For years, we’ve driven past the Travelers Rest Speedway in Travelers Rest, SC, on the way to Michael and Emily’s.
Curious is the perfect word for what it’s felt like to drive past something for years and wonder what it would be like to go to that place.
It was incredible.
We met Michael at the track around 6:30 PM. Racing started at 8 PM. I got as much info on the website beforehand as I could, and called and got some more, because I felt like a complete outsider. This is a culture that I had no sense of. No norms I understood. E.g., what’s a “hot lap” and what do all of the different divisions of cars mean and when do they race?
Only way to find out was to go!
Shepherd’s been into cars and trucks since he could be into anything, and I was counting on this being a big hit. Didn’t miss. The whole experience was electric. And I mean that. Something like a pulse going through my body the whole time.
For Shepherd too, there was a huge pull of excitement brought out by the cars. There were incredibly loud, fast, brutal, and daring.
Lying behind the hill that hid the track from view of the highway was this whole new world, set apart from all of my previous context.
This was an actually new experience.
Something novel. Cherish it! How often can we say this?
It makes me want to give the kids as many novel experiences as possible. That they’d see such a variety of worlds that they’d be able to model their own with no worry of limiting information.
I.e., the world is fascinating and I hope they see that!