Indianapolis has this amazing looking downtown, though we had no time to hang out there with our hectic traveling schedule, so it was all about the Indy Speedway. The Speedway, though cool, is in a pretty undesirable part of town.
Steve thinks you can tell rough parts of town by the fact that they have White Castle Burger or Popeye's Chicken restaurants. I made my judgement on an overall vibe, and the fact that when we called the Best Western 5 miles away and asked if they were the best place to stay for access to the Speedway, she said, "yes, come here. Do not stay by the Speedway. It is not safe!" Yikes!
The area was a lot better in the light of day. Following our everything-is-closed Taco Bell dinner the night before, and our tense Cracker Barrel why-is-Dell-screwing-with-us-and-should-we-get-a-divorce-over-it-or-just-eat-lots-of-applewood-smoked-bacon breakfast, we finally made our way to the famous Indianapolis Speedway.
Putting Dell aside, Steve was able to enjoy the historical site of lots of great car races, which made both he and Nathan happy, although Nathan was a bit miffed that he was only allowed to sit in one car. I was in a fat gram coma after my previous two meals, so Joey and I were just chillin'.
We took a shuttle tour of the speedway. This really sweet driver with a Southern drawl was accommodating and personable and hard not to like within the first 30 seconds we met her, so we were shocked when one of her co-workers starting yelling at her as we were getting in the van, and snarled, "you need to get it in your head that I'M your boss!!!!"
She was visibly shaken, but kept her smile and said, "sorry you folks had to see that. Now, let's get on with the tour."
Towards the end, Steve brought it back up again. "Was that your boss?" he asked.
"Oh, no," she said with a smile. "He's just a coworker. Again, I'm really sorry that he had to do that in front of ya'll."
Steve, good, fair manager that he is by trade, and especially considering the fact that he had to deal with a temper-tantrum throwing co-worker at his last job, took it upon himself to speak with the driver's manager and let her know about the incident. She was thrilled that he came forward. Looked like they were trying to create a file on Mr. Boss Man, who we confirmed was definitely not our driver's boss, and Steve's coming forward seemed to be what they were looking for - an eyewitness account from an outside party. Of course, we don't know the full story, but we know that our gal was gracious and professional and her coworker was just the opposite. After Steve gave his statement, they gave him free tickets to the museum we had just finished looking through for the last two hours. Ah well...
That was most of the excitement in Indianapolis. We got our fill of the track and museum and then headed on our way to Bowling Green, KY for more car-centric fun!
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