THE day

Friday - 8.8.08

This is THE day. Opening Ceremonies tonight and you can feel and see the excitement. More on that later.

Took a bus to the Canoe/Kayak venue in Shunyi to see the team, walk the course and meet the press folks.

They said it would take an hour to get there and it sure did.

NO traffic on our way out there. I don't know whether it was just lighter traffic in the country, or if there were traffic restrictions. Really nice drive. Out in the country, very green and lots of corn, some horses and surprisingly little crepe myrtle trees planted roadside. The only difference between their crepe myrtles and mine in Charlotte is that theirs are blooming.

The Chinese have set up "Olympic Lanes" on the highways for the obvoius use. A lot like the HOV lane on 77. When I drive the HOV lane in Charlotte, I'm usually getting passed on the right, and so was the bus. The driver could have driven down the middle of the highway in reverse for all the other cars out there. It was kind of eerie. You know, like when you're driving somewhere in Eastern NC on a brand-new 4 lane divided highway going from Nowhere to Nowhere Else and all you can see is 4 cars, and one of them is broken down.

The facility at Shunyi is incredible. BIG water and BIG stands. I heard there are 27,000 seats and all sold. That's going to be quite a sight. I was doing fine until I stood still and then I thought someone threw a bucket of water on me. "It's not the heat, it's the humidity" I heard in my head. Sorry to say that I was wearing a cotton shirt and thus my sweat for the remainder of the day - ugh.

The team practiced from 10 - 11 and they seemed really loose and relaxed. They practice again on Saturday, and I'll head out there again to see them and to visit the sprint course.

Went back through the Main Press Center to get a few things done and back to BNU for a much needed shower.

In Beijing, there were definitely traffic restrictions with the pleasant result of cutting taxi fares by at least 25 percent! Less traffic, more relaxed insurance companies. See, there's something for everyone!

More later!