The Week of July 10th

Friday, July 14th, Tom and I drove down to Loudon, NH, to watch the NASCAR practice and qualifying for the Leno Tools 300. The picture above shows some of the cars lining up to qualify at about 3 pm. We arrived at 8 - early enough to get a seat in the shade of the overhang and right on the start-finish line. Good thing, too. It was about 90! There was a nice breeze though and the humidity wasn't too bad. Don't think we could have handled a whole day in the sun.
Practice lasted all morning, qualifying for the NASCAR event was at 3 and then there was a Busch East race at 5.
It was my first time at a track since I went to the Daytona 500 in high school. The track really looks different on TV - Victory Lane is relatively small. The "pit" is just a road with the crews standing behind a curb! And it's loud - you do need ear plugs.

Saturday was Molly Ockett Day in Bethel. The day started with a 5 mile race, followed by a parade (see picture below of the Bethel Outdoor Adventure float), a festival on the town common (complete with frog jumping contest, fiddle contest, and fireworks). Molly Ockett was an Indian medicine woman in the late 18th and early 19th century. There is a lot of folklore about her in the Western Maine area. She was born nearby in Fryeburg and is "claimed" by many towns in the area. The story we have heard most often: One time Molly needed a place to stay. She went to one community who would not let her in. The story is that she "cursed" them with bad luck and moved on to the Hamlins from up near South Paris. The Hamelins let her stay with them and while there she cured their son of a fever. The son grew up to be Abraham Lincoln's first vice president (Hannibal Hamlin). More information available here: http://www.avcnet.org/ne-do-ba/bio_moly.html