Bodines' Travelogue

Having a motor coach is great when you can have it at the track, but sometimes, as Todd and Janet Bodine's recent logistical challenges prove, it's more fiscally reasonable not to bring it even though comfort suffers.

There are few dull moments when you're part of a team competing for a championship, and when you run second to one of the most volatile personalities in the sport, Kyle Busch, it gets people talking as Todd Bodine found out this week.

The Bodines were on dog-sitting duty this week for their Germain Racing teammate Michael Annett's Labradoodle, Paisley, shown here at the Bodine's home.

Being part of a team means you're good teammates. The Bodines stepped up this week to dog-sit for Germain Racing teammate Michael Annett's dog, Paisley, but the excitement of that assignment paled when Janet discovered her purse had gone missing in the transfer.

On week three of the Bodine's Travelogue, the NASCAR.COM community learns what it means to exist at the track without the coach, one of the media perks of leading a NASCAR national championship and how not having the coach affects coming and going to the race track.

Where flexibility really matters

Todd Bodine: Having the coach at the race track is like being home. You have all your clothes, your own bed -- the couch to lay on to watch TV and your refrigerator. It's not like a hotel room that smells funny. It's like going home.

Janet Bodine: Funny thing is, we won't have to get any air freshener for a while, because Todd didn't do too good a job of securing a watermelon we were transporting and it got smashed -- went everywhere. But at least the coach has a nice air of watermelon, for a while, anyway.

Todd Bodine: Well, that's another story. But having the coach at the tracks makes what we do a lot less stressful and a lot easier to handle -- a lot more relaxing.

Janet Bodine: I love to cook. I don't care what they say, but the guys on our team are superstitious and they don't like having me around during practice. So without the coach, Lindy Hornaday and I have gotten pretty good at buddying up and going out shopping. But I love making lasagna and homemade macaroni and cheese for everyone -- and you can bet they're not too superstitious when it comes time to eat.

Todd Bodine: At Chicagoland, we didn't have the coach. We flew there with ETA Logistics, and we had a room at Harrah's, which is a really nice place but you just don't get to spend a lot of time there.

After practice on Thursday, we went to dinner with some friends, got home late and went right to bed. I didn't get to enjoy the casino at all, but Janet did because she really enjoys that.

Janet Bodine: You know I'm a real night owl and I wouldn't miss that chance.

Todd Bodine: But having the coach just makes everything that much easier to deal with. Like on race day, there was not a lot going on. We had to qualify and we watched the ARCA race, because we had a lot of friends in that.

But if we had the coach there, that would have given us a place to hang out, because without it all we can do is hang around in the trailer. When it's a long day like that it's tough. It's cool to get to hang out with the guys on the team some, but it gets crowded and we had friends there and it would have been nicer to have them at the coach instead of hanging around outside the trailer.

So it's more of a convenience than a necessity to have the coach -- but it's real nice. It makes life on the road a lot easier and makes it just like being at home.

Janet Bodine: You really can't put a price on how much all those tiny little elements of ease and comfort add up to make you just feel better and more relaxed and more prepared to do what you have to do.

Winding around the Wind Tunnel

Todd Bodine: Since we're leading the Truck Series championship, I got to be on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain. I went down to do the show myself because Janet had to stay around the house to get some work done.

Janet Bodine: I got my stuff done and then the neighbors and I got to watch the show, which is always pretty cool.

Tony "Rambo" Liberati is the Bodines' standby coach driver and replacement wheel scrubber for Todd.

Todd Bodine: It was a 9 o'clock show, which is pretty late and there's nobody at the SPEED studios except for the people doing that show. They had given us a number to call to let them know we were there so they could let us in -- and they had given us the wrong number.

So it's kind of like racing for a championship -- you don't let little things get you down, or stop you in any way. So I went walking around the SPEED studios, looking in windows and pounding on doors trying to find someone to let me in.

I was almost ready to give up because it was only 10 minutes to air time, and then I walked by another door and a guy happened to be walking down the hall, so I banged on the door and he let me in; they rushed me through make-up and we made it just in time.

But it's cool to go in there. To be on that show is such an honor to me, because Dave Despain is such an icon in our sport -- not only in auto racing, but motorcycles, drag racing, whatever -- he's a gear-head in general.

Of course, we got the Kyle Busch questions and all the call-ins and emails wanted me to turn him. They wanted to know why I didn't spin him out. Well, fans watching these races can't always see the big picture. I had way more to lose by messing with Kyle and he knew it.

The neat thing about it is I'm having to process all this decision-making at 170-180 mph. ... Makes it interesting, for sure.

Logistically speaking

Todd Bodine: Like I said, we flew ETA Logistics to get to Chicagoland and then to get back home. Leaving the track, we had to drive about an hour from Joliet to get to Midway Airport, where the plane they use was located.

So we buzzed out of the track, grabbed a bite to eat and filled the car with fuel and then went on to the airport. We got home and took our showers and put our heads on the pillow at 4 o'clock Saturday morning. And that makes for a long day.

Janet Bodine: But we were home.

Todd Bodine: ETA is a good deal. The departure times going to the races are usually pre-determined by whenever the teams have to be there for the opening of the garage and inspection.

Janet Bodine: You can't say enough about how convenient it is not to have to deal with all the security issues -- not the security itself, but the lines and stuff.

Todd Bodine: After the races, the schedules are a lot more flexible because different teams have different things to deal with like winning the race and doing your media obligations or getting torn down, or whatever.

Basically, when everyone that's supposed to be on a plane gets there, it leaves. But if there are two ETA planes leaving from an event, and one group or team is tied up, they'll fill one plane and it'll leave -- and then whenever everyone else gets there, the other one leaves.

Janet Bodine: We had a fun assignment this week, too, which was watching Michael Annett's dog, Paisley. She's a Labradoodle and she is just precious. But the bad news was, I was so excited to get her, I lost my purse.

It hasn't turned up, I haven't been able to find it and I'm just heartbroken. None of the credit cards have been used for anything but I haven't heard anything about anyone finding it or sending it back to me.

Todd Bodine: We retraced our steps trying to find out what happened to it -- nothing.

Janet Bodine: I'm just sick about that because I had some pictures -- like a picture of my dad and I when I got my EMT certification. Things like that are just irreplaceable.

The silly side -- though it's not funny -- is that I won't be able to rent a car for a while, until I can get my license replaced.

Todd Bodine: It's a good thing Rambo -- Tony Liberati -- is driving the coach down to Atlanta. We'll finish up at Kentucky and fly our own leased plane down to Tara Field, right behind Atlanta Motor Speedway. That's really a break.

Janet Bodine: It'll really be nice to get back in the coach for a weekend, and then we've got a really neat trip to talk about next week. We're taking the coaches to Richmond and making a side trip to Virginia Beach with some of our Nationwide coach buddies.

Related:
• A week at Bristol with friends, family and a fan who knocks at the door
• Never a dull moment as family treks track-to-track in search of title