"Plan(s) B"

Some unexpected complications on Thursday and Friday! The Daughter's team, having been stuck in Iowa due to the snowstorm, had to activate "Plan B" and didn't arrive in Gainesville until Friday. Thursday night, The Daughter called to tell us that she wasn't going to be competing. The coaches, realizing that the team would not be in exactly the best shape mentally or physically for this one, took her out of the lineup because her ankle was still swollen and it wasn't worth risking more injury. This particular meet doesn't "count" toward the team average that determines their ability to qualify for Regionals of Nationals. We were pretty much already committed to going to Gainesville, so that didn't really change our plans. However, the car dealership called on Thursday to tell us they wanted $2,400 do fix the car. That being about $1,500 more than I was prepared to spend, we switched to "Plan B" and retreived the car after paying the $90 ransom, aka "inspection fee." I'll have to try and find a mechanic who can do this work at a (much) more reasonable rate. I guess the dealership would prefer to sell me a new car rather than work on an old one.

So we drove to Gainesville in the rented Dodge Neon, which was OK except for its lack of cruise control. I guess I can't complain about that with a $10/day car. It actually had a cassette player (didn't think they still made cars with those) so we were able to use our adapter to connect the iPOD to it, and I was therefore subjected to 18 hours of mostly soft piano-bar jazz that The Wife likes. That stuff sounds nice after a couple of glasses of wine, but it isn't exactly what I'd call travelling music.

Anyway, the gymnastics meet was fun to watch, although Iowa had a really bad meet as one might have expected. The Brother and his family drove up from Orlando to see the meet so we had a nice visit. One of his kids who is at the university in Tallahassee coaches gymnastics a few hours a week and has a girlfriend in Gainesville. Anyway, I put a few photos that I took up on my Ofoto site. http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=1wczx0e.b6of55p7&x=0&y=1ynw51

The Sunday winter training ride was pretty nice, depsite the constant fog and mist, and we had a good 65-mile ride with ten guys at a pretty steady pace. A few of us were pushing the pace ever so slightly, and after my two-day rest my legs were feeling pretty good. I got up a bit early this morning and headed out to the levee in more thick fog. As I might have expected, the levee was deserted. The only other rider I saw was a commuter on her way to work. I guess everyone else looked out the window, saw the wet streets and fog, and pulled the covers up over their heads. Anyway, I got in a nice quick 20 miles at mostly 20 mph, arriving back home in time to bring the rental car back on the way to work, which, by the way, I need to get back to . . .