Hello from Florida!

The adventure has begun! I'm writing from the balcony of our condo, listening to the waves crash onto the white sand, sipping on Jack Daniels. It's off to a great start. :-)

We left home at about 7:45am yesterday (Wednesday) and hit the road east. We stopped for breakfast and a fill-up outside of town, a quick pit-/snack-stop along the way, and then for lunch in Baton Rouge, before heading to see Adam's brother Gordon in New Orleans. We were glad to spend a little over an hour with him, catching up and playing with his pups - and to take a break from the road. We then headed back to the highway (with a little traffic) to keep going east. After we got out of own again, we topped off the tank and grabbed one more bite to eat before settling in for the last long haul. We flew through Mississippi and Alabama, then into Florida and arrived to the condo at around 11pm. It was a smooth trip, and the condo is a great place to settle in for the weekend.

View from our balcony.  Adam and Shaughnessy are the pair of folks in the middle, closest to the water.

Today has been a wonderfully slow day: we set no alarms for this morning. I ate a light breakfast and hung out while Adam and Shaughnessy, his coach who will also complete the event on Saturday and is sharing the condo with us, went for a quick swim in their wetsuits. After they ate, we went over to check out the event expo and get them checked in for the race. We picked up some great gear (event polo, hoodie, visor and pint glasses, fuel belt and other small equipment needs for Adam, and an IronMan bear and necklace for me) and rented race wheels for Adam's bike.

Rented wheels on Adam's bike...  AWESOME!

We then headed to the airport to pick up another supporter, Sherry, then to grab a late lunch. After that we enjoyed a lazy afternoon at the condo. We've since watched the sun set, had dinner and picked up a few things (ahem, hello, Jack!) at Walmart, taken a dip in the hot tub, and settled in for a quiet evening at "home". Gotta love this vacation thing... :-)

Sunset at Panama City Beach, FL - from our balcony.

Tomorrow holds even less on the agenda: a quick work-out for the triathletes (just to keep things loose - an hour or so, all in) followed by a free bottomless pancake breakfast. Then the athletes need to check in their bikes and "special needs" (mid-event supply) bags... and that's it. :-)

More soon. For now, signing off to enjoy this. :-)