The road trip to Oklahoma City went smoothly, with no delays other than my husband having to work later than expected on the day we left. I have no complaints about that because the company pays him well and that’s how we can afford our travels. We arrived early Friday afternoon, as planned, with the mini trailer parked just after the course opened for practice rowing.

The weather during practice was good, but a look at the forecast showed it wasn’t going to stay like that. Storms and high winds were on the way. My husband said he was staying frosty anyway, just chilling, and wasn’t going to let the predicted bad weather worry him.

The morning races were delayed because the storms overnight had blown away the lane marker buoys. We ended up racing in a different part of the river with no lanes, and there was a strong wind the whole time, with occasional fierce gusts. And, just as soon as the sun came out, it was broiling hot.

Even so, we succeeded in rowing at a steady pace and not letting the weather unsettle us. We got far enough ahead of the boats next to us that having no lane markers wasn’t a problem. After the morning races, we collected our medals, went back to the Airbnb to rest and relax in the air conditioning for a few hours, and returned for a 500-meter dash before packing up. Frosty and fun!