I like VIR.  Mostly because it is fairly close.  Just about an hour and twenty minute drive and literally just over the Virginia/North Carolina boarder.  And it is a beautiful place.  Rolling grassy hills and wonderfully kept facilities.  The owners are continually finding ways to make it a stellar venue. A couple of Saturday’s ago they had multiple events going on.  One was Formula 4.  If a youngster has racing ambitions that lean toward the pinnacle of international racing, Formula 1, then they usually begin with carting and its various levels of competition.  All this is to get to the first step of Formula 4. Drivers have three years to prove themselves in this first step and then they must move on or move out. It is not easy, but it is a lot of fun.  Traveling to various race

Driving along the road in Minnesota a site to behold popped out at us.  It was a line of vintage Chevy pickup trucks. Who does this?  Sure we’ve seen vintage pickup trucks on the side of the road and a few of them are worth noting.  This was above and beyond.  so who had accumulated this collection of bodies, frames and parts? It was Sunday and they were closed so there was no one to talk to and ask questions.  So we did what we do and took photos of all the treasures. Set back from the road was a second row of truck cabs and bodies just waiting for that collector that wanted an amazing project. It wasn’t just Chevy pickup trucks either. Next to this GMC was another Ford pickup truck. Tons of all styles and years of

This curvy highway snakes around the mountains and was a major part of our route between Bend and Hood River.  It was quite a road. I’ve driven Pikes Peak and Mount Washington.  I’ve driven the Tail of the Dragon and many other mountain roads that challenge and thrill, but I must say that this one just may take the cake. Guardrails are sparse and you can take the speed signs seriously.  The road not only curves, it undulates. The Dragon has 318 turns in 11 miles, but this road goes on for at least 30 miles of amazing turns.  The views are breathtaking, too.   This is a fun road.  The Jeep Liberty is not a rally car, but it handled this road well and yes, I did wish for my Mitsubishi Evolution IX .

As we travel from towns to cities to forests and the high desert it is nice to see fellow travelers enjoying themselves.  This guy was having a good time in the bed of a pickup truck. He loved waiting for the cars going in the other direction and following them with his head as they drove past. Its great to see travelers that are enjoying the ride.

Okay, it’s not a car, but it is a motor vehicle and very fast and it was on the side of the road.  This was quite an exhibit, especially these days. I mean, how often do you get to see a nuclear missile site?  We got to see what the reentry vehicle amounted to (the bomb). The reentry vehicle came back to earth at over 20 times the speed of sound. This was some serious stuff. Here was a chart of the missile museums.  Perhaps there is one near you. These were the locations of Minute Man and Titan missile sites. Things don’t work 100% at all times so there was redundancy built in to the missile systems.  Called Overkill.  It was deemed important to be certain that if a strike was launched we would do our part to end