AND WE’RE OFF! DENVER – ST. JEAN PIED DE PORT
We are sitting here having a final coffee at Denver International before catching our first flight to Atlanta. Mike is finishing last minute business on the phone and is fully focussed on what’s happening on the other end of the line ….. on MY phone so I have time to write a bit about the events leading up to our departure.
Everything went perfectly as planned …. well, except for one minor detail. The plan was for us to drop the “Fox” at the dealership in Cheyenne for some specific, warranty repairs. After that, another RV repair business would pick up the Fox, do the rest of the warranty work, and then store it until our return. We had said that we would blow out the lines. Mike had never done it before and when he went online to see how to do it, he discovered he was missing some of the needed tools to do the job. That plus the fact it was cold and raining and we still had lots of final organizing, stowing, and cleaning to do in preparation for towing, made us feel pressed for time. We decided to let the dealership do the winterizing for us.
We finally set off for Cheyenne, Fox in tow, and headed up the pass, through the fog, to Cheyenne. Dropped the Fox without incidence, stopped off for breakfast at a local Dennys and were back in Laramie early afternoon. Dropped our Camino gear at Laurie and John’s and headed for the Dodge Dealership to drop the truck. We needed a service as well as new tires so we arranged for the dealership to store the truck until our return. So many details and so many things to remember but it all paid off. As each day passed and the “things to do” got checked off the list, the load seemed to lessen. Now, finally, all we had to do was get ourselves to DIA.
True pilgrims, we left Laramie on foot, headed for the shuttle to Denver. No, we didn’t want to walk all the way to Denver!!
We had reserved seats on the shuttle from Laramie to Denver. The trip was almost effortless and we spent the two hours listening to “Coffeebreak Spanish” which we had neglected the past week. The shuttle dropped us at DIA, we located the hotel shuttle and were comfortable ensconced in our hotel by 230pm or close to. Went for and early dinner to Ruby Tuesday’s – they have a great salad bar and mega sized beer – and were back in time to catch the news, make some last calls to friends and family, and watch another episode of the documentary about the Vietnam War we’ve been caught up in.
My dear friend Carol had asked me if I expected to sleep well – that she never did prior to a long flight – I nonchalantly said I expected no problems sleeping. Famous last words….2am rolled around and I was wide awake, reviewing the “inventory of useless concerns”. By 415 I was still awake. I must have finally snoozed because the 5am alarm woke me up in the midst of a ‘car accident’ dream.
We had arranged to take the 625am shuttle but since we were ready we took the 545 one instead. We had to still get euros and wanted not to rush and worry. Everything went so smoothly.
Mid-flight on our way from Denver to Atlanta: just had breakfast. We’re way at the back of the plane and were among the last 9 passengers to receive food and drink service. We hit a bumpy patch which they had warned us about – a very bumpy patch which delayed the service as the flight attendants hung on for dear life – but finally we got our rations.
ENIGMAS 