Sunshiny Faces

We're having a marvelous time here in Pahrump. Mike has been around the track in his #15 white C7 Corvette, and I finished a little quilt top yesterday. We're both in our happy places! So here's what's been going on.

Breakfast and lunch are provided here, and so we went early for breakfast. Mike needed to report at 8:00 a.m. to the classroom for that portion of the school. After he left, I decided it was time to set up the sewing machine. He'd only been gone an hour when I looked out to see them driving around in circles in the far parking area...only, I guess it's not really a parking area, but rather, a classroom lot for doing drills. They did all sorts of things there...making quick turns, stopping on a wet surface...that sort of thing. The point is that they got in the cars right away, which was a lot more fun than sitting in a classroom.

As for me, I was busy getting Pfelicity set up. She was so happy to come out into the light of day.

Since this isn't my usual sewing space, I need to do a little work on the choreography of sewing here. My work flow wasn't very efficient. A few times I reminded myself that I had all the time in the world and that, unlike Mike, I wasn't attempting to set any speed records.

You might recall that I kitted up a few projects when we left home. I totally love this kitty print from my friend Robin, and it was out, so I decided to start there. This was the kit of fabrics I made up for the quilt-along at The Inbox Jaunt. 

My first task was to make 40 HST's. You know how happy I was about making more HST's, don't you? Actually, these went pretty fast.

I remembered to bring my Bloc-Loc ruler for trimming and squaring them up. I'm not really into specialty rulers, but this is a great product. You can click on that link I've given you to find out more about it. So, anyway, I remembered the ruler, but I forgot to bring any PINS! Fortunately, I'm not a big pinner, and I do have about five flower-head pins in my binding kit. That will probably get me by until we run across a fabric store of some kind.

Once those were finished, they were pretty quickly sewn into four rows of ten HST's each.

From there I needed to add five strips, 20 x 3 inches each. Only, when I opened up the fat quarter I'd brought for that purpose, I realized it already had a bite out of it. Oy! That meant I didn't have enough fabric for all five strips.

Not to worry. I had plenty of the cat print, and so I just used that on the outside edges. The plan was always to use it for the top and bottom panels and then for the quilt back.

So, there you have it. I didn't get my HST's oriented correctly. In the image below from Lori Kennedy, you can see that she has hers pointing toward the center. I reoriented mine on the right, but they don't look like hers. I decided I could continue on successfully in life without redoing them.

(image source)

So about that time, Mike and I met for lunch. There, I saw his cool name tag. Very official, don't you think?

We had a few minutes before he needed to get back, and so we strolled around the place. They are working on race cars in one of their garages.

Here's another one that was parked outside.

Later in the afternoon, he was able to get out on the track for the first time. He's driving the white car.

We've learned a little more about this place in the time we've been here. Mike was in the presence of racing royalty. This is the Ron Fellows School of Driving. Ron Fellows has won every race there is, apparently, and he was here. Mike didn't get a selfie with him...I think he will regret this for the rest of his life, don't you? Honestly. Men.

So even though the driving school bears Ron Fellows' name, he isn't the owner, and is simply paid for the use of his name. Two other guys own the place. There are around 100 C7 Corvettes here for various classes and events. We're told that the tires on these cars are replaced after every two classes (about 500 miles of driving). Also, the cars are replaced every year. The money invested in this place boggles the mind. And when you think about it, the price of the class would barely cover expenses. There are 8 instructors for about 15 students.

So, I have a front-row seat at several different locations, and I was able to get this video of him making his way around the track. If you can't see the video, then click right here. Mike is in the white car.

When he came back to the trailer yesterday afternoon, the energy and adrenaline coming off him was palpable. We both had a great day. There was a "socializer" in the clubhouse, but we decided to go out for dinner. We had a lovely evening at the Symphonies restaurant, which is part of the Pahrump Valley Winery.

The grounds here were beautiful. This is a winery and a resort, and it even has an RV park. We may have to move our RV tomorrow night since class is over tomorrow afternoon. Mike is going to check and see if we can stay the night. Otherwise, we'll need to spend a night somewhere else in Pahrump before moving on to our next destination.

When we got out of the car, we saw these gorgeous flowering trees that look for all the world like desert creosote bushes that have been cultivated into trees. Just now I looked up creosote bushes, and the flowers are different. Nevertheless...pretty.

The grounds were meticulously landscaped. 

Here is a small part of their vineyard. We tasted a Shiraz from this vineyard. Beyond this image and off to the right are some eucalyptus trees. The winemaker was aghast to discover that the eucalyptus trees had shed some of their oils off onto the grapes. The resulting wine has a distinctive odor of eucalyptus, but it was delicious. We had a view of the vineyard from our table. Off to the left and outside the frame of the image below is a fountain, and we enjoyed watching two hummingbirds flying in and out of the spray.

Inside the building, there is this room featuring all their wines with awards on some of them.

As we walked into the restaurant, we walked right past their wine cellar. This picture was taken through a glass door, which explains the reflections you see. Kind of fun seeing their wine cellar.

Although we liked the Shiraz, we were also treated to a taste of this Zinfandel from vines that are over 100 years old. It was so smooth and delicious.

We had a great dinner, and it was a lovely way to end the day.

This morning I opted for a slow morning. Mike went over to breakfast, and I slept in and made myself a bowl of cereal later. We've been on the go for weeks, and I was really more hungry for a slow morning than I was for a hot breakfast. I'll meet up with him for lunch, and then, I'm going to get a chance to ride around the track with one of the instructors. Cool!!!

As for the rest of the day, I'm moving slow. I need to make a quilt sandwich and then I can catch up with the quilt-along. I have steaks marinating in the fridge and Mike will barbecue later today. For all their angst on the first day, the kitties have settled in, and we had a much better night last night.

In closing, I want to thank all of you who are following along and leaving comments. If you have a blog, then you probably know that a blog is more than a way to connect with friends. For me, it's also my journal, and I especially enjoy writing these posts about travel. It's fun to go back and read them years down the road. But it's also great fun writing them when you, my friends, come along, telling me things you know about the areas we are in and also about your reactions to the things we've seen. Thank you for your comments and for your friendship. You are appreciated more than you know.