Day 1: Seattle to in the air onboard Delta: Life Force (or not)

January 5, 2014

This trip has beguqn! At least it has begun if we take our official definition of having rolled n some fashion out of our driveway. We have done that, in the van anyway, and headed for the ferry. At this stage some past trips we have offered some ferry photos and shotws of our misty island and we head away yet again.

This time is no different and here are a few, anyway, of the required shots.

The van waits to take us from our chilly island,.

Flights out of Seattle are cheaper than trying to leave from Canada, so our first step is to scoot down to Avi and Violet's place. In Canada there is much talk in the news about various forms of flu, Norwalk virus, and otyher nasty seasonal infections now actively running around. Various family members had various instances of these over the Holidays, and we were concerned that one llness could globally "ruin Christmas" for all. This didn't happen, and in fact it seemed at least that Dodie and I had dodged all the virus bullets.

Aw spit! Just as we headed out our driveway a cold virus jumped me, We got to Avi and Violet's and found that it had sped ahead and gotten them too. Initially, the answer was a box of tissues and for me, some cold tablets.

Avi and Violet and (so far) Dodie are pretty tough, but it's amazing how something like this can sap your life force. To fly across a country, get oriented, and start pedalling over a generally impossible distance does actually take a certain amount of life force! Right now my supply is just barely enough to make it to the kitchen and boil water for tea.

Precious time with Avi and Violet. Here Dodie shares a recording of her Dad singing a lullaby.

Friend Dave brought over a box of the best (and only) French pastry in the city. This will prepare us for three months of privation in the South. Too bad I didn`t think tonget the before before we demolished the shipment!

Our flight leaves in a few hours. But this is just one of the challenges of the trip. It's not really a "fun" challenge like a head wind or getting lost, but it is still part of it. So we will drag ourselves to the airport and head off. A night's sleep in an 18" seat with 400 other people should do me a world of good, and in the morning, Key West here we come!

Possible Everglades footware in a local store!

The sendoff committee, and us. This was taken by the driver of the shuttle we took from Kirkland. A really sweet man, he was much interested in our trip. Now 71, he was inspired to maybe get himself and his wife back out on the road bikes.

Deadly accurate. Dodie's bike and case weighs in dead on target.

But, our bags are going nowhere. That is, if we keep insisting that the destination is Key West.

Three hour conference with supervisors ends with little progress. They have agreed to drop us 200 km short for the same price. Nice.

Alpha Centauri

When the Vogons were authorized to clear away Earth to make way for a sub-space by-pass, the information was posted on Alpha Centauri. When Delta decided that there could be only one piece of checked baggage of any type per person into Key West, they must have used the same bulletin board. Anyway, we didn``t see it.

So when each of us with our bike case and duffel bag arrived at the Delta counter, they blitheley informed us that due to this "embargo", we weren't going. Not to Key West anyway.

Of course this triggered lots of discussion. Naturally we wanted to know where this policy was written. Naturally we were referred to Alpha Centauri. Actually, the agent left for about 1/2 hour and came back with a printout. How far can a delta agent get in 1/2 hour?

Next we wanted to know if this was just a policy or if physically space was lacking on the plane. As near as we could make out, it's just a policy. However it seems to be iron clad, because no amount of discussion could get our bags on the plane.

Ok fine, we said in the end, just take us as far as Miami. So here I sit waiting for our same flight to Atlanta, but after that - Miami. After that, who knows. We could cycle to Key West and back, to Key West and ferry to Ft Meyers, or carry on from Miami as if Key West never existed in our plans.

Hey wait, they just announced they are offering $400 to anyone who will voluntarily get off this flight to Atlanta. That could give us a chance to regroup. Nope, flash, the line is too long to take them up on the offer. Ok, here we go. Next stop Atlanta and no doubt after that Miami.

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