I should have known! Mark is putting me to work right away. I was in the midst of total chaos trying to get myself ready for this trip and finally looked at my inbox, and there it was . . . the journal of getting there along with photos to prove it! Complete disclosure; I'm a crazy woman right now. Luckily I'm a night owl (it's 3:15 a.m. here.) From what I can tell, Mark sent this to me at about 10:30 p.m. Switzerland time, which was 3:30 p.m. my time (central). So by now (10:15 their time), they are up and at the practice field, ready to roll after some much needed sleep. I can also assume that Brett and Bryan have arrived; at least when I checked, the plane they were supposed to be on had landed in Zurich. Let's hope everyone and everything got there in one piece. Hopefully by the time you read this, Joseph and Don will also have arrived. |
Mark's update:
Day 1 ( all 48 hours of it) of our journey is finally coming to an arguably successful close. The first challenge of a WC competition is getting all the people and equipment to the contest site in one piece. We’re alllllmost there. This trip started with a few early challenges when our destination hotel refused to accept our early shipments of fuel and batteries before we had even left the states. Some scrambling and a myriad of phone calls and text messages provided a solution in the form of a very generous Bernhard Schaden, the WC Event Director, who volunteered to pick up our equipment directly from FedEx and deliver it to us after our arrival. Tremendous service considering how busy he must be getting the final details of the contest in place.
The Plan, as it was conceived, was for most of us to unite in Atlanta for the main flight over to Zurich. Andrew and Darin arrived from Utah without incident, as did I from Cleveland. Jason and David drove up from Orlando and other than a detour to Jacksonville to pick up Brett’s team apparel, their trip was also fairly straight forward. Brett and Bryan were not so fortunate when their flight from New Orleans was delayed for mechanical issues and they we’re forced to miss our Atlanta flight. If all goes well, they will only be delayed a day and should arrive here tomorrow morning. Kevin, flying in from Charlotte, also cut his time close, but he was able to make the flight at the last minute. Sadly, his luggage did not. We’re hoping for it’s arrival in the morning with Brett and Bryan. The flight to Zurich was long but smooth. 4 full length movies, a few free glasses of wine and voila…Zurich.
Our rental vehicle pickup was also surprisingly smooth. The vans were delivered to us from the rental agency and were exactly as described (that’s a first!) with plenty of room for the airplanes and automatic transmissions (also a first!). So as we did in South Africa, a caravan of 5 vehicles attempted to follow one another through the winding, crazy crowded streets of Zurich in an effort to find our hotel. While this may seem like a sound plan, it falters tremendously when the leader doesn’t really have a clue where he’s going. Our saving grace was the rental agent who rode along and ended up leading the way.
Tomorrow starts early at 6am in an effort to get out to the practice site at 8am (about an hour drive). Kevin and I will coordinate to pick up Brett and Bryan, Don and Joseph (arriving at different times) and then the team will be complete.
Thanks to all who helped get us here… Financially, logistically, product support, sponsors, everyone. Hopefully we will do you all proud.
‘till tomorrow!