Moving to Stockton

It was a long, hard weekend for most of the athletes here--but they got the job done! This photo was taken late Friday night, after a muddy, wet, cold day of moving lots of heavy equipment. With pole vault pits, weight lifting equipment, a high jump pit, and thousands and thousands of pounds of runways and turf....this was not an easy move. Good thing they are all in such great shape!

The Port of Stockton is an amazing location--40,000 square feet of warehouse space with high ceilings. We are very blessed to have it. The place is looking amazing (we'll get photos soon). All day Saturday, the athletes set up, unrolled mats, moved equipment, and tried to make the best use of all that space. There is still a lot to do--they have to build a long-jump pit, cut boxes for the pole vault pits, and build lots of other stuff to make it all work. But they all trained there today, and after practice Joe got a net hung so they can throw discus inside tomorrow. This is also a big blessing to not have missed any days of practice (last week was a rest week, so everyone had Fri and Sat off---although they all worked so hard, it wasn't much of a rest week!)

We have to work out some details before we move over to Stockton. Right now it's an hour's drive to get to the Port from our RV park, so that won't be doable with only one vehicle for very long. Since we don't have a free place to park our RV in Stockton, one possibility is that we will move into a house with a group of athletes. It would be less expensive for us than paying for an RV park. So we'll keep you updated.

We've been burning a bit more veggie oil than usual with all the driving back and forth to Stockton....but thank goodness it's free! I've been pumping oil into the truck from the stored oil that Joe has collected--but I had never gone hunting for it by myself (it's a little tricky with Rowan). I ventured out by myself (with Rowan...and a DVD for her to watch!) in Stockton this weekend and again today for oil--and scored some very nice oil at a Mexican restaurant today. It's a thrill to first find good oil, then get permission to take it. It's very empowering!

I also got to spend an evening with my good friend Edye in Sacramento last week. She and her husband, Rick, welcomed a beautiful baby girl named Ellyn this fall...and I got to take some pictures. If you want to see more, I posted a sampling at Flickr here. I haven't had the chance to take many photos like this since we moved...so it was fun for me.

I'm sure Joe will post more later about the Stockton facility and what's up with his training. Thanks for checking in with us.