Yesterday I thought I was all done with paddling by lunchtime, but when Heidi got off work in the mid-afternoon she asked me if I wanted to join her on an upper section of the Hillsborough. It sounded fun to me, so we took her inflatable kayak up to a cypress swamp east of I-75. Heidi, a zoologist and the animal nutritionist for the company that owns Busch Gardens, Sea World, and other theme parks, proceeded to point out all the wildlife. We saw a few turtles, three smallish alligators, and numerous species of birds, including several that Heidi said weren't so easy to spot.
This morning I said goodbye to Heidi and began the trip around the Gulf of Mexico to Ocean Springs. I knew when I decided to go to Tampa that I was setting myself up for a long drive today, and it was indeed a monster. The leg on I-10 from Lake City to Ocean Springs seemed to go on forever.
Tomorrow's Battle on the Bayou race course starts in the Back Bay of Biloxi and goes up Old Fort Bayou for some nine and a half miles, finishing next to The Shed barbecue joint. When I arrived in Ocean Springs, I went to The Shed first to get in a short paddle. I did another six 12-stroke sprints and otherwise paddled easy and tried to get loose after the long drive.
Once that piece of business was taken care of, I went to the Gulf Hills Hotel, next to where the race starts, and went through race check-in. I saw a few familiar faces and socialized for a while, but now I think I'm headed to bed pretty soon.
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