Many may have been wondering what I have been up too lately. The simple answer is A LOT!!!

Gold Award WinnerFirst, back on January 23, I assisted with the ASA Midwest Tour Banquet at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells, WI. Tim Olson and Steve Einhaus, owners of the ASAMT surprised me by presenting me with the ASA Midwest Tour Gold Award. And it was a surprise, I was very humbled and thank them for it.

The next day I was SUPPOSED to leave for South Africa for the ASA Transcontinental Series Free State 500. So I am in Milwaukee, board my plane, they back the plane up and it sits. It sits for three hours due to bad weather in Atlanta. Eventually, the plane doesn't go and I head down to Atlanta the next morning.

The flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg was 14 hours and 45 minutes. Watched three movies and slept. It was the first time I have ever been out of the country so I really didn't know what to expect.

It was a great time, had a few laughable hiccups (like the bus breaking down on the highway and waiting three hours for a replacement or staying at a hotel with no water coming out of the shower) but overall a great experience. The racing was awesome and visiting The Savannah Africa was incredible. Looks like we are going back next year.

The Savannah Africa (www.thesavannahafrica.com) is a great hidden treasure in the middle of the Free State in South Africa. It is owned by Bobby Hartslief, who built the Phakisa Freeway Circuit that the Free State 500 event took place at. He has over 3600 acres with a great variety of animals from sables, ostrichs, antelope, rhinos, giraffes and more. It was just surreal to go out and see the animals roam freely and run in packs. That is something you won't see at Disney World.

CheetahThe thing that makes The Savannah unique is that they are one of three places in the world to breed the Cheetah. When we visited they had one male and one female and we were able to see the male as he got his daily meal of 2 kilos of meat. We got within 10 ft of him while he was eating. Yes, there was a fence between us.

My new position with ASA is going very well and I am enjoying it. I will start posting some of the interesting stories that I am writing for ASA on my site.

Thanks to Rockweiler Insulation and First Supply for their support of the site.

Kevin