September 28thThe thing about flying to the West coast, is that with the time difference you get a 32 hour day.... So we were all a little weary by the time we hit the sack at 9pm - or 5am home time - having been up since 6 in the morning. We had packed the Mango into a very large cardboard box, and having 
phoned ahead last week to warn Virgin, rolled up to check it in.... only to be told it was toobig.... some 'discussions' later we had managed to persaude them to take it, and not charge us. First hurdle completed! Next was Miles realising that he had forgotten his driving licence, so we spent some time trying to find a fax machine in the lounge to get a copy sent to us. We drew a blank on that, and then it was time to get on the plane. We had just found our seats when we had a message delivered to say that Jonathan, who was flying with BA and should have arrived in San Francisco just before us, would actually be two hours late. No problem, we'd have plenty of time to sort the hire car out. Very good entertainment system on the plane, with a choice of 41 movies; watched MIB2, Spiderman and Bend it like Beckham, and the ten hours whisked past very rapidly. Arriving in SanFran we successfully cleared immigration (yep, they let me back in) and customs, and then had to wrestle the box onto the shuttle bus to get to the car rental. We then spent about an hour looking at various vehicles to work out how to fit the bike/box in. Having settled on a Ford Windstar people carrier we went to take the elevator up to the car level; not quite big enough for the box, but if we put it at an angle and turned it like this.... we can get it in - but also catch the alarm button. Then the door shut but the lift didn't move. Oh good, we're stuck. Quite amusing really. So obviously we got our sandwiches out and had a little picnic, before realising we could push a button in to allow the lift to work despite the bells. Got out on the next floor; alarm bells, nothing to do with us.... Then Jonathan arrived, and after some contemplation of the interior of the van, we decided the box would have to go on the roof. So Jonathan and I left Miles sitting in the multistory and went off to buy some straps. A brief tour and several u-turns in the vincinity later we came back and strapped the box securely on top (having carried it out of the carpark first to get around the limited height clearance), and headed East. A few hours later we rolled up in Auburn, and found our motel for the night, where Jonathan stayed on the way out last year. We had a quick bite and crashed. Next day it was about five hours out to Battle Mountain, with a brief stop in Reno - which was full of very obnoxiously loud Harley Davidsons. No-one else is here yet, but we've been out to check the course out. Looks good, very very straight and long and in the middle of nowhere! 
Dave has just arrived, having flown in this morning, and driven out in one go, so the Brit contingent is nowfour strong. Hopefully we'll get to do some testing tomorrow, and meet up with everyone else. More later..... |
