Hello all,
It is Wednesday evening, a week after I left Pinehurst. The trip to Houston was trouble free. I made it to Houston in time to have dinner with Philip and my good friend Gardner. Following dinner, I made it to San Antonio for the night. The next day, Thursday, I made it to the hotel in Laredo and met up with about 15 other racers. One of our support crew members, Mike Poppa, had flown in the night before.

Mid-day Thursday, we went across the border and got our visas. It was a simple and quick process compared to last year. That night we had a meeting to discuss crossing the border and the 550 mile trip to San Miguel de Alende. Following a 7am departure, it was a uneventful 11 hour trip. San Miguel is a spectacular town from the mid 1500's. Friday night was spent exploring the town and meeting the locals late into the night. We met a couple of German guys from Stutgart. They have a Porsche 911 that they sent to Houston by ship and drove to Laredo then on to San Miguel. They followed us all the way so we have become good buds. Saturday in San Miguel was quiet, mostly spent exploring the town. Saturday night there was a reception for the race teams in a wonderful hotel. You would never believe you were in a small Mexican town. Saturday night it was back down town.

On Sunday, the town closed the town square and we took the race cars for a car car show. So many people came down to see the. Cars. We were there for five hours and the crowds kept coming. It was good fun.

Monday morning we made the drive from San Miguel to Veracruz. San Miguel is high in the mountains, about 6800 feet. The trip took about 10 hours and in some pares the scenery was spectacular. In the final 120 miles we descended about 6000 feet and the views were great. We arrived in Veracruz with no problems. Our hotes is great and best of all just a short walk to where the cars are kept. Yesterday, Tuesday, Philip arrived and we spent the day registering, getting physicals, Mexican racing credentials and getting the car through technical inspection. We sailed through tech with no problems as did our friends Hans and Martin. By the time we were finished it was time to call it a night.

This morning, we were up and took the car over tomorrows qualifying course. It is a total of about 125 kilometers (75mi). The car ran great and is ready to go for tomorrows qualifying. As I write this, Philip is in a three hour navigators meeting that will end at eight o'clock. The drivers meeting immediately follows and should only last about an hour.

That is it for now. More tomorrow after qualifying.   Kev