Rainy tarmac at PHL
Wish it wasn’t raining. I hate flying to begin with, and I hate it even more when the conditions aren’t perfect. It doesn’t help that an Air France plane went down in the Atlantic a few days ago.
I still have 3 hours until departure. I intentionally arrived very early, not sure how long check-in was going to take since I haven’t flown since pre- 9/11. Very surprised that security was such a non-event. It took 10 minutes from kissing my wife goodbye at the car to being cleared and checked-in, wandering around the terminal.
So far the weather for the Alps is not looking great – 40 to 50 degrees, rain, maybe even some snow. I checked with Jim and e-mailed Tommy at Moto Mader about switching our bikes to R1200RT’s if possible. Jim and I are of the same mind about changing our route and destinations if conditions worsen. No fun riding around all day in the freezing rain if we can help it.
I wish I was more excited, but I think the apprehension over the flight is keeping all that at bay. Heading to Europe for the first time, days of riding bikes in the Alps, and I’m not bouncing off the walls. Yet.
Michael (my 8 year old son) was a little sad to see me go, but he’s getting so mature he won’t let it get to him. Some tighter hugs than usual, and some “I’m going to miss you” while not looking me in the eye and the message was loud and clear. We all had a great day yesterday – picked him up at school, baseball catch, dinner all together at Texas Roadhouse, hanging out on the couch, etc. I’m going to miss my family.
And away we go