Paying it forward, backward and sideways

We arrived at our host housing last night.  The temperature outside was 6 degrees.  6.  Degrees.  Fahrenheit.

No humans were home at our host house, but we were greeted by this:

A sheep in wolf-dog clothing for sure.  Mattsie wagged her entire body before dropping to the floor and rolling over for a belly scratch.  Sherry, our host, turned out to be just as friendly.

It's always refreshing to come out to the west coast, meet somebody for the first time and be immediately accepted in the truest "mi casa es su casa" sense possible.  Sherry quickly established that people have always helped her out in her travels and she is just trying to pay that back to help keep the wheel of good karma spinning.

We're adjusting to the time difference, but the big shocker is the temperature.  In the upper 20's isn't bad, but as the mercury drops it gets progressively uncool.  Poor Janet Trubey and the rest of the Master's Women field who have to race at 8:30 this morning.  The sun is barely up, the temp is still hovering in the single digits and there isn't much prospect for improvement in the near term.

Bend has taken this opportunity to have a big 5 day party with everybody participating.  Every business imaginable is offering racers some incentive for coming in.  The town recognizes that outdoor recreation in general, and cycling in particular are huge money makers for the area.  With no recognizable industry, this town is capitalizing on their natural resources.  Lenoir could easily do the same.