Safe travels

Set the alarm for 515a and woke up on my own at 430a. Bummer--would have been a good day to get a few extra zzz's. Took care of the last few packing items, ate, got dressed, and poked my head out the door at exactly 600a to see if anyone had arrived yet. Yup, I like this crew, I was the last one to make it to my driveway.

Uneventful flight to Spokane. Rented an SUV for the 5-hour drive to Penticton. At the rental counter, I complained loudly enough about the $10 per extra driver fee that we got that waived. (I mean really, the company is in the business of letting other people drive their cars, why would they care?) The woman behind the counter agreed that it was stupid.

We thought the drive was a bit shorter but factoring in small-town speed limits, logging trucks, etc., we arrived too late to register for the race. Drive was nice--lots of wineries and fruit trees in the valley near the border. We watched Spinal Tap on the laptop along the way (Hello Cleveland!) and practiced converting miles to kilometers (and vice-versa). Checked into the motel (they had been expecting us yesterday and apparently stayed up late for us--good people here) and then picked up the bikes. We're staying right on the lake and along the finishing straight of the run course. Good location. Penticton is beautiful. Resort town feel.

Dinner at a little mexican restaurant then over to Safeway to pick up food for the week. You could tell the triathletes were in town--bananas, pasta, ensure, etc. were pretty picked over. This town seems to be all about the race. Seems very welcoming of the crush of outsiders.

Getting to bed soon. Think I may be fighting off a cold--bad times.