So here we are, on my fifth day in La Quinta, and I still can’t figure out how water is getting into the tent.  I’ve dug trenches around it to subvert the water, and I’ve checked every inch of the tarp covering the top.  I still have no idea how it’s getting in.  What I do know, however, is that for some strange reason, the weather people in this area predicted the weather perfectly—non-stop rain all last night and all day today.  So YAY for them.

Every time I woke up last night, I was paranoid that I was soaking wet, and instinctively brushed off my sleeping bag.  Sometimes there would be some water on it, sometimes not.  But it was the times where I found water that kept me paranoid, and kept waking me up every hour on the hour.  At around 5:30 am, I had had enough, and decided to try and conclude this wonderful evening by resting in my car.

So, I got just about the best night of sleep you can imagine.  The icing on the cake, however, was when I realized this morning that I would need to dress in the rain.  Well, I suppose I didn’t HAVE to, but I don’t trust the tent anymore with all the leaks and the bathroom is just far enough away to annoy me.  So, I deduced that performing a balancing act around miniature lakes while I pulled on my pants was the best way to get things done.

I never imagined that just getting dressed in the morning might occasionally present a challenge.

I was really surprised at how well I was able to balance and bear with the cold, Chinese-water-torture rain, and wind.  I was also surprised at how much I had to prepare mentally for the act itself.  Before I stepped out of the car, I ran through all of the steps in my head: take off this, first leg, second leg, change out of that…I imagine it rivaled the Blue Angel pilots before they take flight for one of their July 4th spectaculars.

And now that I’m at the course, there’s a good chance today will be rained out and we will have a Monday finish.  I sat in an interview with Slugger White, the tournament chairman, and he said that starting around noon today, the rain will intensify until midnight—and that we will have to deal with scattered showers tomorrow.  I suppose a Monday finish makes sense, but I was looking forward to using Monday as a day to get situated at Torrey Pines.  Oh well.  I guess that’s the beauty about what I’m doing—no set schedule.  Not yet anyway.