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Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Today was a travel day. One that started with our alarms going off at 3:00 a.m., which fortunately tends to coordinate with the nightly “get up and pee”, so it wasn’t terribly disruptive except for the fact that we had to immediately become productive.

No time to drink coffee and read the paper. We had chores to do so we could be ready to board the Hickory Hop at 5:00 a.m. Under the best of circumstances, it takes an hour (minimum) to do this – dismantle and pack the CPAP machines, shower and put those last few toiletries in the bag and then hope everything is still under 50 pounds. (It was – at least we have the packing part down and can usually keep to one bag, around the 40-pound mark, for each of us). Sometimes the most worrisome part of this task is getting all the cords and accessories available to go with our electronics.

Stormey, instead of flying solo with Club Canine since Stitch’s passing, opted to stay next door with Uncle Matt and Lucy. They didn’t want to see us at 3:30 in the morning, so she went the night before.

We were ahead of schedule, and the Hop departed the Hickory Airport at 4:45 a.m. It had to be the smoothest travel day we’ve had in a long time. We met some of our traveling companions, Justin and Clay, as we were entering the TSA check in and promptly went to the American Airlines lounge to find some sustenance – and coffee.

We went to our gate and were a bit concerned – Kevin, the last member of our travel pack, hadn’t shown up yet. He was texting, though – his luggage was overweight, and he had to remove about 7 pounds of the contents. He boarded the plane carrying a pair of boots in a plastic bag – and was the LAST person to get on the plane (he works for the airline industry, so he knows what he is doing)! We had just over an hour layover in Chicago and then had a three hour and forty-nine-minute flight to Vancouver, BC. It was a little bumpy, but nothing uncomfortable. Of course, we were all getting a bit sleepy by then anyhow.

Transport from the airport to our hotel (Pan Pacific) was a divided effort. Some opted for the train (i.e., subway) across town, while others of us decided that schlepping those heavy bags on a train required more energy than we had at that point and opted for a cab. There was a unanimous decision, though, that we all wanted a break. There was a nap in there, but there will likely still be an early bedtime tonight as we adjust.

More about Vancouver tomorrow. We are off to cocktail hour at 6 pm then dinner afterwards.


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