No Turning Back. I'm Stuck On an Island.

This morning my daughter and I got up, ate, said a quick goodbye to our friends and took off from San Diego.

Before leaving, we had to stop at a state park to try and take pictures for my sister to help in her defense against a $475 ticket for walking her dog. Long story.

In the process, I got lost, couldn't reach my sister by phone, and then when I did, thought I was going to get a ticket myself for blowing through a stop sign. Fortunately there was no one there to catch me.

It ended up taking about an hour of our trip time back and then I opted to NOT take the $4.75 toll road again. We arrived at my sister's house just before noon.

It was a madhouse, everyone running around--and my sister wasn't even home as she was dropping her dog off at the kennel.

We loaded up two cars with 3 bikes, 3 kids, 4 adults, triathlon gear for 2, baby supplies, and then just the regular stuff that is required on a trip with that many people (clothing, snacks, etc.)

We got to the ferry terminal and I don't know how many times I heard my dad sigh though his teeth and say, "Boy, this has got to be the most disorganized mess I've ever seen at a ferry!" Actually, it was quite a bit of chaos and long lines and irritable people.

The ride there was nice and we were even surrounded by jumping dolphins for a little while, which seemed to excite everyone on board.

Finally on Catalina Island, we unloaded and then went our separate ways. From the map we were given on board, it appeared that my sister's hotel was up at the top of the hill and ours, while not at the top of the hill, was on the other side of the bay, and only halfway up the hill.

I ended up putting my daughter on the bike seat and she held on to my arm for dear life. I was also hauling two bags over my shoulder while my dad hauled a suitcase and bag.

I was so exhausted when we got to our hotel that I had NO IDEA how I was going to make it through three events tomorrow--until I realized I would have no toddler or luggage to bring with me. Still, it was actually kinda tough.

Our hotel room was on the very bottom level, which would seem like it would be convenient, until you realize that the entry level of the office is the top level of the building and we had to go down a narrow and steep 38 steps (with the aforementioned toddler, bike, and luggage) to get to our room. The hallway at the bottom of the steps was so narrow I had a hard time navigating the bike around the corner.

My dad was not pleased to find only a double bed in the room.

We sort of settled in and I decided to bike up the hill to my sister's hotel, which was where the check-in for the triathlon was.

Holy hills, Batman, if this ride is any indication of what the event will be like tomorrow, I'm in deep doo doo. I actually had to WALK the bike at one point. I wish I'd had more time to train on this bike on actual hills. 18mph on the flat is all fine and good, but sheesh, this was ridiculous.

First we had to listen to a debriefing on the route. When I met up with my sister, there was a line winding through a courtyard. I didn't see her until I'd been standing there a couple of minutes--she was a few people ahead of me. I asked the people between us if they would mind letting me hang out with my sister and they graciously let me cut in front of them.

We waited for about a half hour, finally saw people coming out of the briefing room, and then probably another 15-30 minutes later, the line actually moved. We ended up about 5 people back from the door and had to wait another round.

There were a couple of women behind us (that I'd cut in front of) that were talking about a book I'd read. We started talking about the author (Marian Keyes, you are FANTASTIC), and then eventually started talking about our kids and the triathlon and why we were all there. They were so nice and supportive and I felt very welcomed into the triathlon community, again.

The briefing was basically just a covering of the route, which any idiot can look up online or in our packets, BUT the city of Avalon requires it because apparently last year, since the route goes by the fire department, there was a little problem in that NO ONE WOULD STOP TO LET THE FIRE TRUCKS THROUGH. We were informed that in case of an emergency, the race would literally be STOPPED to let the emergency vehicles through.

In other words, we could have had MAYBE a half hour total wait for our packet pickup (probably less), but instead because of some jerks last year, we had to waste nearly two hours for our total packet pickup. Lovely.

Once the talk was done, we had to get in line to get our bib numbers. Then we got to leave the briefing room and go to a different room to go get our packets, event T-shirts, and peruse goodies for sale. There was some actual gear--little stuff like goggles and other small items, and then there were some snacks. I decided to try these gummy fruit snack things made by Power Bar. (They turned out not to be so great, and I decided I'd give them to Ijja and stick to the Sharkies I'd brought.)

After the briefing, I headed back to my hotel. Dad and my daughter and I set out to find dinner--and I wanted sushi. We wandered around several places and finally found one, but it was so overpriced, that I couldn't justify spending as much as it would cost on dinner for a toddler, let alone the adults. After wandering around a bit more, we ended up back there anyway.

Dad, THANK YOU for treating us to dinner.

Then he hiked up the hill (and got lost in the dark on the way) heading to my sister's hotel room since they had an extra bed.

I organized as much as I could before bed, and then crashed.

Tomorrow will be a big day.