Wrapping It Up In The U.S.

Sam is upstairs sleeping, and I've just finished some last minute packing. The past few days were a bit of a ride. Sam and I had to move out of Ryer's house for three days (Thurs., Fri. and Sat.) during the Leadville 100 bike race. We've had the last two nights back here, which was lucky, because I needed to get suitcases, paperwork, and cats ready for our departure. The cats now have enormous self-feeding water and food dishes, so Ryer doesn't have to hassle with them as much.

We spent the first rainy night away (it rained all three days, continuously, and it is freezing up here at 10,000 feet) on my lot of land down in Twin Lakes. I blew up two kid's rafts to keep me off the tent floor, which was wet. I spent a restless night, with both rafts twisting and skidding out from under me. In the morning, Sam declared in no uncertain terms that he would NOT spend another night in the tent, I could do what I wanted, etc., etc. So, the second night we slept in Leadville on our friend Brian's couch.

The third night I rented a small cabin in Twin Lakes, and my friend Sheryl and her two boys came from Durango to stay with us and say goodbye. We got up in the morning and hiked into the old ghost town/turn-of-the-century resort called Interlaken on the Colorado Trail. The USFS is restoring these buildings, and the boys loved touring the site and speculating about ghosts.

Back to the 100 race. Sam and I were like storm chasers on Saturday, racing around the race course in the Suzuki with my friends Emily and Brett leading the way in their van. We saw Lance Armstrong four different times out on the course, where he was duking it out with Dave Wiens, the five time winner of the 100. It was amazing to be on the side of the course, peering right into Lance's sweating face from four feet away. Dave Wiens won a sixth time, beating Lance by about three minutes. At the last aid station, Lance Armstong's crew member reached out to hand him his water and food and promptly fell down, scattering Lance's supplies all over the ground. Dave Wiens waited on his bike until they'd picked it all up. That was an amazing display of good sportsmanship to witness.

Last night Ryer, Sam and I had dinner (a last bite of pork!) at Sally Lien and Jeff Dick's house. Sam played with their two year old, Hector. Ted, Sally was the one who got all the way through the foreign service process, test, oral, background check, only to be rejected because they'd honeymooned in Cuba. It was a nice way to spend a final evening (for a while) in the U.S.

We leave for my doctor's appointment in about an hour. I am getting an echocardiogram in Vail, on the day of departure, due to the just noted presence of a class 3 heart murmur. The cardiologist thought it would be good for me to go overseas knowing just what is causing it and whether or not it is reason for worry.

Well, we'll say goodbye for now, and promise to post from RAK, as soon as we are settled in and I can get online.