea why that is. Once in a while a little Five Hour Energy drink never hurts either. I remember at about age 45 when I played golf in the morning I would need to take a nap when I got home. Fifteen years after that time I never took a nap after golf. Go figure. Today was a very productive trackchasing day. I scored one track in the afternoon in Brooklyn, Michigan. Then another two tracks were added to my lifetime total in Ogenaw, Michigan during the evening. That’s three tracks in one day. That doesn’t happen often but it does happen. I think that situation is especially noteworthy when someone has seen nearly 1,900 tracks. I do it differently. I also do something that virtually no other trackchaser does or has ever done. What’s that? I seek out unique and sometimes very upscale eateries along the long and dusty trackchasing trail. Why? Often times I’m hungry! However, an equally important reason is to broaden my experience in the local area. Tonight’s restaurant stop was special. You can read all about it in behind the “Attractions” tab. I developed a bond with another late night traveler tonight. After tonight’s racing I did make a pit stop at a local convenience store. There I grabbed a bottle of extra strength Five Hour Energy. This product does exactly what it promises. It keeps me awake but it doesn’t seem to have any side effects whatsoever. It just keeps me from being tired. The man in line ahead of me purchased a bottle of Five Hour Energy for HIS drive back to Detroit tonight. We both joked about our similarities. Out in the parking lot we toasted each other drinking our Five Hour Energy drinks while his wife looked on quizzically! Here’s a great trackchasing rules addition. I didn’t get into Detroit Metro Airport area tonight until about 2 a.m. The next time you’re getting up “in the middle of the night to pee” you can imagine me driving down some nearly deserted interstation highway at the same hour. Tomorrow morning I would need to return my car at 6 a.m. I was standing by for a 7:30 a.m. flight. Let’s just pause and think about this for a moment. You might want to reread the travel logistics that were required to make this trip happen. Now does it really surprise you that those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers” need two and three people to first pay for the trips and secondly to have someone else drive them to their trackchasing destination? I would submit that when you need another person to make your trip happen that each of the duo gets credit for one-half of a track. Does that sound like an equitable idea to you? Considering I didn’t arrive into the Detroit area until 2 a.m. and I needed to return my car just four hours later there was not time to get a hotel. What alternative did I really have? It was 2 a.m. for gosh sakes. I had driven 12 hours during the day after getting five hours sleep the night before. I would sleep overnight in a Wal-Mart parking lot. It was the ONLY alternative. Can you think of anything better? By the way my 7:30 a.m. flight, that I was “standing by for” had 15 open seats. That sounded good. However there were 13 people standing by and I was the last on the list. That would be cutting it close. ONE CANNOT LIVE WELL OR SLEEP WELL IF ONE HAS NOT DINED WELL The Glenwood – Onekama, Michigan Yelp! answers all dining questions. When I pulled into the small town of Onekama, I checked Yelp! to see if there were any good local restaurants. This turned me onto a fine dining establishment just across the street from Lake Portage called The Glenwood. It was the highest rated restaurant in the area. Yelp! gave it 4 ½ stars, which is about as good as it gets. I had about an hour and 15 minutes before race time. I knew the fairgrounds was just down the street. There would be plenty of time to treat myself to a upscale gourmet meal. I don’t eat in upscale places that often when I’m traveling by myself. For me the idea of dining is a social and recreational event. It is not the least about filling my stomach. For just me fine dining can seem to be a waste of time and resources. However, when Carol is with me it makes a lot more sense. What a fantastic experience. Tonight’s dinner was lovely. The restaurant service was fantastic. I selected the filet mignon as my entrée. The bread served with my meal was a highlight. Then my waiter came by with just about the most tempting dessert tray I have seen in any fine dining establishment ever. How could I turn that down? I went with the triple berry pie with vanilla ice cream. With most of the racing in the U.S. happening at night I don’t get the chance to eat in places like this that often. I wish, like my international friend where most racing is done during the day, that I had the time to eat in places like this more often. Manistee County Fairgrounds – Onekama, Michigan And on into the night. Tonight’s trackchasing activity would take me to another county fair. That fair would be in Michigan where I have probably seen more county fair racing than in any other state. Parking was free, admission to the fair was three bucks and a 10-spot got me into the grandstand. This was a small affair with a carnival that included only about 10 rides. There was a small representation of livestock and an old covered county fair grandstand. All of these county fair grandstands are packed. The grandstand was packed. It was so full that extra bleacher seating had been set up next to the grandstand. Tonight’s racing was run by Unique Motorsports. They always do a nice job of running the races and entertaining the crowd. From what the announcer was saying the show they had planned for this fair last Wednesday was hampered or cancelled by rain. I think that put part of the rained out program into tonight’s Saturday night show. Two tracks; one place. Sounds like a same location double to me. I was here tonight to see racing at the fair’s temporary figure 8 and temporary dirt oval tracks. There were about 15 figure 8 cars and maybe a dozen off-road derby cars. The off-road derby cars would race on the oval track. Overall, it was a very entertaining novelty racing program. The cars were powerful enough to churn up the dirt especially with the figure 8 V8 powered cars. The racing aspect of the show was finished at about 9:15 p.m. I didn’t stay for the event closing demo derby. Why? I had a 263-mile drive following the races. STATE COMPARISONS Michigan The Wolverine State Today I saw my 100th, 101st and 101nd lifetime tracks in the Wolverine state, yes the Wolverine state. Believe it or not I don’t think I finished with Michigan for the year yet. Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis World’s #1 Trackchaser Peoria Old Timers Racing Club (P.O.R.C.) Hall of Fame Member Michigan sayings: America’s first line of defense against Canada
QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 1,745 miles Chicago, IL (ORD) – Detroit, MI (DTW) – 234 miles RENTAL CAR #1 Detroit Metro Airport – trip begins Belleville, MI Butler, PA Urbana, OH Union, KY East Moline, IL Marshall, MI Armada, MI West Branch, MI Midland, MI Detroit Metro Airport – 2,378 miles RENTAL CAR #2 Detroit Metro Airport – trip begins Greenland, MI Escanaba, MI Escanaba, MI (again!) Hudsonville, MI Greensburg, PA Abingdon, IL Brooklyn, MI TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Wayne County Fairgrounds – $10 Butler Farm Show – $12 (not trackchasing expense) Champaign County Fairgrounds – $12 Florence Speedway – Complimentary admission Quad Cities Speedway – $8 ($2 senior discount – not trackchasing expense) Calhoun County Fairgrounds – $10 Armada County Fairgrounds – $8 Ogemaw County Fairgrounds – $8 Midland County Fairgrounds – $10 Adventure Mountain Raceway – $8 Upper Peninsula International Raceway – $8 Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds – $5 Hudsonville County Fairgrounds – $9 Westmoreland County Fairgrounds – $8 Abingdon Fairgrounds – $10 Michigan International Speedway – $20 LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS The three most important trackchasing comparisons to me are: Total lifetime tracks seen Total “trackchasing countries” seen Lifetime National Geographic Diversity results Total Lifetime Tracks There are no trackchasers currently within 350 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. 1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,893 Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total. 1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 65 Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results 1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 5.10 That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report 
