The Hood to Coast countdown is at:  1d 21h 32m 13s until race start.  Today and tomorrow are all about rest – my favorite part of the training process.  The final team meeting is this afternoon, and then I need to buy a sleeping bag and some energy supplements.  I have refrained from alcohol this week – another big sacrifice of preparing for this 199-mile relay.  I hope I’m ready!

My two favorite mystery females are Jessica Fletcher and Kinsey Millhone.  These two fictional women always seem to find themselves near a dead body, while fortunately it’s never happened to me.  Y is for Yesterday by alphabet author, Sue Grafton,  arrived yesterday, and I’m already well into the plot.  It’s not complicated like the other book I’m reading, House of Spies by Daniel Silva.  I also have a third book going titled, Bill Veeck, Baseball’s Greatest Maverick, because reading is a retirement essential.  Between chapters, I’ve watched Murder She Wrote reruns.  If we aren’t working, we still have to be learning and challenging our imaginations.   I just hope that I don’t get the stories mixed up and have Jessica find Bill’s body in Kinsey’s trunk.

Speaking of mysteries, I’m anxious to find out what I got for my birthday.  A collector friend of mine found an item that he said,  “you won’t believe.”  I’ve never spent that much on a friend’s word, but I trust his knowledge.  My wife generously agreed to foot the bill for my unknown present, since I didn’t really have any other suggestions.  I may not get the item until our trip back to Indiana in October, extending my birthday for a couple more months.

The plans are coming together for our travels the remainder of this year, including two flights back to Indiana through Chicago and a trip to New York City.  I’ll stay home and watch the dogs while my wife goes to L.A. and D.C. in that time span.  We also need to settle on a plan for January warmth, because there’s no point in being around again for the cold Portland rain that time of year.  I’m hoping that it won’t be as wet here as last year’s winter, but why stick around to find out?  Maybe we’ll go to Florida to see the grand kids?

I’m still getting mixed reviews from the solar eclipse.  Those who enjoyed the experience the most were part of a communal experience.  Watching it by myself probably made it less meaningful.  I guess I just spent too much time around crowds of people last weekend and needed some isolation.  I’m still disappointed that it didn’t get darker, even at 99.7% totality.  It’s amazing how much light the sun emits in that .3% difference.  As they said on the radio, “watching the eclipse without being in the actual path of totality is like looking at a picture of a piece of cake, while being there was like eating it.”  I guess I didn’t get my cake and eat it too!