Welcome to the land of Oz!

Ok, so the trip started rather uneventfully...except that I did a plane side check with my bag in Cincy and they cracked my laptop screen (which was the first of many flights mishaps), so my Internet usage was limited to the little c-store down the street from the hotel and it was about $4 an hour. I have a lot of catching up to do, so we'll get right to it.

I arrived on Monday. I saw a Team USA jacket in the Sydney airport and introduced myself to Jeff. He's from Maine and as we're chatting, he mentions his friend who just did Hawaii.I figure it's a slim chance, but I ask if it happens to be Ange...and it is!!! Small world. Anyway, we got a cab to the hotel together...where I showered and crashed. For 14 hours.

Tuesday, I walked around the city and found a grocery store, where this cost me $55. And that was a steal compared to eating out.

I pretty much just walked around town and explored my surroundings, checked out the river...

the bike/run path...

the area where they were setting up transition and tents....

and assembled the bike and went for a ride...

 The sun was up by 5:30 every morning and I was up a couple hours before that. The mornings were cool and windy and the afternoons were toasty. I spent some time at the mall and did a lot of people watching. after a couple days, I started to feel like myself again and I got rid of the cankles...and then other Team USA peeps started rolling in and the irony began...