The response to the project was overwhelmingly positive with companies wanting to know how they could be a part of the museum and organizations eager to be partners.

The board is pleased to have found such a well-qualified design firm in the immediate area, saving the museum both time and money in this project.

Our fund-raiser tells us that it can take three, four or five meetings before you get companies to commit (to a project like this), which could take four to eight months. But he was really encouraged by their response. He had people calling him the day after the show.

This trip allowed us to do in four days what it probably would have taken us four to six months to do. This was such a big event for them as manufacturers that they had all their top people there. ... Every single one of them that we talked to was excited and interested - and saw there was a reason for them to be involved.

I'd tell her, 'Cover your tracks. Accentuate the positive. Appreciate things. Just know that every single moment of anything remotely good is a gift.'

I'm very positive. My last three races at the World Cup I was on the podium and two of them I lost by a slim margin. I have nothing to worry about. I have all my equipment. Everything is falling in place.