Yay for Cracker Barrel! Conveniently, there was a Maccas right next door so facilities where I needed them in the morning. I drove on out to Flagler beach where I parked right at the beach and had breakfast looking out over the ocean. The wind was cold, but I braved it, sitting on the back of the van and eating oats to warm me up since I wasn’t wearing enough clothes. Every local that passed me said hi, which is something I haven’t really mentioned till now. Everyone in Florida is super friendly. I had a quick chat to a guy that parked up next to me, he was surprised that someone wearing a touristy “Australia” jumper was actually Australian. Before he left, he told me about a doughnut shop around the corner that offers the best in the world, not that I followed through, but it was a nice tip.

It was clear the swell wasn’t going to turn into waves so I was a bit down, I need to come to grips with the waiting game. Over breakfast I was thinking over Dad’s spreadsheet so figured I’d find a library and get it finished. The local library was closed, so I drove a bit further down the coast to Ormond where I found a beautiful library right on the water of the inlet. Inside, I asked if I could use their computers and for the first time I was told it would cost me money! Welcome to Florida? $5 for two hours. No thanks! I couldn’t do Dad’s spreadsheet, but I stayed and worked on my laptop, determined to do a clean install and fix it once and for all. After a few hours of toiling away, I had no success. I was furious. What a waste of my time! I know now that I just need to find an Apple store and have them deal with it. I HATE wasting time and I feel like that’s exactly what I’d done.

When I got back out to the car, I was determined to do something productive to counteract the time I’d just lost and decided to cut the 12V plug off my inverter so I could plug it straight into the solar regulator. It was going through a double 12V-socket which was hooked up with wire that was too small in gauge so I was losing over a volt over a short amount of wire. It meant I couldn’t draw the current I wanted to. Short of re-wiring the 12V socket, which would involve removing part of the bed and some trim, this was a quick fix that was easy enough. Thankfully after not-too-much fiddling, I managed to hook up red to red and black to black and didn’t blow anything up. There, at least now I’d had some success.

As I left Ormond, I noticed their street light poles had chequered flags on them that read “The Birthplace of Racing”. This reminded me that Daytona was the next beach down and had the speedway. On the off chance of some luck, I Googled to see if there was anything on this weekend. Indeed there was, the Daytona 24hr! Woo, that would be my day tomorrow, I’ve been wanting to tick off seeing NASCAR on an oval ever since come stateside! Even better, when I looked at ticket prices, a Sunday ticket would only cost me $30! Feeling pretty chuffed with myself, I drove down to Daytona where I left the serene and local-feeling beaches of north Florida behind and descended into touristy, built-up, hotels everywhere Florida. No free parking at the beach anymore.

I turned off the peninsula towards the speedway, thinking I’d do a recon mission before going to the track tomorrow. You can see the stadium from a mile away, it extends higher than any track-side structure I’ve ever seen and the only protection at the top is a railing! I decided I wasn’t going to be able to drive in anywhere and ask about tickets so I pulled over at a servo to google ticketing. The website didn’t tell me enough information so I called a man and he told me that with a Sunday ticket, I was allowed entry into the track from midnight Saturday (the race starts 2pm Saturday and ends 2pm Sunday). I asked how I could pick up or buy my ticket according to the ticket office hours and he told me a bunch of different information, including where to drive to get to the ticket office, which sounded easy enough.

This is where the rant starts, so if you haven’t the patience, best scroll down.

I drove to where I’d been instructed (Gate 40) where I rolled down my window to talk to a man in a vest. From previous experience with misunderstanding Australian accents, I spoke very clearly. “I would like to buy a ticket please.” The man then said something about parking and I explained I didn’t care about parking, I wanted to buy a ticket to get into the circuit and watch the event. He then told me about parking at a shopping mall across the road for $40 a space, since the track parking was full. Again I told him I would sort out parking later, right now, I wanted to talk to someone about tickets. He gave me some other directions and by that stage I was holding up traffic behind me so off I went.

I drove around the corner to another entry where there was another man in a vest. This time I tried a different tact. “Can you please tell me how to get to the ticketing office?” Blank look. He pointed over to a yello “INFO” sign and told me those people over there could probably help me. Great! “Can I drive over there?” “No, there’s no parking left”. Blank look. Seriously? I asked if I could drive over there to ask and he said I would get a parking ticket. He couldn’t offer me any solution at all and didn’t seem entirely confident the INFO people would be able to help. Whatever, I drove across the road to a shopping complex and parked outside a fast food restaurant, then walked across the road, past the man in the vest towards the INFO sign.

At the INFO sign, there were three staff members, all in discussion about something that I didn’t care about. I stood patiently, close enough that they knew I was there, with an expectant body pose. Nothing. They continued their talk. After a few minutes, the lady gave me the “just a moment” finger and they continued their talk. A few minutes later, they turned away from me to consult a map (maybe they were lost?) and I gave up and walked away in frustration. That is absurd!

Eventually I found my way to the ticket office where there were screens above telling ticket prices for 2-day passes but nothing about Sunday. There were multiple windows open and for some reason they were secured like bank tellers with thick glass and a tiny microphone/speaker in the middle of the screen which made everything hard to hear. After standing at a window infront of a girl on her phone for a few moments, she looked up at me and started talking. I couldn’t hear anything because the microphone wasn’t on. I indicated as much and she turned it on, but didn’t speak. I asked about Sunday tickets. “We don’t offer Sunday tickets, only 2-day passes”. I told her the website offers Sunday tickets. She then turned the microphone off and talked to her colleague. “You have to buy them on Sunday”. Ok…. What is the earliest time I can buy them then? When is the ticket office open? The microphone turned off again and she asked all around, “what time are we open on Sunday?” Agonizing moments later, she came back and said, “We’re open 24 hours”. How could she not know that?!?! Not wanting to come back to this ticket office again, I resolved to buy a ticket online, then pick it up at their pickup window. After the website didn’t give me what I wanted, I called them again and the lady on the phone said I would indeed have to buy at the ticket office on Sunday.

Now I was walking away. I understand that for big events, they hire anyone, but a simple one-pager provided to employees explaining the weekend’s activities and possible questions they might get asked?! Also, a shred of interest or concern for what they are doing would go a long way! I was fuming, amazed that something should be so hard. I’m sure when I return tomorrow, if I get a ticket at all, they’ll expect me to pay with a CHEQUE!!!!!!!

Rant over.

This really put me in a foul mood. The weather was turning bad, I couldn’t surf and what had started out as an exciting opportunity to see some racing now just seemed like an unnecessary hassle. I was undecided about my next move. Freecampsites.net showed me a state forest camp west of the track, but after driving a few miles out there, I changed my mind, not wanting to be far from the beach. I ended up back at the shopping centre opposite the track and thought I’d find some Wifi and try work on my computer some more. After parking in front of a few different shops I didn’t have any luck so I drove away, thinking I’d look for a place to park tomorrow within walking distance of the track. I actually found somewhere around the corner, overflow parking for a hospital I think. I double checked and there was no signage about overnight parking and it backed onto some bush so was even private enough to have a shower.

The shower was a reset button. As soon as I was clean, it felt like a new day. I spent some time tidying the van and rearranging a few things, feeling much better with a clean, uncluttered space. I called Dad just before the sun went down and told him all about my recent experience and tomorrow’s plan, which he was jealous of. He countered with his trials with Telstra and their broken promises. I think Telstra and the DMV should get together and have a conference, put some like-minded people together.

I walked to a nearby shop while we talked. It was a little further than I thought, but no matter. By the time I was halfway through shopping, he was off to Bowls, so I spoke to Mum for the whole walk home. By the time I got back I was starving for dinner so enjoyed my leftovers. I can hear the cars from here, revving around and around the track and it’s now just started to sprinkle with rain so I can imagine the tactical decisions going on. I just hope I can get in tomorrow to see the action as well as hear it!