Day 1

R to L: Chris, Kim, Vickie, Judi, J.D. (Fred taking the shot)

What a day. Woke up about 4:30 (probably excited and eager to get going). Got Lydia off to school for her final final, (not a typo), then went to watch her graduate at 10:15. She has now successfully completed the eighth grade. Bolted from the graduation to get home and meet the Champions and Beams to head up to JFK. On the road at 11:45, 15 minutes ahead of schedule…and now the surprises begin.

Surprise #1: Our flight doesn’t take off until 6:00pm, we’re allowing 6 hours for this two-hour trip to “play it safe since we don’t know about traffic.” I guess I’ll have some time in the terminal to blog.

Surprise #2: Fred drives like an old lady! Oops, an old lady in a 57 Studebaker just passed us like were standing still – Fred drives slower than an old lady. I now know the real reason we allowed six hours for this trip – forget the traffic, it’s Fred we don’t know about. He said he had to go slow because of all the extra weight in the back (I wont say who was sitting there) he was concerned about dragging his bottom. I certainly don’t want that to happen, so I just kept quiet. Fred got us safely to the airport with three hours to spare and his bottom fully intact (I took his word for it).

Surprise #3: All of our baggage came in under the weight limit which had been a source of considerable stress for many of us. Of course, this bit of good news required us to spread all the suitcases out on the airport floor and quickly repack them , incorporating various items from our carry-on luggage. This multi-person, multi-bag free-for-all resulted a fair amount of belongings being commingled. I don't know who's skivvies I will be wearing tomorrow.

Surprise #4: The plane can't take off. A storm kept our plane grounded for more than three hours. The delay wasn't so bad, but the pilot turned off the engines to conserve fuel. No engines, no air-conditioning. I was prepared to go to Africa and sweat while laboring near the equator. I was not prepared to go to New York and be boiled in a tin can by the Swiss. A little after 9 we finally took off. Our trip has begun. It’s all smooth sailing from here, right? What else can go wrong?