were being worked on again and any data gathered was being analyzed. All of Joest's drivers for Le Mans were at the test, so Balto's seat mates, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Bob Wollek, were definitely there. Reinhold Joest called them over to show them something. In front of him were two tires used by Balto during the two runs he made earlier. One was from his first run and looked severely worn, as its cords were showing and it was really chewed up. The other tire was from his second run and was in much better shape, as no cords were showing. "Look," said Reinhold as he patted each tire. "His way. My way. His was four seconds a lap faster at first." "Whoa, really?" asked Bob, sounding very surprised. "That much faster," Reinhold answered back. "It's that GTP mentality, probably," said Hans adding his two sense. "I wouldn't be surprised if that had something to do with the way his first run went." Behind them, the cars were being loaded up in the hauler. It was almost sunset. Balto's view on the test was that it had been very productive, as had the Le Mans test. All that lay ahead of him was some well-earned time off before the Memorial Day Weekend race at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. The only IMSA GT Championship race weekend between the Hockenheim test and Lime Rock was a GT-only race at Summit Point Raceway.   The next day, Balto caught a flight out of Cologne back to the States. Later that day, his plane touched down at San Francisco International Airport. Jenna was there waiting for him. She was carrying one of those signs with a name on it to indicate who exactly she was waiting for. Her patience was eventually rewarded, as Balto came into her view within 20 minutes of his plane pulling into the gate. "Welcome home," said Jenna as she hugged Balto. He had to put his luggage down in order to hug her back, which he did. "I missed you, Jenna," Balto said as he still held her in his paws. "Me too, Balto," Jenna added. "Me too." She pulled him in and kissed him long and hard. Balto returned Jenna's kiss as if he hadn't done so in a very long time. He missed her that much. "How'd the test go?" asked Jenna. "It went well," Balto replied. "I really think they'll get some more speed from their cars come Le Mans. At least I hope so." Balto was being optimistic about his chances about a Le Mans victory. But he was also trying to be realistic about those chances. Joest Racing was now Porsche's best hope for a Le Mans victory, since there would be no works (aka factory) team running this year. All the hopes of Zuffenhausen lay on that team's shoulders. "So, where do wanna go for vacation?" Balto asked. "Well," Jenna replied, "at first I thought about Key West. But since you're last race was in Florida, I wasn't sure if you wanted to go back, seeing has how it would be your fourth trip there already this year." "At least it would be someplace different, even if it's in the same state," Balto added. "True," Jenna concurred. The decision to possibly not go back to Florida was made on the grounds that four of Balto's first five races (Daytona, Miami, Sebring, and West Palm Beach) of that season were run there. The only non-Florida race so far was the prototype-only Nissan Grand Prix of Atlanta, held at the Road Atlanta circuit near Braselton, Georgia. That meant that all five IMSA GT Championship run so far that season took place in the Southeast. Fortunately, they had about a week before it began to decide on a destination.   Chapter 4: Well-needed R&R   Jenna eventually chose Hawaii as the vacation spot for Balto and herself, and he liked the sound of it. It wasn't anywhere near a place where he had already been for a race this year. They flew out there, again via San Francisco International Airport, to Honolulu, where they would be staying for the duration of their vacation. Their room had a spectacular view overlooking the Pacific Ocean. As soon as they got up to their room and saw the view from the balcony, Jenna dropped her suitcase, stunned by what the view, and went outside to take it in. Balto put his own suitcase (both each bought their own suitcase) and followed her out to the railing. "Whoa," said Balto as he set foot on the balcony. "This is incredible!" "I know," put in Jenna. Between the two, she was the most amazed. "Oh, it's so beautiful." "Yeah," added Balto in a deep, romantic tone of voice. "Beautiful." Somehow, Balto managed to keep one eye on the ocean view in front of him and the other eye on Jenna. For the next few minutes, the two of them just stood at the edge of the railing, enjoying the view. Afterwards, they went inside and unpacked.   Just because Balto was on vacation from racing for right now, that didn't mean his fitness was on vacation as well. That evening after dinner, he and Jenna went for a run along the beach front. After a cool down and stretching, they stayed where they were, facing the ocean, taking in the sunset. Every day on their trip, they managed to get in some kind of workout so Balto's fitness level wouldn't drop off too much. The rest of the vacation contained sightseeing (including aerial volcano tours on the big island), surfing (after taking lessons, since neither of them were very good at it), off-roading, eating out at a local restaurant that they both really enjoyed even on their first visit for dinner on they day of their arrival, even boating and a picnic on the beach. But on the day they were planning on the latter of the five, a sudden downpour began shortly after Balto went outside to check the weather. The weather reports did mention a chance of rain, but neither Balto nor Jenna expected it to come when it did. Balto came back in soaking wet. "Boy, that rain got you good," said Jenna. "Yeah, it did, alright," put in Balto, who wasn't too thrilled about what had just happened. "So now what do we do?" Jenna asked, sounding downbeat. "Well," Balto replied. "We either wait out the rain or we eat in." After waiting for about an hour, they were finally able to go outside as the rain had let up. But with the sand being so wet, the use of a beach towel was highly advised. Which they did. For that evening's boat ride, they managed to rent a sailboat. The ride itself wasn't adversely affected by the weather, thankfully. There were no signs of any rain clouds. Just a clear, starry nighttime sky. "Wow, look at all those stars," said Balto. "When do we get a view like this back home?" "Not too often," said Jenna. The last time either of them could remember seeing a view like the one presented to them that night was while growing up back home in Nome, Alaska. "Oh, it is so beautiful, isn't it, Balto?" "Yeah," Balto added. "It sure is, Jenna." The only thing putting a damper on the boat ride was the wind. The air temperature was a little bit cooler than what Balto and Jenna had expected it to be. Compounding the problem even further was the fact that they only had swimsuits on. Balto at least had a wind jacket with him, which he eventually put on. All that Jenna had with her to keep out the cold was a fairly thin, pink sweater, which she didn't have on at the time. Jenna often referred to it as her "swept away sweater" because she was wearing it when she and Balto had their first kiss. She had often described that kiss as "the most magical moment of my life," and every time she wore it, she felt "swept away" by the memory, hence why she called it her "swept away sweater." After shivering briefly, Jenna got up and went to look for her sweater. She had to open a storage compartment to get that sweater because it wasn't right there with her. It had dropped a little bit more largely due to the lack of cloud cover to hold in heat. Eventually, however, Jenna found the sweater, put it on, and sat down next to Balto. "You okay now?" asked Balto. "I'm fine now," Jenna replied. She then leaned over and rested her head on Balto's right shoulder. "I'm so glad you could come here with me." "Me too," added Balto. Jenna then lifted her head off of Balto's shoulder and looked deep into his eyes. The longing to relive the best moment of her life tugged at her, proving impossible to resist. They then leaned in, closed their eyes, and shared a soft, brief kiss. Even though it only lasted for about ten seconds, their pulses were left racing from the exhilaration. "I love you, Jenna," Balto whispered after he pulled his lips away from hers. "I love you too, Balto," Jenna whispered back after she did likewise. Almost immediately afterwards, they were at it again, putting their paws around each other in the process. It was still a soft kiss, but this time, it was anything but brief. And it was a far more passionate one than the one before it. Everything around them seemed to just disappear into the surrounding darkness. You could probably even shoot off a flare gun right next to them and they wouldn't even have noticed. Unfortunately, in the midst of the moment that the two were caught up in, they both started leaning backwards and nearly took a half-gainer off the side of the boat into the drink. "Whoa," Balto exclaimed as he noticed that he and Jenna were about to fall off the boat. Fortunately, he managed to grab hold of one of the ropes that controlled the sail with his left paw. Even more amazing was that he did so while he was still holding Jenna with his right paw. "Whew," said Balto as he breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close." "It sure was," added

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Next page