Greg's First Love

Before there was Aviation and before there was me, Greg (my husband) had another love.  Radio Control (RC) cars.  He also loves RC planes and helicoptors, but I think cars came first.  At one point his parents showed me some pictures of some old races he did, and I think he was about eight years old when he started, so this hobby has been pretty much a life long thing for my husband.

The first year I met Greg I was introduced to this love.  I was taken to many an RC car track in Virginia where Greg competed in races.  This actually became a regular weekend night activity and some of our friends in Virginia even used to come watch Greg race, so it even became some what of a social activity for a while. 

This hobby of Greg's is kind of expensive.  RC stuff is not cheap and it's one of those hobbies with newer better stuff coming out all the time, so you need to upgrade your cars and parts to keep up with the current trends or it's hard to compete.  When Greg got furloughed a couple years ago, the RC stuff pretty much fell by the wayside, along with my membership at the Y, and other things we deemed non-essential.  The only problem with that is that he pretty much had to give up the hobby altoghter because there's really nothing else to substitute for it, unlike my fitness "hobby", where I was able to run and do other things if I couldn't go to Y classes.

Greg told me recently that he really wanted to get back into his RC stuff, and I knew it would make him happy.  His compromise was to choose a division of racing that involved racing a type of car and parts he already has and he didn't put much money into getting it ready to race.  He mostly used what he had with the exception of a few essential things he had to order to get up and running. 

Friday night we went to THE TRACK for his first race in probably 3 years (he really hasn't raced much since we moved to Charlotte, even before the furlough).  Greg left for the track before I got home from work, and I decided to surprise him by bringing him dinner. 

The tracks are notorious for people chowing down on pizza and fast food, and I figured I could do better.

I made his favorite- black bean burgers and oven fries.

I put freshly made guac on them too :)

Sweet potato fries

Regular fries with olive oil and rosemary.

Better than fast food, huh??

At the track, I found Greg happily working on his car.

And here's the car.

The boy with his car.

Funny story.  Greg likes to paint his car bodies pink because most people don't, and it's easier to see on the track.  Back in Virginia, we'd go to races and if there were little girls there, a lot of the time they would cheer him on with "GO PINK!!".  I always tease him about it :)

It was dark, but here was the stand and the track.

Greg did great, even after a couple year haitus.  He won two out of three races and came in 5th in the final race.

Does your significant other have hobbies you support?