Adventures in Spokane

I am such a dork! First I thought the restaurants at GEG were before the security checkpoint, so Ken came to the airport to have lunch with me before I flew out. Nope. We made do with a coffee kiosk that had sandwiches. I wasn’t hungry yet, so I just bought a mocha for now and a sandwich and water for later.

Water. Before the security checkpoint. Doi! Hard to believe I fly an average of once a month. It broke my heart to leave an unopened bottle behind, but what can I do? I firmly believe TSA is getting kickbacks from the bottled water companies for this ridiculousness.

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Other than that, a wonderful weekend! I got to the hotel Thursday and met up with our friends Ernie and Pauline, who plied me with wine in the hotel bar before we went our separate ways. I checked Ken’s SPOT tracker and figured out when he’d be in, then set the alarm for 6. (Ugh.) The three of us were outside in our Team Meese shirts to see him swoop up to the finish/check-in at 6:59 a.m., squeaking in right before the penalty period started. Whoo! Ernie and I both got some good pictures that I’ll upload soon. Some riders arrived looking completely knackered and zombie-like, but Ken had a huge smile on his face.

After he went through his paperwork and got scored, he was ready for a nap, so I settled into the hotel atrium, caught up on e-mail as best I could (the wireless was slooooow), and got some work done. Then it was time for pre-banquet drinks, at which Ken was pulled into a room with nine other riders… So yeah, we knew going in that he’d made the top ten. Just didn’t know where yet.

Our friend Margaret also finished, despite losing two days (!) to a bike problem. She thought she was out, but then she got the bike fixed and she managed to finish. (You have to hit a minimum number of points to finish; it’s not enough to just hit the checkpoints. About 1/3 of the starting riders didn’t officially finish.)

Have I mentioned I’m so proud of Ken! ::beam::

After the banquet I hung out with Ernie and Pauline more while Ken had his picture taken and was congratulated a million times. We were both still exhausted, though, so it was still kind of an early night. Also, he had a 7:30 a.m. appt to be interviewed for the DVD.

I slept in a little longer, then met him and Ernie and Pauline for breakfast. They headed out after that, and Ken and I headed to the nearby Riverfront Park, a lovely large shaded green park along the river. (Hence its name.) This weekend was the big annual Pig Out in the Park frenzy, with about 60 food vendors, some merchants, carnival rides, etc.

We wandered through and found the gondola ride, which took us over the Spokane Falls and back (and gave us some smooching time :-) ). Then we left the park on the other side to visit the historic Davenport Hotel, built in 1914. The Hall of the Doges ballroom, inspired by the Doge’s Palace in Venice, was gorgeous! We had a great time wandering around and looking at all the historic photos, too.

Back in the park, we grabbed some food (soba noodles and fresh veggies for me, a slice of pizza for Ken, and chocolate-dipped cheesecake on a stick to share), then rode the historic Looff Carousel.

After that, we were wiped—plus it had gotten pretty hot—so after swinging back through the merchants so I could pick up a couple of holiday presents, we headed back to the hotel, changed into our suits, and hit the outdoor pool, which had a fun slide and a waterfall to plash under. We soaked in the indoor jacuzzi (where we ran into other IBR folks) before going back to the room and collapsing for a while. We’d toyed with going back into town and having fondue for dinner, but neither of us had the energy or inclination. So we hit the hotel restaurant, where he had fish and chips (and was a heathen because he put ketchup on them!) and I had an amazing pesto scampi ravioli to die for.

Back in the room, Ken fell asleep at 7:30 and was out for 12 hours. :-) I stayed up for awhile catching up on blogs and Twitter and Facebook, since I simply didn’t have the brain power to write. (I thought about it, though!) I still fell over pretty early (for me), though. It was nice to get a full night’s sleep—haven’t done that in a long time.

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Is it wrong that I just correctly answered a history trivia question on the plane because of a Sting song?

Who can resist a Labor Day sale?

Phaze Books, which published some of the Coming Together anthologies I've contributed to, is having a sale this weekend. If nothing else, please consider buying one of the Coming Together volumes, as all the money goes to charity (a different charity for each book):

Coming Together: Against the Odds containing "Always a Bridesmaid" (benefits Autism Speaks)

Coming Together: At Last containing "Just Be" (benefits Amnesty International)

Also, my fabby coauthor Teresa Noelle Roberts has several novellas available at Phaze as well. So stock up during this great sale! Buy, buy, buy ::advertising voice echoes away::

Top Ten Podium Finish BooYEAH!

9th place 9th place 9th place That's what I'm talking about!

::shakin' the pompoms::

(You can congratulate him at ken.meese AT mac.com, or text him. It'll mean the world to him!)

Trying to keep up

IBR Update: This man is going to be the death of me.

Yesterday morning, he got a new back tire in Winnipeg (having already gone through the back tire he put on in Santa Ana on Sunday) and headed west through Canada. He was feeling great; he was ahead of schedule and felt like he had a strong route.

Around 5:30 p.m., I’d noticed on his tracking page that he hadn’t moved recently. He’d sort of been pinging around in the same area. I thought maybe he’d been to a bonus location and then gotten food or ran some errands. I figured once I finished whatever I was working on, I’d give him a call…but he called me. When I asked him how he was, he sounded resigned when he said “Not good.”

The bike was broken. He was pretty sure it was the drive shaft. (To which I replied, “So you don’t want me singing ‘You All Everybody’ anytime soon?”) The nearest dealer was back in Winnepeg. He was looking at buying a cheap bike to finish the rally, although it would mean he’d get only 50% of his total points for switching bikes partway through.

I was devastated. He sounded like he was handling it better than I was!

About four hours later, he called again. He’d ended up borrowing a bike from the friend of a guy who’d stopped to help him (renting it, really, for a fee, plus he was leaving his bike there) and had started back on his way. About 20 km out of town, however, he started second-guessing himself. Maybe it had to do with the shifter (I think), which had broken several times recently. (Don’t quote me on this; I don’t understand any of it!)

So he went back. One of the guys had tools in his truck. The bolted the shifter back on (or whatever), and Ken turned back around and headed out again.

He won’t be able to hit about 10,000 points worth of bonuses, but he’ll still make a solid finish and be able to claim 100% of his points.

I’m en route to Spokane now (LAX to SLC to GEG), but he probably won’t arrive until the wee hours. I don’t believe SLC has wireless access, so I expect I won’t be able to check his progress ‘til I get to the hotel.

Of course, I won’t be able to post this until then, either…

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Written at LAX: Ha ha ha! They finished cleaning the first class cabin so they said those people could board. Of course other people rushed up there, and now they’re standing there looking like the goobers they are.

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The plane has individual screens and there are even game options! I’m playing a trivia game. I’m currently winning. I guess well. :-) I also lied about my name. For the purposes of this flight, I’m Loreli (there wasn’t room for the final “e”).

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Free wifi in SLC, FTW! And a plug. I’m very impressed with this airport. Which leads me to…

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IBR Update: He’s heading south out of Edmonton, BC, which is about 11 hours from Spokane. So, yeah, wee hours.