In Santa Rosa....

I made it safely and all in one piece to my hotel in Santa Rosa...now Dave is on his way up via Southwest and we can't figure out for the life of us why he has a delay in San Diego. It certainly is not "weather-related" since I just drove the entire "flight path" and I assure you there is no fog or rain anywhere! He should be rolling in shortly, but until then, I decided to amuse my friend Lauren, find internet and write a post about my solo road trip up here. Lauren always jokes with me, because I always find a way...to find the internet, on my honeymoon, in Europe, just places that I should probably not be spending money on checking email, but I can't help myself. I don't always respond, but I always check =0.

I have to preface this post by saying that my race plans almost came to a screetching halt. My dad called me at work on Thursday to tell me that my mom was in the hospital with chest pains. Never a good thing for a daughter to hear. Plus, it's my dad calling, so his level of information is always "hmm, we'll see, i'll keep you posted." I needed DETAILS. Anyway, so I start my trip and then my two sisters start texting me to fill me in on my mom.

Naturally, I worried immediately. What if it's x,y,z disease? Should I turn around and get a flight and fly to Denver? That seemed like a rash decision. It's hard to explain, but if you've ever lived far from family, when something happens, you want to drop everything and just be there. So, I wanted to go home and just sit on my couch and wait for updates about my mom. My sister said that wouldn't do much good.

I was crying, texting...and DRIVING. Bad Mer. I know.

My phone rang and it was my mom! She called to let me know herself she was fine, she knew I was worried and she reassured me she was doing ok......in fact "I just ate a Gardenburger," .....was what she reported, and she was laughing. Some of you don't know, but to get my mom to complain about anything, you almost have to pinch her. But, I believed her, she was really doing ok.

First they thought it was a blood clot, then it was a heart issue, then it was possible stress. She spent the night last night and the doctor decided that it was probably related to some medications she is already on, so they're going to fix them........but, she got to go home today!

So, in the last twenty-four hours, i've just kind of been focused on figuring out how my mom was doing. She called today and reported "I'm Free!". Very relieved and thankful that nothing serious popped up on any tests. I've been calling frequently and my poor mom, I think she's probably like "no, really, i'm fine!!"

I made it to Santa Barbara in about 4 1/2 hours...not bad...considering I nearly ran out of gas in LA and couldn't find a bathroom in Beverly Hills except in case anyone is wondering Beverly Hills is a great place to get ripped off "seeing homes of the stars."

Santa Barbara is gorgeous, everything around it is so quaint and relaxed....San Diego is more "beachy" Santa Barbara is more upscale beach, not as snotty as Coronado, but more "Hamptons" if you're from the east coast. I had a great time catching up with my friend Sarah and left her house this morning to drive the rest of the way.

Note to self: 64 ounces of water in traffic is absolutely a painful exisistance especially when you're in the agricultural part of California---i'm thinkin' those porto potties weren't for me. So, I drove in search of a bathroom. At one point, my dad called to give me an update about my mom and I was laughing about something and I got a huge pain in my side. I had 15 more miles til the next exit (aka..bathroom) and I swear, I kept eyeing the water bottle in case I needed it. I made it safely to the bathroom and continued on.

Made it to Oakland by 3:30.....and again, I found myself scanning the side of the road for a bathroom! Ahhh. Oakland is touch and go and not being from the area, I kept trying to use my best judgement as to where I could stop! I drove off the highway and quickly found a starbucks.

With FIVE people in line to use the bathroom. I shot them an annoyed look and ran out.

I found a nice huge bathroom in the Quizno's next door, so I was all set.

Back on the road. To. The. Worst. Traffic. EVER. I have sat in traffic on 66,495,395 and 95 south in DC. A lot.

This was worse. It should have taken me roughly an hour to get from Oakland to Santa Rosa.....it took me 2.5 hours. It doesn't sound bad, but when you're expecting your day to be a 6 hour drive and it's 8 1/2......

I almost threw my iPod out the window. Now I know why people buy the big iPods..I have a 2gig. Yes, one that only holds 500 songs. I think I listened to all of them.

Including Christmas music.

I wrapped up my night by finding the Russian River Brewery, yes, I walked into a bar, sat at the bar and ate a pizza while watching Le Tour and answering "do you cycle" questions from a guy next to me. He was polite, but I was like "dude, I just want to eat my pizza and go to bed!"...Don't worry I didn't say that......

I hit the grocery store for some food to bring back to my nice little room which has a kitchen..I love how all the pictures of this hotel had people smiling on the website and now i'm sitting on the bed and the mattress pad is so thin that it may be toilet paper =0.

Wow, this is long, now you see what happens when I have too much free time!

Tomorrow: breakfast, check in at the race, and i'll do a quick swim/bike run......and find a tasty place for us to eat dinner!

Ciao for now!