Tuesday 30th & Wednesday 31st May – Butler, Ohio

I didn’t get the super-lie-in I was hoping for, so went for a walk around the lake (right) instead.  Time to try and be healthy for a while.  I need a detox - lots of water and a break from alcohol for me!

We were both very behind on our correspondence so desperately needed some WiFi.  I identified a PA site 2-hours drive away in Butler, just south-east of Mansfield, Ohio.  We stopped off at a car wash on the way to power-spray the RV back to his former glory.

We settled into the PA site for two nights with a full hook-up for $19 a night for some serious Wi-Fi catching up and to do some laundry to de-mud all our clothing.  Part of the admin that we had to do was preparing the RV for our next visitors, Simon’s parents, who arrive NEXT WEEK!  We can’t expect them to stay in a muddy and dusty RV.

Wednesday was more of the same.  After a lie-in and a mega blogging session, I did some exercise to start the process of getting rid of what I will affectionately refer to as ‘my North-American spare tyre’! All bought and paid for I can assure you.  The camp site was next to a tarmacked cycle path which runs 18 miles between Butler and Mansfield.  I went to take a look at the town of Butler and identify the start of the bike trail.  How would I know? Probably where the tarmac ended in a hedge?! 

Butler has been known by a few different names in its time... my favourite is Spohntown by Daniel Spohn.  That'd be like me naming somewhere 'Cordeyville'. I would love that!

Lovely smooth, tarmacked bike path

I turned my bike around and headed in the reverse direction, back past the camp site.  No, I didn’t do the 36 mile round trip.  I settled for the 12 mile round trip to Belleville and back.  There was a strong wind today so the outward journey was much harder as it was into the wind.  But it was a serene, tree-lined bike route with a few wildlife extras I stopped for on the way.

Fearless chipmunk

I’d left Si working on two options for journey plans for his parents – it took him most of the day! He took it very seriously, looking at which Provincial Parks had the best activities and hikes available and working out the projected mileage and driving time each day.  We are only on the road with the In-Laws for seven nights, so we’re leaving it in their hands how far they want to travel in that limited time.

I threw a chilli together and we enjoyed a film on a free rental DVD that came with the camp site.

Monday 29th May – Mud carnage Memorial Day

We were in no particular rush this morning, thinking the whole ordeal of getting out of the field would be easier if we let the sun dry off the ground a little. But, according to the workers collecting rubbish around us, it was time for us to get out so they knocked on the side of the RV anyway.  Thankfully, this meant that we got a portion of Livia’s awesome breakfast casserole.  We’ve lucked out with our neighbours this weekend!

There were workers and rescue trucks all over the field. We put on our already-muddy clothes and shoes as there was now nowhere you could walk on the site that wasn’t completely swamp-like. Even trying to walk carefully, you couldn't help but splash mud up your legs:

Our entrance door and muddy step... getting that sinking feeling.

That's a big tow truck, rescuing a smaller tow truck that was rescuing a truck that was trying to pull a trailer out!

We packed up the RV and waited for the way to be clear for us.  We were discussing tactics and Simon was ready to give it a go but Alex and Mike were concerned that if we tried and failed it would make it so much harder to try and tow us out.  We’re glad we took their advice, Alex towed Simon and Harvey out of the mud in one go on the first try. It was amazing.  And this time I did catch it on video (below) but sadly it can’t compete with the skills displayed on Thursday! 

We were out, but the RV didn’t get away completely unscathed! 

Before......

....and after!

Finally free of the mud, we wanted to hang around and make sure the others got out successfully too.  Alex managed to get their truck and rig out successfully by flooring it in a straight line.  First time.  Another piece of cracking driving.  Sadly for Mike and Livia, they were parked further into the mud than the rest of us and even getting the truck hooked up to their fifth wheel took a group effort to push their truck against the deep ruts in the ground.  Luckily, one of the wrecker drivers had become free and, once hooked up, they dragged the rig out on to hard standing.  I did take video footage of this too, but to be honest, a truck being dragged at about 1mph across sticky mud is not going to make the final cut!  Here's a still instead:

Group pic with the neighbours... anyone need a shower?!

All successfully clear, we said our goodbyes and the US contingent set off on their journey back to see their little ones for what remained of Memorial Day (it’s a Bank Holiday Monday here as well as in the UK).  After Simon had cleared enough mud off the windscreen to make it safe to drive, off we went.  

We had planned to drive about four hours north-east towards Mansfield, Ohio but we both felt increasingly drowsy as we headed along Interstate 70 so we pulled into a rest stop.  We decided to re-visit Buck Creek State Park which was only an hour away by then.  We just really needed to find somewhere we could hook up with some fresh water to get showered and take it easy for the evening. 

Which is why I have a certain feeling of déjà vu – I find myself typing this blog in the RV on exactly the same camp site (no 27) in exactly the same park as we were in last Monday.  This time after an even heavier weekend of partying! Time to relax….

Sunday 28th May – Indy 500 Race day

The predicted morning storms never arrived and the morning of the 101^st Indy 500 race dawned bright and sunny.

We had allocated seating, so there was no urgency in getting into the IMS.  We walked over for 1130am and found our seats just behind pit row, with an amazing view of Alonso on the grid and into last years winner Rossi’s pit. As an added bonus, we were also in the shade for the start of proceedings and, unbelievably, there were empty seats all around us, giving us plenty of room to move around. The build-up was impressive, there were dedications to those serving in the military past and present and several live musical performances including, of course, the national anthem.

 

Our view of the pits with the start/finish straight behind - The stands were a little busier than for practise on Friday

The whole field do four laps behind a pace car, gradually getting faster to help heat up the tyres and then it is a rolling start when the lights go green.   Hopefully, this video of the start of the race will work for you and give you a sense of the atmosphere and volume!

The race started cleanly but Alonso dropped from 5^th to 9^th place.  Hardly an ideal start, but he started making his way back through the field gradually. Here's proof he was in the lead on laps 37 and 53:

 

Suddenly, there was an horrific crash on lap 53 of 200. Scott Dixon, who was the pole-sitter, was launched into the air in his car when he was unable to avoid crashing into Jay Howard, the Basildon Boy’s disabled vehicle.  Dixon flipped over and crashed into the safety barriers but, amazingly, managed to walk away from the carnage.  However, they had to suspend the race to clear the debris from the track which took about half an hour.  

After the re-start all of the drivers were coming in for pit stops, so we got a good view:

Once the race re-started, there were more crashes and incidents, causing numerous yellow flags and delays.  But this, in combination with hundreds of passes, made the race very entertaining. The leader changed more than forty times during the course of the race. In fact, the event set a new record for the most drivers to lead the race, 15 out of the 33 competing were in the lead at some point!

Alonso in the lead again at lap 130!

We were supporting Alonso and cheering for all of the Brits left in the race.  It had been looking good for the Spaniard. Each time there was a re-start he took a little while to get up to pace so we were hoping for stop to the incidents.  Eventually, the stops took their toll and with only 20 laps left, Alonso’s engine failed.  Disaster!  It was unfortunate because we wanted to prove the guys next to us wrong – who specifically said they didn’t want an F1 driver on the Indy podium (cheek). Simon ran down to the fence and got this video of Alonso walking past after the end of his race:

Brit Max Chilton was in the lead at lap 139, among others!

With Alonso out, we turned our attention to Brit Max Chilton who had benefited from the repeated breaks and ended up in first place behind the safety car with only 12 laps to go.  Could he keep the lead for the last few laps?

Sadly not, he came in fourth narrowly missing a spot on the podium. But there was a brand new winner and an ex-F1 driver, interestingly enough, in Takuma Sato of Japan.  A worthy winner, it came down to the final few laps with intense competition.

Finishing order

Takuma Sato being taken for his victory lap - he looks happy enough - well, he is the first ever Asian winner of the Indy 500

Our seats had put us in a great position to be able to stand by Gasoline alley where all of the cars and drivers come past after the end of the race:

You heard all about him yesterday - the gentleman in the white shirt is legendary driver, AJ Foyt

Alexander Rossi, last year's winner walks dejectedly back to the garages after missing out on two-in-a-row

The venue put out a severe weather warning – those storms that had conveniently stayed away for the entire race were going to catch us now. I wasn't sure if the announcement was just a way to get everyone to leave...

We were back in the RV well before the thunderstorms but the additional torrential rain was doing no favours for those trying to leave the venue tonight.  We watched out of the window as people all around us got stuck in the mud as the majority of people tried to leave.  Why are they in such a rush?  It’s a Public Holiday tomorrow, Memorial Day, they could have stayed another night!

Karri tests how deep the water has got....

Eventually the rain stopped, but the ground looked like it couldn’t get any wetter. It reminded me of Glastonbury Festival last year.  It was that bad! But we weren’t going to let that stop us enjoying our last night of Indianapolis carnage where we?! Maybe it was a little more sedate than the previous evening but we had to try and finish the barrels of cocktails made by our neighbours.  They couldn’t do it alone.