USA Canoe/Kayak Nationals! (Pt 1 - the journey)

I'll admit that when I coach or officiate at a big event, I'm pretty much oblivious to anything going on in the 'real world'.  I can also count on one had the number of times I even *thought* about work while I was down there!
I did not get a lot of photos, but I will share what I have and hopefully back-fill some others as the next week goes on.  It's hard to get good quality photos with your phone when the action is 100-200 meters away!

Kermit - a belly full of gas and ready to go again!

Trip summary - 8 athletes total, ranging from 12-18, (three of whom were stuck riding with me), various parents, my sainted wife who came along to visit her cousins, see some racing, and maybe get in a bike ride.  22 hours over 2 days driving.
The first day's drive was easy - down the Madison-Rockford-Bloomington pipeline to Madison, IN

New bridge over the Ohio River at Madison

for the night.  A little out of the most direct route, but a nice visit with relatives instead of a motel.  Getting up the next morning, we had to wait for one thunderstorm to roll up the Ohio Valley, and then near disaster.  Pulling into Frankfort, KY I heard/felt that ominous whup-whup-whup that can only mean a bad tire or worse.  I glanced back to see the trailer wheel wobble.  Fortunately, there was a gas station just ahead.  Worse than I'd guessed - the wheel was only held on by a single (and very loose) lug nut!  Now 10 miles before, we were in the middle of very rural (and hilly) Kentucky.  Fortunately a customer had a 'proper' lug wrench, and helped swipe a bolt from the other side so we could limp up to AutoZone and buy the only two lug bolts they had - and a lug wrench.  That was enough to get us to Lexington where we bought the only bolt *that* AutoZone had, and we left town with a rip-roaring thunderstorm hot on our heels.  Did I mention how great it was having smart phone literate athletes in the back seat to *find* the freaking parts store and navigate us to it?
Onward.  A late - and much anticipated - lunch at Bradley's BBQ (mentioned in an earlier post) and we headed south for B*tchin' Betty's recommended route to get us into Buford GA without driving all the way down to the 285 and back up through Atlanta traffic.  I believe the 'real' name of the Garmin voice is 'Samantha'. We used to call her 'Lady Garmin', but after several wrong routes, bad turns and a particular trip where she wanted us to cut across an Iowa soybean field, she became Betty.  Well... Betty decided that the best way to go was via Elijay, GA.  Now any idiot can look at the map and see that the route to Elijay is over a mountain county road, while the smart route stays on a US highway and State Highway.  But, I was driving, so I didn't *look* at the map - and we did the scenic drive up and over the lower reaches of the north Georgia mountains, over the river and through the woods, taking more than one 'short cut'.  I'd really like to get my hands on the clown who wrote the algorithm that punked us with this route. Eventually, we did get to town, followed yet another 'short cut', and finally after 12 hours of adventure for an 8 hour drive - arrived.
I had a 40 minute commute to the venue - one of the very few relatively straightforward driving experiences in north Georgia!  We set up Monday morning on the 1996 Olympic Games venue, right in between new friends from South Florida and Washington (DC) Canoe Club.  Racing was not to start until Thursday, so we had a couple of days to paddle, weigh boats, sort out partners for a couple of races, and generally take it easy.  Carol and I did get one good ride in - on a loop recommended by the nearest bike shop Habersham Bicycles to the race venue. The route was great - 20 miles plus an attempted extension that ended in big gravel (not for road bikes), so we backtracked and finished the posted Lula route.
The team rented a house on Lake Lanier that was 2.5 miles from the venue - as the crow flies.  As the rabbit runs, it was more like 15, and took 30 minutes to get there.  Even so, a house on the lake that sleeps 15, and only costs 1500/week is a deal! This also let parents plan much better meals and kids/athletes have better options on what to do (other than watch TV).
More to come about the event itself.  Enough for tonight.