Off to Zurich

Part 1)

The truck was loaded up the night before..... 

Basking in the warm sun.

 Up before the birds this morning and away to the Airport in Victoria. Kelly and I met up with Michi, Liyan & Keiko along with their early morning chauffeurs Janet & Stan Anderson. They were kind enough to bring out the plane boxes along with the rest of the gear and stayed around in the event of "battery issues".  Great people! Check in was straight forward and security was a non issue for me. They didn't even stop me to look at my transmitter case or batteries :-)  Michi's TX did get swabbed for explosives but easily past inspection.

Michi looks like he just woke up at 3 am... after 3 hours of sleep... because he just did :-)

While waiting to board our flight we got caught up on Facebook and saw posts from Mark Atwood (USA Team Manager) with pictures of them in their small hotel rooms. (We are staying at the same budget hotel).  "Small but tidy" was his comment. He also mentioned that fellow Team members Bryan Hebert and Brett Wickizer had miss connected and did not make the originally scheduled flight to Zurich. Unsure when they get in.

Reports of some damage to Jason Shulman's primary plane as well but it looks like it will be flyable after some repairs. This is the worst fear of anyone coming this distance to compete. I am praying to the sky gods right now in fact!

The flight to Toronto was uneventful and we had lots of time to relax before our flight out at 18:20 Eastern time. Kelly and I enjoyed the amenities of the Maple Leaf Lounge as we waited. If all goes well we will meet up with the rest of the team for the final leg. Chad's flight is late so hopefully they make the connection from Calgary without the OJ run through the terminal.

Part 2) ... it hasn't happen yet :-)   PS the Australians have just updated their blog.

OK Part 2 has happened. We did meet up with everyone and with weather delays we all managed to make the flight out albeit 2 hours late.  It turns out the last two items placed on the 787 out of Toronto were Chad's plane boxes... that was close!  Karma perhaps?
A nice dinner and some digital entertainment then it was time to get a bit of sleep as we transition into the 9 hour time change.