The Snake in the Rain

I don't really like to ride or race in the rain, and I don't particularly like Snake Alley either. That made today suck. There was torrential rain all morning and into the afternoon. My parents and Erin arrived a couple hours before the race but were in poor spirits because of the weather. I traded my prize number 7 for Erik's 100. I figured that he wanted to race more than I did. Neither of us finished. I was dropped and pulled while he bailed in the last downhill right-turn corner and got scrapped up pretty badly. John was our only finisher in 34th (out of 36 finishers).

After the race my parents, Erin, and I drove to Muscatine. A couple years ago my parents found the Strawberry Farm B&B in Muscatine. They chose to stay there again and invite Erin and I to stay with them. It's much more comfortable than a shared Super 8 room. After I showered we went out to a steakhouse for dinner. Yum.

Burlington Road Race

Burlington RR was a bust. John got taken out in a crash coming into the feed zone. I got taken out in a crash coming into Mediapolis. Neither of us saw the front of the race again. We also didn't get any feeds at the feed zone due to miscommunication and disorganization...I digress. We had a couple in the top 25, but didn't crack the top 20. Given the circumstances it was good, but there's lots of room for improvement. We're staying at the same Super 8 that I stayed at last year and we went to the same Mexican restaurant that I went to last year where Steve got the 'big' mug of beer. Good times.

Homeless

We unpacked the UHaul into Mary's garage this morning and then returned the truck. I know there's so much to do before we even begin to feel settled but I'm thinking toward Quad Cities Weekend. Erin will meet me in Iowa, and we'll head back to St. Louis to finish cleaning the apartment and get the last of our stuff. It makes me feel homeless to have my belongings split between St. Louis, my parents house, Mary's garage, and my car. It's not like I haven't lived out of a duffel before, but I really don't have a home to go home to right now.

In Chicago

Yesterday didn't quite go as planned. It took all day to get the truck packed up and get out of St. Louis. Erin and I decided to have dinner (at Mi Ranchero again) before we left. We didn't arrive in Evanston till 2 in the morning. The UHaul that I got was a piece of work. I don't think it's going to last too many more miles. Even when I was driving on flat sections of the highway it would jump and pull. It also started to bug-out if I went over 70 mph.

After the moving Erin and I need to take today off. We're went out to breakfast with my mom and went past the house in Wilmette. We'll be able to move all our stuff into the garage tomorrow morning and return the truck that afternoon.

Last dinner at Mi Ranchero

Erin and I chose to have our last dinner in St. Louis at Mi Ranchero. We've been eating that a lot lately because it's close, easy, and inexpensive. They also have really good margarita specials. My favorite dish is Enchilada Rancheras. It's not too big and leaves plenty of room for chips and drink. After dinner Erin and I had to take all the furniture that we didn't sell and that we're not taking with us out to the trash. It was really sad because there's a lot of good stuff in the trash. Even if I sold it for cheap I could probably make $100. In any case, it's time to sleep because tomorrow's going to be a loooong day.

Pack, Pack, Pack

We reserved a 14' UHaul truck for tomorrow morning at 7am, so we have to be ready to go tonight. Much of the apartment is already in boxes, but there's a lot of furniture that still needs to go or get emptied. At this point it would really help to have some of the boxes out of here so that we can have more space to work. As Erin cleans out a cabinet, closet, or whole room she marks it with a post-it that says "Clean". It'll be nice when we have those post-its all over the house, but that feels kinda far off at this point. I still have my desk set up but took down the glass table this morning. I'm afraid that no one is going to buy any of it and it's all going to have to get tossed out. We don't have time or space in the Civics to take the furniture to Goodwill.

Missouri State Road Race Championship

I did not have the form or team support of last year. The race was mildly aggressive from the gun. The aggression was somewhat reserved, like people didn't want to waste too much energy before the first time up the big hill. A large group rolled off the front. After about twenty minutes. I suppose everyone was happy because they just sat up. Now I wasn't happy, but I figured that the race would reshuffle on the climb. WRONG!!! I didn't take into account that Brian Dziewa was in the break and wasn't going to wait for anyone. The break stayed away and we in the back fought for loser's placings. It was good workout and a learning experience for sure.

Big Shark ride and more packing

The title pretty much says it all. The ride was good. I met up with Justin and discussed tomorrow's MO State Road Race. I'm the defending champion, but I don't feel like I have the fitness to defend. I'd have to pull something tactically special to win tomorrow. I don't think all this packing I've been doing is going to help either. I just feel the need to get a chunk of the packing done because I'm not going to be any help to Erin tomorrow.

Toby's been having fun with the pack and the changing topography of the apartment. In this picture he's inside of a foam mattress pad.

Graduated!

Erin graduated today. I am so proud of her. That's all I can say. There was absolutely nothing spectacular about Tim Russert's speech, but we we're exactly expecting spectacular. Even though the speech's weren't great, they still gave you that "get out there and be somebody" feeling. After the ceremony we met up with Erin's family took pictures and proceeded to Ted Drewes. After the custard they had to head back to Oklahoma for Dan's (Erin's brother) high school graduation the next day.

Now that she's graduated we have to really start to pack up the apartment for the move to Chicago!

Evening before Graduation

Erin had her recognition ceremony today. She didn't subject me to attending, and I gladly obliged while offering to meet her outside afterward. That never panned out because there were so many people at the graduation.

Erin's parents, grandmother, aunt, and uncle arrived in St. Louis this evening for Erin's graduation dinner. It was good to see her parents and finally meet her aunt, uncle, and grandmother all of whom I've heard about but never met. We had dinner at Jimmy's On The Park. I've been there a couple of times before, but not in the past few years. Both the conversation and dinner were good. We've got to get to bed because of the early graduation ceremony tomorrow morning.