Day 1 (Wednesday)
We got kind of a late start leaving Pensacola because we had to stop at the tax collector's office on the way out of town. We bought a new car the day before we left and had to get the registration and everything taken care of. My old car's A/C was broken and it was on its last leg so we were happy to find something before we left for our trip. We drove about 9 hrs to northeastern Tennessee where our friends the Osteens live. Allison was my volleyball and basketball coach when I was in middle school. We always have so much fun catching up with her an her husband and enjoy getting to see the kids so we were glad they were on the way. It was nice to have a comfy bed and some delicious cookies right out of the oven. We were spoiled.
Day 2 (Thursday)
Before we headed out, Jon and Allison made an awesome breakfast of whole wheat waffles and a ton of fresh fruit that we used to make fresh juice. Unfortunately we couldn't hang around too long as this was our long day of driving. It was a thirteen hour drive from their place to our hotel in Burlington. The drive went pretty smoothly, it was just long. We got to our hotel around 10:30 that night.
Day 3 (Friday)
I woke up Friday morning and did a quick spin on the trainer followed by a short run outside. The weather was so much nicer than Pensacola, cooler and no humidity. After breakfast, me and Matt drove to a lake that was about 45 minutes away from our hotel so I could get a short swim in. The lake was beautiful, surrounded by trees and mountains.
That afternoon, we drove over to the expo/packet pick-up to pick up my numbers, swim cap, chip, etc. Then we went to check my bike in. Once that was taken care of, we drove the bike course so I could get an idea of what to expect. There were some beautiful views along the way that I made sure to enjoy because I knew I probably wouldn't even notice them during the race. I also realized it was a pretty hilly course which made me a little nervous. |
| Checking my bike in |
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| One of the views from the bike course |
Day 4 (Saturday)
This was race day. (I'll have more details about the race in my race report). After the race was over, we went back to the hotel, got something to eat, and got cleaned up. Then, we found a place where we could rent kayaks on Lake Champlain. That lake is huge and some of the views are breathtaking. We paddled around for about an hour and a half before we headed over to the race award ceremony.
Day 5 (Sunday)
We checked out of our hotel on Sunday morning and headed out for Gales Ferry, CT where I lived until I was eight years old. I hadn't been back there since 1998 so I had a blast driving around to all of the old, familiar places. We stopped by our old house, my elementary school, the base my dad used to work at, and some of the places we used to go for fun. Everything seemed so much smaller than I remembered. That evening we stayed with my Aunt Janet and her husband Brian. They made us an incredible dinner, which was a nice change from fast food. We also got to see my cousin Robert and his wife who also happened to be passing through.
Day 6 (Monday)
There is a reservoir right down the road from Janet and Brian's house, so me and Matt woke up around 5:30 and went for a run around it. It was beautiful, we ran over the dam and mostly on trails as the sun was coming up. After a quick breakfast, we headed out on what we figured would be about a five hour trip to Pennsylvania. It ended up taking closer to eight hours due to some bad traffic. We were so happy to finally make it to my aunt and uncle's house. We went to dinner with them and enjoyed a nice evening catching up.
They are always great hosts and made us feel like we were at home.
Day 7 (Tuesday)
The plan for today was to drive back to the Osteen's house in Tennessee, spend the night with them, and then finish the trip up on Wednesday. However, we were making good time and when we got about an hour and a half away, we started contemplating just driving straight home. As much as we hated not getting to visit with them again, we really liked the idea of not spending another full day in the car. We decided to go for it and after a full day of driving, finally made it home at about one o'clock in the morning. It was late and we were exhausted, but glad to be back.
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