Me and Bruce….Bruce Springsteen!
IMPORTANT!!
If you came to see Bruce Springsteen jump to the end of my newsletter right now!
Preamble.
It’s highly possible that what I am calling a “relationship” with Bruce Springsteen is not really a relationship with you. That’s fine. My newsletter shares information. You, the cherished reader, get to decide what you believe and not. We good?
July 10, 2024
Happy birthday!
July 10 is a special date. It is the birthday of my twin brother and sister. They are not my twin but they are twins of each other. This year is special for them. They turn sixty. Happy birthday Lynn and Mark.
For me, it’s all about getting good value.
This morning, I will take an Uber ride over to where I parked my car when I arrived in Stockholm, three days ago. I parked my car “off-site” (above) to avoid paying $120 per day to park my car with the hotel. Parking off-site and taking Uber rides saved me $290. For some $290 may or may not be a big deal for you. In my world, $290 is still a decently sized deal.
Last night I checked Uber rates from the hotel to my parking site. I checked at 11 p.m. Rates were about 500 Swedish krona, which is about $50. I had paid only $12 to take an Uber ride to my hotel when I left my car in the parking area. However, when I checked this morning an Uber was only 105 krona which is about 10 bucks U.S. Additionally, the Uber prices for different cars and levels of services varied from 105 krona to 251 krona!
I was surprised by those numbers. Lesson to be learned? Whenever you check Uber or Lyft and the price seems too high wait a couple of minutes. More often than not the price will change and usually for the better.
I’m a chatty kind of guy.
I always enjoy talking to my Uber drivers. The guy I rode with this morning was an Uber driver and a taxi driver using the same car. His automobile was equipped with a taxi meter.
Although I was only paying 105 krona ($10 bucks) he told me if I had ordered his car via the taxi service the rate would have been nearly three times as much. He also told me that Uber takes 65% of the fare that is charged. The driver told me he has to pay almost all of what is left over from Uber, after Uber takes their slice, in taxes. He drives nearly for free with Uber and would much prefer using taxi cab rates.
This was surprising!
My Uber guy told me something that surprised me. I would have thought the summertime period would have been best for Uber drivers with all the tourists in town. Not true. He said his Uber business is much better during the winter than the summer. He mentioned that in the winter kids are back in school. Everyone is working. Oftentimes the weather is either too cold or too rainy for people to ride their bicycles or walk to work or school. He told me there’s no comparison. Winter is the best season of the year for his Uber driving.
What? 4.86? C’mon man.
You probably already know that when you finish an Uber ride you have the opportunity to tip the driver and give him or her a rating on a 1-5 scale. Did you know the Uber driver gets to rate you on that same 1-5 scale? Do you know YOUR Uber rating? Mine is 4.86. I was surprised by that. I am always courteous, respectful, and a good conversationalist (my words). Why wouldn’t I have a 5.0 rating?
This is a trackchasing trip!
I’m going to be in Sweden for four weeks. This is a trackchasing trip. Week two for racing purposes begins today. I will see racing at a different track location starting today for the next five days. As a convenience to my readers all of the “racing stuff” will be highlighted in BLUE font to help folks skip around to enjoy what they like best. I hope the headings I provide do the same thing.
Gnagaredalen – Vimmerby, Sweden – Lifetime track #2,991.
I am operating with the schedule that Nicklas Åkerlund of Sweden gave me. Several weeks ago, Nicklas shared several Swedish race dates and locations with me. Then I picked the dates that might fit my schedule the best. I would never in a million years have been able to come up with the extensive list that Nicklas did. I truly am indebted to him.
Today, I had a four-hour drive over to my first race location in Vimmerby, Sweden. During the trip, I was reminded that European drivers are better than American drivers. In Sweden, drivers don’t speed. They are very respectful. I only heard a driver use the horn a time or two during my entire trip.
No parking!
You will never see a European driver “parking” in the fast lane and holding up traffic behind them. In this part of the world, the driver stays in the slow lane until they want to pass a car. When they had completed the pass, they immediately moved back into the slower lane. Drivers don’t do that very well in the United States.
I’m seeing day racing.
Almost all Swedish auto racing is done during the day. Almost all American short-track auto racing is done at night.
I do have one “night” race on my Swedish trackchasing agenda. That’s one track out of the 17 I have planned for my 27-day trip. In reality, it’s “only” a 25-day trip when I count the days I am in Europe for the entire day. That “night” race starts at 1400 or 2 p.m. It’s expected to finish by 2100 or 9 p.m. The sun doesn’t set in this part of Sweden until well past 10 p.m. That’s some “night” race.
Welcome to Swedish folk racing.
Today’s racing in Vimmerby, Sweden might be my favorite of the first four tracks I’ve seen on the trip. I’m not an expert on autocross racing but it seems like today’s track was just about the most traditional autocross facility I could imagine. Later I would learn this was the first “folk race” I had seen so far. In some ways, a Swedish folk race is similar to the kind of racing I might see in the U.S. at a county fair.
As a reminder, rallycross aka RallyX racing is contested on a mixed surface road course. About 70% of the track is usually asphalt. The rest is a dirt racing surface. The configurations are set up so the fans can see virtually all of the track. In trackchasing these configurations are defined as “road courses” because the drivers have to turn both right and left to get around the track. The tracks normally measure about three-quarters of a mile in distance.
Today’s admission was only 120 Swedish krona or about $12 U.S.. It’s easy to convert krona to dollars by simply dividing the price in krona by 10 or moving the decimal one space to the left.
No reserved seating!
These tracks don’t have any formal grandstand seating. Most “short track” racing in Europe doesn’t have any formal grandstand seating. That being the case, I stopped at a Swedish dollar store, named…wait for it…the Dollar Store, a couple of days ago. I picked up two folding lawn chairs for $12 each. I used one of those today. I found a spot in the woods where I could watch the racing. When it was time to explore the track’s paddock, I simply left my seat there trusting the honesty of the Swedish people. At the end of this trip, I’ll just give these chairs to someone watching the races. To me, they are disposable and not worth carrying back home.
Spectators were spread out all over the hillside that surrounded the track. It seemed as if everyone, especially the men, wore black. Spectators also brought their folding lawn chairs or blankets.
When it was time for lunch, I thought I might try the Swedish meatballs. I used Google Translate to figure out the name for that item but alas there were no Swedish meatballs on the menu.
The track had three or four different refreshment buildings. They all seemed to specialize in one thing or the other. At the first building, the best I could score was a can of Coke Zero. This place only accepted cash. This was the first foreign currency in cash that I had used on the entire trip.
Carol is my foreign currency specialist.
Carol had given me $600 U.S. in Swedish krona. She came up with those funds from a “secret stash” she had stored somewhere in the house. At the rate I was going, I would never come close to spending the Swedish money she gave me.
I suspect she has hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars, stored in various foreign currencies. We’ve been to nearly 100 foreign countries. I can think of three different occasions where I tried to spend the money she gave me only to find out that our “old” foreign money had been replaced with a country’s “new” currency. Once we had to wait six months to make an exchange via the mail.
Who don’t like a really good beef kebab?
At another building today I ordered my luncheon entrée. I think the official name might’ve been a beef kebab. This was thinly sliced beef spread over a bed of French fries. The dish was then smothered in a sauce made of mayonnaise. I didn’t see any forks so I ate the delicacy with my fingers. That’s how they do it in India. Lunch was quite tasty.
This is folk racing.
Each race had five or six cars competing. The races were short, just four laps. According to Nicklas, the track had 156 races on the day’s schedule. That’s unheard of. An American track might have 15-20 races maximum.
The cars started at the top of a hill side by side in one row of five or six cars. They raced downhill and then immediately had a series of turns in the dirt section of the track. This was total mayhem. For most races if six cars started only about four made it through the first lap.
One of the things that hurts the entertainment value of racing in the United States is yellow and red flags. Each time a driver spins out or has some kind of a minor accident the yellow flag is thrown. This slows down the show and drags things out. Boring.
That’s not how they do it at these Swedish folk races. If a car becomes disabled for whatever reason, including flips the race continues. They show a “corner yellow”. When this happens, the drivers slow down and there isn’t supposed to be any passing until they pass the accident site. Track workers (above) do their best to get the disabled driver back on his or her wheels while the race continues. When the race is finished track workers bring out heavy-duty farm equipment to take the wreckage away. They keep this moving with this style of racing. I liked that.
I walked all over the perimeter of the racecourse. I took lots of photos and videos as I always do. When I had seen about three hours of racing I decided I needed to leave.
Now, it’s back to my “civilian” life.
This was one of my busier days. It took me about four hours to get to Vimmerby from Stockholm. After today’s racing, it will take me another four hours to drive to get to my hotel. Eight hours of driving on these roads is quite a chore. To top it off most of the four-hour drive after the race was in heavy rain.
There are virtually no traditional rest areas on Sweden roads. They have parking spots about every hundred yards that are about the size of my three-car garage driveway. Periodically there will be small towns where there’s a gas station and a convenience store. I used those as my rest areas.
This was a pain.
Speed limits constantly change. I’m talking about every mile and sometimes more often. Whenever there is a road that intersects the main highway the speed limit on the main road drops if only for 100 meters. By the way, one meter is roughly one yard in case you were wondering. It appears Sweden’s speed laws are strictly enforced. Nobody speeds. I have to pay closer attention to the speed limit changes than I normally do.
For me, this is a 27-day trip. For most of those nights. I will be staying in a hotel for just one night and then moving on down the road to the next place. This makes for a logistical challenge. I plot all of the race track locations and hotel locations on a Google Map. I plan to select hotels that make driving before and after each race location as convenient as possible. Back home it is not uncommon for me to drive through the night to get to the next race. I’ve done that more than 100 times.
Not my first European rodeo.
I’ve been trackchasing in Europe for the past 25 years. As you know 25 years ago there was no real GPS for drivers. I used paper maps. You know those things printed on paper that were hard to read. I was an early adopter of GPS like I am with most technology. I remember taking a trip with a couple of my fraternity brothers. I was driving and using GPS. They were busy double-checking every move with their paper maps. They would probably deny that recollection but I know it’s true! Honestly, I don’t know how I did what I now do without the use of GPS.
Gas was expensive. That didn’t bother me. It was my only option.
Today, I stopped for my second tankful of gas. I paid $6.95 a gallon. I saw prices as high as $8.20 U.S. per gallon in Norway. I didn’t buy any gas there. It is what it was. I think I’m getting about 45 MPG in fuel mileage. That reduces some of the shock factor in what appears at least initially to be out-of-sight petrol/gasoline prices.
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Meat and taters…or donuts.
I eat almost no fruits and vegetables. However, when I’m at a hotel breakfast buffet and I see fresh whipped cream and strawberry preserves I can’t resist. This morning, I grabbed a crêpe, or what is sometimes called a pancake, and smothered them in the red and white. The strawberry preserves will be my fruit for the day!
Girl doctors?
Here’s a short diversion. I just got a new doctor. She’s one of those “girl” doctors. True be told I would rather have a woman doctor than a man. I think women have a stronger attention to detail.
I told my new doctor that I try to eat fast food at least once a day if not more often. I told her I don’t drink water but only diet soda. I also mentioned I don’t eat any fruits and vegetables other than maybe the above-mentioned strawberry preserves, French fries, and onion rings. She couldn’t believe it. Then she shared all of my just completed physical exam blood work results. A+ in every category! My doctor told me I seemed to have won the “genetic lottery”. I told her that when my blood work results change I will consider eating a vegetable. I made it this far with my eating plan. I think I’m way ahead of the game no matter what happens from here.
I couldn’t find where I needed to go.
Today I was trackchasing in the small town of Torsby, Sweden. I had never been to Torsby just like I had never been to most of these other track locations. I figured when I drove into town I would see a sign telling me how to find the racetrack. That was not the case.
Almost all racing in Sweden takes place during the day. In the United States, most racing happens at night. Today’s show began at 9 a.m. I pulled into town at a little past noon. I figured they would be racing nearly all day, but I didn’t know how late into the afternoon they would be racing.
I couldn’t find the track. The location didn’t show up in my GPS. I have not seen any signs. A minor glimmer of panic did float past on my mental radar screen. I tried to ignore it, but I didn’t think I could.
I love being lost. I meet the best people this way.
I stopped a couple of construction workers and asked about the track location. They didn’t know. What? Construction workers in a small town didn’t know where the folk race was happening? That was concerning and did ratchet up my panic scale.
I saw a guy standing outside a convenience store. He looked like a likely prospect. He didn’t speak much English and referred me to inside the store. There I talked to a young woman who was acting as a cashier. She didn’t know the location and neither did the customers that we asked. Were they not racing today? I had come to Sweden to see this particular race and it wasn’t going to happen?
I remember when I drove into town, I saw a sign for the “Tourist Information Center”. I was running out of time. These folks seemed to be just about my last choice.
These ladies saved me a day.
Luckily, three women in the office spoke English. They had access to the information that I needed. Soon they were printing out a map and entering the track’s location data into my Google Maps app on my iPhone. These ladies were lifesavers! I think they wanted to chat, but I didn’t have time. I gave them my business card and thanked them profusely. I wanted to take their picture but that seemed to border just a bit on stalking.
Niwabana – Torsby, Sweden – Lifetime track #2,992.
The track location was out in the boonies. I drove about 20 minutes out of town and then took a side road that was essentially a one-lane dirt road for almost 2 miles until I found the track. That was a relief.
This is Swedish folk racing.
In Sweden, today’s race would be called a “folk race”. In the U.S. these types of race cars would be called “beaters”. Today’s race event was scheduled to have 156 heat races. That’s a lot.
They break the day down into four groups of races. Each of these groups are called “heats”. In between each set of heats, which can be 30-40 individual races they do about 30 minutes of track prep. When I arrived, they were between, heats two and three. All of my panic was unwarranted as most panic is.
This is different than going to the opera.
Seating is not all that convenient at the racetracks. I need to walk long distances on uneven ground and hillsides. This is a challenge for my Hey Dude shoes. I brought my chair and pitched camp wherever I could.
Today, I placed my seat next to a gentleman of a similar demographic to me. I was happy to discover he spoke English. We chatted for much of my stay at the track.
My hotels in Sweden are like a box of chocolates. I never know what I’m going to get.
From there, I drove over to Sunne, Sweden. I’ll be staying at a hotel on the lake called Hotell Frykenstrand, Sure Hotel Collection by Best Western. Today had been a good day. Not being able to find the track was a bit of a hassle but everything turned out well and I met several friendly Swedes.
The hotel was nice but a little dated. It reminded me of the kind of off-the-beaten-path lodge that we would’ve had a sales meeting at… in about 1975.
I enjoyed dinner. I selected the prime rib sandwich with French fries and a glass of wine. I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger on a $15 serving of crème brûlée. This was a battle between the price of the dessert and my Die with Zero financial principles. Penny pinching won out.
Friday, July 12, 2024.
The next couple of races don’t involve very much driving. What’s the benefit of that? Other than the obvious it gives me a little bit more time to see some of the local attractions in towns nearby.
This morning, I drove 30 minutes over to Torsby where I was able to see their local auto museum, Torsby Fordonsmuseum. I love visiting auto museums. The entire area was covered with children playing various games. I would come to learn today was “Children’s Day”. On Children’s Day, there is no charge for the auto Museum.
This is a small museum with maybe only 40 cars or so. However, there were classics. Many of them were American-made. That was a little bit surprising. They also had motorcycles and collections of old televisions and typewriters and such. I enjoyed my visit.
Östmark Motorbana – Östmark, Sweden – Lifetime track #2,993.
I’m learning Swedish! Ö!
From there, it was off to the folk race in Östmark, Sweden. See what I did there with that Ö? It took me some time to learn how to type that. Yesterday’s track was in Thorsby, today’s track is in Östmark, and tomorrow’s track in located in Hagfors, Sweden. This is a three-day racing series at three different tracks.
Many of the cars that raced yesterday were at the track today as I would expect. The crowd was maybe 100 people watching in addition to a very full pit area. Viewing spaces were out in the woods and again not that convenient.
Surreal!
I did have a funny and surreal experience. I found a spot where I could sit down and have my lunch. It was right in front of the area where the race results were posted.
A woman came up. We started to talk. She had some questions about what the racing format was like. I was no expert, but in this case, I knew more than she did.
A few minutes into our conversation, she said, “Are you the guy from LA”. That seems like a strange question at this point in our relationship. Yes, I am the World’s #1 Trackchaser and people do recognize me. I’ve had a guy come up to me at a gas station and ask “If I was that trackchaser”. The same thing happened to me at the airport. But in Sweden?
I told her I was. Then she mentioned to me that her ex-husband was the guy I had been talking to at yesterday’s race in Torsby. Talk about a small country although Sweden is bigger than the state of California. The woman I was meeting today and the man I met yesterday had been married but do not live together anymore. They stay in touch and are friends. Somehow her ex-husband was able to get the information about our meeting yesterday to her in less than 24 hours. He must have told his ex-wife he had met the World’s #1 Trackchaser “from LA”. I found that pretty amazing.
V.I.P. seating.
Later in the day, I was able to get a viewing position right next to the starting line. This was my best viewing of any of the folk racing I saw during the entire trip. You might want to check out my video from this spot.
With folk racing, they race from roughly 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. or so. I see no need to be at the racetrack for nine hours. I do this for fun. Nine hours of racing would not be fun for me. Today I was at the Niwabanan track for three hours. That was plenty for me to soak up all the racing ambiance that I wanted.
I never expected to see this.
Following the races I stopped at a restaurant that I had seen on the track today. It was a 1950s American-style diner aptly named “American 50s Diner. They had a jukebox and posters advertising Elvis Presley and others.
The food was good. I had a hankering for chicken wings and had to try their key lime pie. This place was good and something unexpected when driving along the rural two-lane roads of Sweden.
My trip is going pretty well. I’ve knocked out six races and have several more to go. Carol will be joining me soon. That will make the trip all the more fun. I felt more than comfortable taking a 27-day trip with her joining in for the last 12 days. I have structured my life so that I have all the time in the world. When I retired travel was the plan.
July 13, 2024
Wake up. Eat. Drive. Trackchase. Drive. Eat. Sleep.
Today was a simple day in Sweden. I woke up in the small town of Sunne. My hotel, the Hotell Frykenstrand, Sure Hotel Collection by Best Western sits right on the lake. That made for a beautiful clear sunny walk around the lake.
Swedish hotels have their quirks.
There are a couple of unique things about Swedish hotel rooms. One is the door to the room swings out to the hallway. Of course, in the U.S. it’s just the opposite. They also have a threshold that separates the bathroom from the bedroom and the bedroom from the doorway. Even though I knew it existed, I still stubbed my toe daily, not expecting this to be a situation.
Hagsforsvallen – Hagfors, Sweden – Lifetime track #2,994.
I’m getting used to this.
The drive to today’s racetrack was a bit more than an hour. Admission to the folk race was 100 Swedish krona or about $10 U.S. That seems to be about the normal price for folk racing here.
Although I bought a folding chair at a Swedish dollar store at the beginning of the trip I’m still having a hard time finding a place to watch the racing. They don’t have grandstands for these types of races. The tracks may be 3/4 of a mile in length but normally the spectating area is limited to just a quarter or less of that perimeter. Sometimes the seating area is on a rugged hillside in a forest, where it’s difficult to position a chair. Today’s spectating area was flat. That meant that if I didn’t get there early, my seat would be several rows back from everyone else with a difficult vantage point. It’s almost easier just to walk around and watch the races whenever and wherever I can.
Indoor bathrooms!
Today’s race location was much more modern than the previous folk race races. They even had a building with indoor bathrooms! As is my custom, I walked around the paddock area taking photos of all the interesting cars and race car haulers. These race cars look beat up and one step away from the scrapyard. Nevertheless, they can get around these little race tracks well. They are fast for what they seem to be.
When I had seen all that I needed to see and walked all over the place to see what I did see I headed for the exits. They normally run these races one after another with occasional short breaks for track preparation. I don’t see a great to be in my chair for nine hours. I do this for fun. When the fun of watching the races ends you’ll see me heading for my car.
Narrow roads, slow speed limits. Lots of speed cameras and beautiful lakes.
Today’s Google Maps itinerary recommended a drive that was exclusively on two-lane roads. The roads were winding and curved and took me up and down hills. The speed limit was normally about 80 kilometers an hour (about 48 mph) and sometimes only 70 kph (42 mph). It seemed like I was crawling but the crazy roads kept things interesting.
I checked into my small independent hotel. If I’m not staying at a Hyatt or a Marriott I’m using Expedia.com to stay in one of these independent hotels.
Walking is the best way to see things.
Before dinner, I decided to take a walk through a local upscale neighborhood. The first huge building I saw turned out to be a badminton facility. I never would’ve guessed that.
During my walk, I felt like I was in a sociology class comparing the cultures of Sweden and the United States. In this short 30-minute walk in a suburban neighborhood, I saw so many differences.
Sweden has a cold-weather climate. Its climate is one of the five coldest in the world. Nevertheless, with these new upscale homes, I noticed that their two-car garages were detached from the house.
Sweden has one of the biggest penetrations of electric cars of any country in the world. That might say something about the Tesla haters who would tell you that electric cars don’t do well in cold weather. I saw a couple of homes that had their electric charger units on the outside of the garage. Even in Southern California, I would put my charger inside the garage.
Was this a Domino’s pizza store? Nope, but close.
As I continued my walk, I came across a small building. It didn’t look like it could be any bigger than maybe 15‘ x 10‘. Three or four people were standing outside. As I got closer, I discovered this was a pizza restaurant! Oh my.
The closer I got to the building I could see people coming and going to pick up their pizzas. Mind you this was in the middle of a suburban neighborhood! I had planned to go without dinner tonight because I’ve been overeating on the entire trip. However, if a guy is creative enough to come up with a pizza joint like this I have to support his business, right? I ordered a pizza. He told me to come back in 15 minutes. I continued my walk.
As I passed by one house I could hear what sounded like a heavy metal concert featuring Metallica. From what I could surmise this was simply the kid of the house having a little band practice. The music could be heard from a block away. I’m glad we don’t live next to those people.
The next thing I saw cruising down the road was a 1955 classic Buick automobile. I’ve seen these antique cars several times on the trip. The Swedes like their old American cars. They are fixed up as if they were new and they just cruise.
I like yellow houses.
I did see one homeless guy going through some dumpsters. It seemed as if he scored a blanket. As is the custom in Sweden, there were several houses painted yellow. I’m talking about 10-20% or more. You wouldn’t see that in the United States. For the first 15 years of my life, I grew up in a lemon-yellow house. To this day that house, built in 1938, is still painted yellow. I love yellow houses. Our stucco house in California is painted a light shade of yellow.
Why travel?
Why do I travel? I want to see and experience things that are different than where I live in San Clemente, California. Why would I fly for hours only to visit a place that was exactly what I had just left? One of the reasons might be that I enjoy a good pizza! And yes, before you ask, I ate the entire thing.
I had a busy evening talking with Nicklas.
When I got back to my room, I started corresponding with Niklaus about my remaining race schedule. Things were changing. One race was canceled about two weeks from now. Another race had clarified their schedule. That messed up the date ranges of when I expected to be here and there. Nicolas and I easily shared well over 100 messages spanning a couple of hours on the “new plan”. I’m lucky to have him as my Swedish resource. He pretty much tells me what my options are. Then I try to take it from there with his good advice.
July 14, 2024.
I never know what day it is.
It is said that in retirement, every night is Friday night, and every day is Sunday. In my world, I have no idea what the name of any given day is. I just don’t. If I needed to know this stuff, I would know it…but I don’t.
I often have a hard time telling you what I did yesterday. That’s why I try to dictate my notes daily when I make trips like this. However, I can tell you what happens today, tomorrow, and three days from now. I judge my “days” on what activities are coming up. That’s the world I live in.
Rain was predicted and that prediction was how things turned out.
Today the forecast called for rain all day. It was going to be windy. The temperature was going to max out in the mid-60s. That’s not a very comfortable weather forecast to be sitting out for hours at a folk race in Sweden. Nevertheless, that’s what I did.
Borlänge Motorstadion – Borlänge, Sweden – Lifetime track #2,995.
Trackchasing is more fun with my friends.
Today I was going to see racing in Borlänge, Sweden. It would be my good fortune that my good friend Nicklas Åkerlund and his lovely Susanne would be joining me at the races. I hadn’t seen Susanne since my last trip to Sweden in 2022.
Logistically my hotel was only 10 minutes or so from the racetrack. The good thing about seeing racing in the middle of the day in Sweden is that when the race finishes I can get some more driving in during the day and still have a nice dinner. Then, if needed, I can do more driving the next morning to get to the racetrack.
This is my 12th day on the road with this trip. I’m not even halfway finished. I have managed, despite driving more than 2,000 km of driving to get my 4 miles of daily walking completed. This morning, I walked in a light misting rain. Each day I assess what the plan is for the entire day and try to figure out when I can get in all my segments of my walking. With rain today and lots of driving walking four miles would be tough. Somehow I got into this walking habit. It is a rare day when I don’t meet my goal.
We nearly missed this track.
Nicholas, Suzanne, and I decided to meet at the races at 10 a.m. We expected that the racing would begin an hour earlier and run for most of the day. Those expectations were not exactly correct. They were wrong.
We all showed up at about the same time. I hadn’t seen Susanne since we met at the races in Sweden in 2022. She looked lovely as she always does.
Swedish racetracks are rustic. They don’t offer any permanent grandstand seating. Fans bring their chairs.
This was sort of like camping in the rain.
Nicklas and Suzanne see this kind of racing all the time. Today they brought their umbrellas but no chairs. As an American, I rarely use an umbrella. But I did have three chairs for the three of us! I had brought two triangle-based “golf” chairs for Carol and me. They aren’t very comfortable but they will do in a pinch.
After we said our hellos I headed off to the paddock to see the behind-the-scenes action at this Swedish folk race. This is one of the things I love to do most.
That’s it!
When I got back to where Susanne and Nicklas were sitting, we enjoyed a few races together. All of the PA announcing was in Swedish. After one particular announcement in Swedish Nicklas leaned over and said, “That’s it.” The races were over. We had only been at the track for about an hour.
It just turned out that yesterday, the track ran most of its racing that was scheduled for two days in one day, anticipating that rain would be a problem today. They ran all of their qualifications yesterday and their finals today. If we had decided to come an hour later and watch racing until 5 p.m., we would’ve been sorely disappointed. Today’s racing was finished at 11:15 p.m.
Let’s go to lunch.
This was good timing. I invited Suzanne and Nicklas to lunch. There was an excellent hamburger-style restaurant attached to my hotel where I stayed last night. When I go to lunch by myself or with others, “My phone eats first”. What does that mean. I like to take pictures of my food!
The three of us drove over to the restaurant in our two cars and had a delightful lunch. It’s always good to catch up with friends. It’s even more delightful if that’s possible to catch up with friends who live such a long way from where I live in California.
We all expect to meet up again when Carol arrives in Sweden. This will be a special celebration because, on that day, I expect to be seeing racing at my 3,000th-lifetime track. However, that’s a story to be told later in the trip.
I’m a Hyatt man.
After today’s racing, I had a three-hour drive back to my Hyatt hotel. Stockholm has three different Hyatt locations. These hotels are all private hotels under the Hyatt banner.
Since I stayed at this particular hotel last week, some of the “learning curve” was behind me. I find it amazing how having had just one experience at doing something makes the second experience so much easier.
Kebobs and churros are my kind of dinner.
In the evening, with the weather much nicer in Stockholm I went on a walk. At 8:30 in the evening, I decided I needed to have a little bit of supper for the evening. I found a place selling kebabs and wandered in there. What a find. A Coke Zero, a chicken kebab, and an order of Churros set me back $27.50 US. However, this might’ve been the best and biggest chicken kebab I have ever had. It was the best kabob I’ve ever had. What a day. Everything had worked out perfectly.
Monday, July 15, 2024.
I had absolutely nothing planned for the day…but that would change.
Today I had a full day to myself in Stockholm. I had nothing specifically planned. I had spent several days in Stockholm here on previous trips. I was in Stockholm last weekend seeing what there was to see in the city. I didn’t know what to do.
I went to the Hyatt Hotel’s breakfast buffet, still trying to figure out my daily plan. I like hotel waffle makers. I like them a lot better at a Hyatt than I do at a Super 8 hotel. The clientele seems to be better as well, but I’m not here to judge.
Maybe I would take in a movie?
Today I made my waffle perfectly, the first time. That never happens. I smothered that baby in whipped cream and strawberry sauce. I sat down to eat. It was then that I decided that seeing a movie in Stockholm would be a good idea.
What was the “arena”?
At that moment a couple of guys next to me were speaking in American English to another man and wife, a Swedish couple. They were just ending their conversation. I heard only the last sentence or two of what they were saying. They seemed to be talking about an activity tonight at the “arena”. They said the outing was going to be a lot of fun. One of the Americans was wearing a Bruce Springsteen T-shirt.
OK, I will be the first to admit I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer. However, the word “arena” and the t-shirt with the words “Bruce Springsteen” got me thinking. Was Bruce Springsteen playing in the “arena” Was he doing that tonight?
The “Boss” would be in the house!
As I continued to munch on my strawberry sauce and whipped cream waffle I started googling. What did I find? Bruce Springsteen WAS playing in Stockholm. Where was he playing? Bruce and the E Street Band were playing at the STRAWBERRY Arena. Talk about foreshadowing! If I don’t hear this private conversation at just the right time in the breakfast room I would not be seeing the Boss!
More googling led me to the Viagogo ticketing app used in Sweden. This app was similar to the ticketing apps I use, like SeatGeek and StubHub. A lot of the language was Swedish, but I just kept clicking to the next screen.
Good seats only, please.
If I were going to go see Springsteen, I would like to have a good seat. Section 130 on the lower level and not far from the stage had two tickets available. I selected the ticket selling for $128 U.S. This left one more ticket available in my section for anyone wanting to pay $709 for that ticket.
It wasn’t all that easy buying the ticket when using an app that spoke in a foreign language. Pretty soon I got to the point where the app asked if I wanted to use Apple Pay on my iPhone to buy a ticket that was nearly $200 after fees. I did. I pressed “buy”. I was going to see Bruce Springsteen in Stockholm. How cool is that?
Stuff truly does fall into my lap…after I am ready to have it fall in my lap.
Now I had a plan for the day! In my world stuff just falls into my lap. I’m not complaining. I am just explaining. I could still see a movie or go back to my room and sleep for much of the day. Then I would walk to the Strawberry Arena from my hotel. It was a 40-minute walk but once again that fell into my wheelhouse because as you know, I need to walk every day.
Yes, Carol and I loved the Osmonds.
I’m not a huge concert goer but I’ve seen my share. For the longest time, I would tell people that my best concert was seeing the Osmond family perform in Las Vegas. I got a lot of strange looks when I mentioned that to people much cooler than me.
This guy was entertaining.
In Branson I saw their #1 act, Shoji Tabuchi a fiddle player. I even had my photo taken with Shoji. Alas, Branson is not considered as cool as it is by many people. I was surprised at how few people had even heard of Shoji Tabuchi. I was saddened to learn that Mr. Tabuchi died about a year ago at age 79.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention seeing Red Sovine. Somewhat improbably he showed up on a Saturday afternoon at our grade school in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Somebody must have been owed a favor. I love Red’s songs.
You’re probably beginning to believe me when I told you that I wasn’t much of a concertgoer. No Beatles. No Elvis Pressley. I could have seen EP play in Vegas but I thought I had more time. When a fella tells you that his two favorite concerts were the Osmunds and Shoji Tabuchi you know he’s a rookie.
But wait. THIS was my best concert ever.
However, don’t sell me short just yet. Only a couple of years ago, Carol and I went to the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, yes we get to Vegas a lot, to see Garth Brooks perform. The venue was huge seating more than 2,000 people. Were we in the nosebleed seats? No! Mr. Brooks performed for a couple of hours all by himself. No band. Just Garth. Most of that performance had him sitting in a folding chair in the middle of the stage directly in front of the first row telling stories and singing songs with only his guitar. He’s a great storyteller.
Where were we seated? Carol and I were in the first row! Also in the first row were seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and his wife Chandra. Garth Brooks performed nearly his entire show within arm’s reach of me. That’s not an exaggeration. I had never been a huge GB fan up to that point but when his show finished he vaulted to #1 past the Osmunds! When the show was finished the Johnsons were invited backstage. I figured that was because Chandra Johnson was from Oklahoma and so was Garth Brooks. At least I was able to give my trackchasing business card to Jimmie Johnson!
It’s me and Bruce tonight.
Tonight, it was just me Bruce Springsteen, and more than 60,000 of his fans in the Strawberry Arena. The arena is the largest in Scandinavia. Bruce and the E Street Band opened the arena back in 2013 for two days with a combined attendance of more than 169,000 people. The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and others have played at the Strawberry Arena. Taylor Swift did three shows there in May. Now Bruce Springsteen was returning for the first time in more than 10 years.
I would rather go to one event with a really good seat than three events with a bad seat. I would say my seat location ranked in the top 10% of the entire arena. Fans who watched the concert from the “floor” had to stand for more than four hours. I’m 6’3” tall. Although I would not have wanted to stand for four hours I at least would have SEEN the concert. Can you imagine if you were 5’5” tall and were standing behind me all night?
Sorry. I hope I didn’t oversell my “relationship” with Bruce Springsteen but fear I did.
Right off the top, I will tell you that attending the Bruce Springsteen concert in Stockholm was disappointing. What was the highlight? Buying the event t-shirt! This evaluation has nothing to do with Mr. Springsteen‘s performance. It’s all on me.
I am not a rock ‘n’ roll music fan. I spent my youth playing sports 24/7. I know. That sounds like a bit of an exaggeration, but for every waking hour, I was playing sports, watching sports, and reading about sports. Maybe if I hadn’t shot so many baskets out in my driveway and had listened to a little more music, tonight’s concert would have been more entertaining for me.
Bruce Springsteen’s fans are not spring chickens.
I was surprised at Bruce Springsteen’s fan base. They were old! Mostly not as old as me but they were old! More than 90% of those people were having one of the best nights of their lives. They knew the words to every song. I didn’t know the words to a single song.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play long and they play loud. I just marveled at the people. My seat was in the first row of the lower level right behind what I am calling the dugout if a baseball team played here. In reality, the main tenants of the stadium are Sweden’s men’s national football team and Allsvenskan football club AIK.
I was out to lunch in this environment.
Do you know what it’s like when you go to a party and everyone is drunk but you? That’s what it felt like for me. Everybody was having the best time. I wasn’t. I spotted one woman on the floor who never changed her facial expression from “Why did I accept this date and when is this going to end?” I focused on her. I felt self-conscious. Fans were dancing in the aisles and I wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong. This had NOTHING to do with Bruce Springsteen and his performance. However, I did have a little bit of an issue watching a 74-year-old man trying to be a rock star. That’s called “ageism” and is totally on me.
However, as you can see from my Trackchasing Tourist Attraction’s list I am very much into events. I’ve seen all the biggest sporting events. Being able to see a Bruce Springsteen concert in a foreign country was an event! I couldn’t and wouldn’t pass up something like that. I am 100% glad that I went.
Hop on a tram and let’s get this party started.
To get there I hopped on a tram. I rode it three stops toward the Strawberry Arena. I thought I had used Apple Pay to pay my fare, but the charge never showed up on my phone. I guess I rode the tram for free. When I got off the tram, I followed a large group of people, who were headed to the Strawberry Arena about a 10-minute walk away.
This was more than disappointing.
It was then that I discovered that I had forgotten my external battery charger for my iPhone. My phone’s current battery isn’t as strong as it was when the phone was new. I intended to bring the external battery so I could do all kinds of videoing of tonight‘s performance and take tons of photos. Now I went into a minor panic knowing the entire evening would be dominated by iPhone battery management.
I also intended to use GPS to direct me back from the arena to the hotel after the show. That was going to be a 40-minute walk. Now that I had gotten to the arena, I had to manage my phone’s battery closely to get as many recordings and photos from the concert as I could and still have enough battery left to direct me back to the hotel in the dark. This caused some level of angst.
Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt.
I was early for the show. I walked around soaking up the ambiance. I am huge with ambiance. I grabbed what for me would be the long-term highlight of the entire evening. I was able to buy a Bruce Springsteen T-shirt. The shirt listed all of the locations of his 2024 European tour. That will bring back memories of the night for the rest of my life.
Once inside, I completed a walking circle of the arena. I always do that when I visit a new place. One most surprising things was the age of the crowd. I typically think of rock concerts as something for younger people. Tonight, the average fan was probably 50 to 60 years old and maybe even a little older than that in spots. It was an older R&R crowd.
When do we get to go home?
Bruce Springsteen is famous for playing long concerts. At about the three-hour mark he got into a light-hearted conversation with Steven Van Zandt (above) his lead guitarist. Bruce asked the crowd if they would “Like to go home now. Didn’t they have to be home now to take care of the babysitter?” I looked around. I was hoping the vast majority of the more than 60,000 people would see the logic of Bruce’s question and “nod their heads and say yes we need to get home. Wrap it up, Bruce”. They didn’t do that. They collectively told Bruce to keep going.
I was reminded that Steven is a member of the band playing guitar. I first “met” him when he starred in the Sopranos TV show for several years. Max Weinberg is the band’s drummer and was the band leader on Conan O’Brien’s’ talk shows.
The big video screen close-ups of Springsteen himself reminded me visually of Robert De Niro. The E Street Band has been in existence for 50 years. Bruce didn’t speak to the crowd very much but he did tell everyone he was kicked out of his first band!
A fish out of water!
Would you spend more than three hours listening to an audiobook in a foreign language that you didn’t understand? I wouldn’t do that.
Tonight, I felt like I was a fish out of water. It seemed that well over 90% of the Springsteen fans knew every word of every song and sang along with Bruce.
On the other hand, I didn’t recognize a single song he performed. The music was so loud, I couldn’t understand any of the lyrics either. I should’ve brought earplugs. Does that sound like the evaluation of a cranky old man? Ya, I know.
I waited and I waited some more.
Tonight, I waited for the one single song that I thought was sung by Bruce Springsteen. What was the song? Born in the USA! I had saved enough iPhone battery to record that song. They never played it! That must have been a “Sweden thing”.
Following the concert, I had just enough battery to power my GPS for the 40-minute walk back to the hotel. It was a pleasant walk. For the first half of the walk, there were all kinds of concert-goers leaving the arena with me. The last 15-20 minutes of my walk were mainly by myself. Never did I feel any sort of danger. Stockholm and Sweden in general appear to be super safe places. Tomorrow I’m back on the trackchasing trail. I don’t expect to ever forget tonight. At this point in life and for pretty much my entire life I’ve been banking memory dividends. My account is overflowing at this stage.
That’s it from Sweden for now. More exciting news came when Carol arrived to see me get track #3,000.
Randy Lewis
The Boss was performing to my deaf ears.