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We are home from our trip to Chicago. Aside from hitting the deer, the trip was otherwise good. Thanks to everyone for their comments and concern. The car is being taken to a body shop today to be evaluated. We're all crossing our fingers that it is deemed ruined, but it will likely be fixable.

While in Chicago, we squeezed in some Christmas shopping, some good meals out and in, visits with Ted's family, and a couple of races in Iowa. All in all we were pretty busy. We had a good time, but it's also really nice to be home.

Ted picked Hitcher up from the kennel this morning and he's a little under the weather. He's curled up in my lap as I type. It's probably just stress from the kennel, but the poor guy is exhausted and has some digestive problems.

Ted's fixing a fondue dinner for my birthday tonight, so that will be a real treat. Plus, it's cold here (30 degrees), so fondue seems fitting.

Thankful

We left Pullman at 4 am this morning, so I took a little snooze on the way to Spokane, while Ted drove. I awoke to a pounding sensation in my chest, the smell of gunpowder, and my own screams. I had no idea what had happened. We had hit a large male deer. We both jumped out of the car to find the front end of my new RAV4 ruined, and a large deer carcass on the road ahead. Debris was everywhere.

The front end of the car is totaled. Often, when drivers hit deer, you hear of them driving away from the scene. Not the case with us. We are seriously lucky to be uninjured, let alone alive. We hit the dear at 60+ mph, and it could have gone through the windshield. My side of the windshield has a large fracture. The driver's side hit the deer, which we think rolled across the top of the hood, hitting my side of the windshield. Both airbags deployed and we both have sore backs/chests as a result.

We made it to Chicago after all of this, getting in 4 hours later than originally planned. But, at least we're okay.

This is the new Vanderkitten cyclocross team kit, which I'll be sporting for the first time this weekend.

Playing in the snow

Pullman has woken up to snow the past two mornings, and, oddly enough, it's not really annoying me that much. Give me a couple more weeks of indoor training and I'm sure I'll be sick of it, though. I do have to say that it is really fun to watch Hitcher with the snow because he goes wild for the stuff.

I am occasionally going to be filling in as a worker at the WSU deer pens; they use the animals for research. I worked there for a few hours on Monday and the little fawns are adorable. They have 27 fawns right now and they are so friendly and tame. I was told that the only thing to worry about with the babies is that they'll love you too much. The adult bucks, however, are a different story. It is the peak of breeding season right now and the males do not at all like anyone going near the females. One buck in particular snorts and makes threatening noises if you even walk by the pen. Then, when you go enter the pen to feed them, he heads straight for you, with a goal of headbutting you into a corner. Thankfully, his rack has been removed, but he still makes me nervous! I'll take the sweet, innocent fawns, thanks!

For anyone who enjoys things cycling-related, I have to recommend the Bikecar movie. It was made by two brothers from Moscow, along with some others. They built this "bikecar" and pedaled it all around the northwest to different snowboarding venues. Ted and I found it very entertaining, and we can vouch that the filmmakers are great people (pro snowboarders and cyclocross racers). An extended version of the DVD will be out soon... hopefully in time for Christmas.

The main guy in the film, Louie, has little twin daughters who go to all of our cyclocross races to cheer on their dad. Ted has become their favorite cheering subject because they love to shout "Go Teddy Bear!" at the top of their lungs.

Where in the world?

Spooned by the dog.

Ripples.

Watching the world go by.

The weather in Pullman has finally turned a bit, but I still can't complain. It is November, afterall. I barely worked out this week since I still was not feeling good, so I'm going into Jingle Cross with less fitness than I had hoped. It'll still be fun, though!

It's hard to believe that the final race of the Inland NW Cyclocross Series is Sunday. It went by so quickly! After a couple weeks of very little training, I am very much looking forward to racing on Sunday. Then, we'll have three days in Pullman before heading to Chicago for Thanksgiving.

We went to the Cougar basketball game tonight, which is always really fun. We had the most annoying fans sitting behind us, though. Three overweight ladies were sitting behind us, screaming in our ears the whole time, and I just grew increasingly annoyed. Was it really necessary for them to tell the Cougs to "REBOUND!!!!!!!!!!!" each time the Vandals attempted a shot? I mean, honestly! It's not like they could even hear these women, no matter how much they screamed. Then, there was the guy who was the ONLY person in our section to stand. Thankfully, he was not in front of us, but he continually stood in front of the poor women behind him, completely blocking their view. I'm all for getting into the game, team spirit, etc., but some of these people are just ridiculous!

I talked to my brother today. He and I have yet to take the trip he gave me for Christmas last year, but we're hoping to go in early 2008. I have the total freedom to pick any place in the world for said vacation. We will be somewhat limited on time, as Rusty will most likely only have 7 days, at the most, off. Where to go? I am currently leaning toward Paris, Prague, or somewhere (safe) in South America. Rome would be fun too, and Greece has always intrigued me. Japan would be neat also. Hmmm.... any suggestions?

Race Skippage

We packed our bags and made our watter bottles last night, setting our alarms for 7 am. They went off and we decided not to make the trip to Coeur d'Alene for today's race. I've been a bit sick all week, battling a sore throat, congestion, headaches, chills, etc. Ted's ankle is still sore and he has a lot to get done here, so we decided it didn't make sense to make the trip. The races are so fun for me that it was hard to skip it, but I think it was probably for the best.

We went to the first Cougar men's basketball game Friday night. It was a pretty impressive turnout in comparison to the early games of last season. To make it even better, Patty's Kitchen is now serving food at the games, so we'll be eating dinner at the game on Friday.

Until then, I'm hoping to resume training in the next couple days to be somewhat fit for cyclocross nationals in a month. I've only gotten a couple short spins on my new Giant, but I can already tell I like it!

My New Team Bike for 2008

I arrived home from my ride today to find my new team bike, along with some team clothing, on my doorstep. It's amazing to have a team like Bob's that has already managed to get team bikes out for next season! Ted built it up for me tonight, so I'll take it for a ride tomorrow.

The happenings

Phil and Hitcher

Chin rester

Who, me? Drying rack? It's a cat tower, right?

Fluffy Shamus

Play is so tiring

Racin'

The start of Ted's race at Fort Walla Walla

The ramp from the Walla Walla race a week ago

Ted's parents just left Pullman today after a few days of visiting. While they were here, we went out to eat a couple times, took Hitcher for some good walks, and squeezed in a cyclocross race in Spokane. Unfortunately, neither Ted or I had a good race, so it wasn't the best race for Phil and Ellie to watch. Ted clipped his foot on a rock and crashed pretty hard, so he wasn't able to finish. His ankle is still swollen and bruised.



I'm nursing a very sore throat and not feeling so great. Phil was sick while he was here too, so there is definitely stuff going around. I got my flu shot a couple weeks ago, so I'm hoping this will just be a cold.

Hitcher starts advanced dog school tonight, so I'm crossing my fingers he does okay! I hope he's well enough advanced!