Unexpected Hotel

This morning I awoke in a nice little hotel suite, which, I guess at this point in the story is not all that unexpected. However, we'd planned to camp after the biathlon yesterday as part of the festive weekend event. There was a whole park next to the canine training facility that was setup for people like us to camp in. When we arrived yesterday morning, we set up our tents, chairs, etc. and planned for a lovely evening. The forecast was clear, so we didn't evening put on the rainflies so the tents would stay cooler. In my laziness I didn't even stake Cara's and my tent down, although the kids staked theirs. So the afternoon passed with us going back and forth to the main area in the hot Alabama sun. It was so hot that we let Zinny cool off several times in a nearby pond.

Just before heading to the race start with Zinny, I decided to double check the weather. The forecast was still clear through the evening, but I noticed that there was a huge band of rain near the Mississippi border. Now rain travels west to east and we were clearly east of that band, but the forecast was still for clear skies. Later Andrea & Chris, who live in Birmingham, told me that forecasts are typically wrong in Alabama. Maybe the national weather service is just lazy about looking at this part of the country. I don't know. But, despite the forecast, we put the rainflies on the tents before heading up to the race.

Zinny and I ran the race as part of Andrea's "Dixie Flyers" team, although about half way in I ditched them because they just walked between most obstacles and Zinny and I had come to run. Zinny did surprisingly well, and I think she really had fun. Sitting in the tent by the finish line enjoying a beer with Cara, the clouds were getting more ominous. After hosing down myself and Zinners, I'd sent Maxwell back to camp for my tevas because I didn't want to put back on my wet shoes. Zara had gone along because live music and adults are boring and she wanted to stay at camp and read her book.

Well, Andrea and the rest of the team finished and the sky continued to darken. In my head I tried to think of ways that belt I saw earlier might dissipate or split around us and not lead to rain, because it sure looked like it was going to storm. And then there was some lightning and thunder. It's amazing how long one can believe something they've been told in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Just as Maxwell returned it started to pour!

Back at the campsite, Zara was having quite a time. She did not have keys to the car, but her tent was in pretty good shape. The rain started while she was using the port-a-potty, and she emerged to see my tent blowing away across the field with all our clothes and bedding inside it. She dragged it back over to our tarp and found the stakes inside it. Unfortunately the mallet was in the car and she wasn't strong enough to push the stakes into the ground by hand. But she did have the retractible dog leash. So she leashed our tent to a tree and blocked it from rolling away with chairs. Then she hid in her tent and read until we got back to camp.

Fast forward to the evening when we've spent the late afternoon huddled under the back door of the van snacking and cooking our dinner on the little gas burner. There was supposed to be a concert that evening by a Journey tribute band and the rain had let up a bit, so Maxwell really wanted to go back up to the main area and see if it might still be on. I agreed to come along since Cara had forgotten my beer tickets at the campsite earlier, and I thought I might still be able to redeem them. I was in luck, but Maxwell we not. There was still a river flowing through the large shelter tent with the tables and the stage was all tarped over. Walking back to camp, we got picked up by the race director who said he had several rooms that he'd already paid for for the band and would we like one. I didn't want to disappoint the kids by not letting them camp, but Maxwell assured me that he was quite excited to sleep in a hotel room rather than a soggy tent. So that's what we did. And I fell asleep watching the Nashville Predators playoff game.

Two showers later I think there's still dirt in my ear, but at least I think all the sand's out of my hair now. And everyone else is snoring away as I type this at a little table by the window. I'd really like to go for a run this morning, but my shoes are sadly still quite soggy.