Race Day and Flea Markets

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

The Farmers Market and Flea Markets

Today we decided to visit the renowned Daytona Beach Farmers Market and Flea Market. It is located near the dog track in Daytona Beach. It is also not far from the Speedway. To give you a sense of how big this Market is for those who are familiar with the Masson Flea market, I would say it’s at least 10 times as big. In fact it’s so big that after a few hours strolling through we probably saw one half of the market. The market is normally open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We made the mistake of choosing to go during speed week so you can imagine how crowed and busy the market was. We bought a few nicks and knacks and decided to leave with the promise to come back next week when the racing crowd will be gone. That should give us more time and less crowded to enjoy the finer things of a market, like a good deal for some junk!

Sunday, February 20th, 2011

Race Day
Race day is finally here and you can feel the excitement in the RV Park. The local television station was providing a list of alternate routes for those who had to bypass the Motor Speedway because of the 150,000 spectators would have the whole area around the Speedway congested to almost a standstill. With the blue sky and over 80 degrees temperature, the beer will be flowing!

At the Park groups of people setup outdoor TV screens and it was party time! After the customary flyby and the national anthem which we could be heard at the campground, we got the “Gentlemen start your engine” call and settled for an afternoon of great racing. It’s an event that should be in most people’s bucket list. I was certain that Dale Earnhardt Jr was going to pull it out but by the 30th lap, Dee picked the rookie Trevor Bayne to win and guess what, he did! We had dinner with our neighbours Glen and Carole and we met a nice couple, Dick and Carole who live near Lake Placid.
We were reminded that in a few weeks it’s the Daytona Beach Bike week which means approximately 500,000 people make their way to the city for the 10-day event. The festivities include motorcycle racing, concerts, parties, and street festivals. I understand that there will be motorcycles everywhere!

Next week is our last full week in Daytona Beach and we have a few must activities that we need to see and do so look forward to our upcoming reports. One of those events is the launch of Discovery on Thursday afternoon. We are headed down to Cape Canaveral on Monday morning to scout out a good spot to view the afternoon launch.