Tag road trip

Yesterday Cindy and I arose to the 4AM alarm for the race we were timing.  With the new timing set up we need to get on site a little earlier so we have an opportunity to get the start line mats assembled ahead of time.  This race had a good amount of participants with over 500 signed up although that was around 100 less than last year.

Timing for the event went smoothly for me overall.  Although I dislike the extra mat set up time required with MyLaps, the timing seems rock solid.  I haven’t had one dead timing chip that I am aware of so far.  The only timing errors have been the human kind.  I did have one glitch where my backup timing box at the finish line lost it’s configuration when I powered it on.  Luckily since it was the backup it didn’t really matter.

After the race Cindy and I wasted little time before packing up and getting out of there.  Obviously we had a ton to get done at home to prepare for the trip.  Before trip prep could begin post-race work had to be completed which took a couple hours.  Unfortunately this time table meant I was outside mowing and weed whacking grass during the absolutely most brutal portion of the day heat-wise.  I was melting.

Cindy and I had a to do list to keep us on track with prep.  Slowly we crossed off each item.  By late afternoon I actually was at point where I could fck around in WoW for a little bit.

Last night I was getting Tuki’s stuff for the night done.  One of the things he likes to do is “guard” his food dish.  When I pull out his crock he lunges out at me like he is going to attack.  Usually it is just a show and he never touches me.  Well this time he latched firmly into my left index finger and bit hard, it hurt.

Well that instantly flipped my anger switch.  I am normally pretty passive about things and have a live and let live attitude, until you attack me.  It’s a part of my personality that can be a bit scary as for brief periods of time I can literally go into Hulk Smash mode.  Last night was one of those moments as I smashed the side of Tuki’s cage several times.  My intention was not to really hurt him but to scare the shit out of him so he realized in his bird brain that he crossed the line.  Tuki jumped back and started saying Tuki Tuk Tuki Tuk, something he does if he is scared.  My green skin started to fade when he did that and I felt bad for getting that mad at him, especially since we were going away.

We tried to get into bed by 9PM since we had our second consecutive 4AM alarm this morning.  We were up and on the road by 5AM after quickly checking on the chickens and saying goodbye to them.  So far we are 350 miles into the roughly 850 miles we plan on covering today.  I drove the first few hours and we will be switching back again shortly.

These first couple days will be more about gobbling down miles than sight seeing. The majority of what we are focusing on this time around happens after we cross the Mississippi River.  Adventure awaits.

So we are now entering the teeth of the next few days where race prep, race execution, and trip prep all needs to take place both in succession and simultaneously.  Last night I hopped on the mower to knock down some of the semi-soggy portions of the lawn.  I need to find time to walk around with the weed whacker as well before we leave.

It seems sort of impossible but after 47 years I was unsure of what my blood type was.  I am sure at some point I was told what type I was but I never cared to take note of it.  Well Cindy ordered an at home blood type kit which she administered to me this morning.  It looks like I am O+

The test involved piercing a finger with a lancet and then getting 4 test swabs of blood that are placed on a test strip. I like to consider myself pretty tough in most aspects but one area where I am an absolute lightweight is anything involving blood draw, even a silly pin prick scenario like this.  I didn’t look when Cindy was getting the samples.  When she was finished I got a small glance of my finger and felt an instant wave of cold sweats sweep over my body as well as feeling light headed, bad enough that I was looking for a chair.  It’s an annoying trait that only seems to get worse the more I think about not reacting that way.

Just like last year, I plan to have a laptop riding shotgun during the road trip to allow me to blog as I go which will allow for much better recollection and detail.  I am harboring equal parts anxiety and excitement about the trip.  On the anxiety side I worry about the logistics of the trip, the costs, and the care of the chickens.  On the flip side I look forward to a whole new collection of experiences.  Although I have visited some of these destinations before, it was done with the dogs in tow which was very limiting in regards to what we could do.  None of those restrictions will apply this time around.

See you from the road.