Magical Matilija

So my crazy travel schedule has meant that I haven't been home a lot recently. In fact, before last Saturday, it had been before the Kansas race when I was last home and that was only for about as well week with the Long Beach Grand Prix stuck in the middle. Well this time is for just a week as well. I got home from Indianapolis last Saturday after testing at the Speedway on Tuesday and Milwaukee on Thursday. There were a few good reasons why it made sense to make the trip home this week. Firstly (and most importantly) I wanted to be home for Mother's Day last Sunday. My mom is such a huge inspiration and fountain of knowledge that I wanted to celebrate with her at home. Secondly, there isn't much going in Indy this week and my car would be in the carbon and paint shop (more on that later!). Thirdly, I was missing my dog!

So I got back to Camarillo last Saturday for only 7 days and the mad rush to do things I can only do at home started. Go out to eat at restaraunts that are only here in town, see and hang out with my friends, celebrate my friend Cory's birthday (my mountain biking partner from this video) at Bucca di Bepo, have breakfast and lunch meetings with sponsors here in the county....oh yeah and play with my dog! In amongst all of this, I was determined to take some 'mental health' time and do some fun stuff.

Well I got out of the office this afternoon and did exactly that. I went hiking up in the Matilija area north of Ojai. The weather the last few days have been overcast and kinda gross, but today dawned sunny and warm The temperature was in the low 80's when we started the hike. We walked for about 45 minutes up, found a nice shady place to rest, wading in the running creek and then headed back down. It was only about an hour and a half hike but it really relaxed me! The sage smelled fantastic and the views were amazing. It was an incredible hike and I can't wait to go back when I have 4-6 hours to hike in, have a picnic and hike out. Here are the photos from my phone:

A short note about the allusion I made earlier about my race car being in the paint shop. There will be a grand unveiling next week in the week leading up to my big race at Indy- the Freedom 100. Stay tuned!

Also, I found out today the the Firestone Indy Lights Freedom 100 will be shown live as part of Versus TV's coverage of Miller Lite Carb Day from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday May 22nd.