Legs are feeling the effects of yesterday's run, so I'll be taking it easy today. If the weather cooperates, it'll be 3-5 miles easy with the brewery group tonight.  If the forecasted thunderstorms do get in the way, I'll do some rowing.

qotd:  Having had to travel a lot for various jobs, I've had my share of delayed flights and a cancellation or two, but nothing big. I had a number of strategies that I followed to lessen the risk (i.e. no Chicago/Atlanta or Texas stopovers, if possible. Avoid certain alirlines.  Early day flights. you get the drift). One trip stands out in 'luck' factor, though. I was leaving a remote port in Alaska and with no plane tickets available, I still went to the airport in hopes of getting a seat standby. Weather was moving in and the possibility of the flights closing down for days was real. After a long day, I did get a seat on one of the last flights before the airport closed for a week.

Damn, George, I'm sorry.  If it makes you feel any better, I'm not out West this week either.  Fingers crossed you make it to your race!

5 last night.  Legs felt very heavy but able to push through.  Today will be a rest day.

George - I hope it works out for you.

QOTD: I flew to Europe when I was 14 by myself (sister lived there).  On my flight home, we were delayed, while being in the plane already, for 6 hours.  About every hour, they kept announcing we were delayed a bit more due to mechanical issues.    A normal 6 hour flight turned into 12 hours of sitting on the plane.  After a couple hours, they offered free boos.  Of course me being 14, I was probably the only one sober on the flight.  Oh yea, there was a large group next to me who were rolling there own cigarettes...maybe throwing something else in there - back in the day when you could smoke on a plane.

Have a great day!

Got up and did 4 mi this morning.  I went a little faster than normal, but it felt easy.

George; uuugh glad the airline took care of you, but yes, the car rental and hotel changes are a hassle.  Especially these days with pre-paying and non-cancellation clauses (which I try to avoid by the way).

By the way, the Mongol Derby just finished Day 7, they are stopped for the night. The first batch of riders will finish tomorrow, Day 8.  An old crusty cowboy from Wyoming (RL) is out front I'd say he's about 35 miles from the finish.  There is one guy about 2 hrs behind him and a batch of other riders about 2.5 behind the leader (the guy Devan trained (FW) is in this batch).  The thing is, RL is carrying a 27 minute penalty, so he has to cross the line at least 27 minutes in front of 2nd place to take it.  Oh yeah, that crusty old cowboy out front? He's 71 years old !!

Tracking Map: https://www.theadventurists.com/adventures/mongol-derby/#1 (you may have to hit the "track live" in the upper right corner)

Daily report: https://www.theadventurists.com/adventures/mongol-derby/updates/

By the way, in the tracker there are some riders who look like they took a direct route to the finish, they did, in the sweep van (aka, the blood wagon).

qotd: Mostly had to deal with some long delays, but fortunately it doesn't happen too often. Most of my travel is the long-haul stuff so airlines try like crazy to keep those on schedule.  (runtrail, you should add Paris to your list of transfer hubs to avoid, although I do like going there as a destination.)

The worst delay was going from Seoul to LA, first we sat on the tarmac in Soul for hours, then due to crew time restrictions we had to make an unscheduled stop in Anchorage, then we sat in the plane there for about 5 or 6 hours waiting for a new crew before they let us off for an hour or so, we finally got to LA about 18 hours late, it totally sucked.

Just gym stuff so far today. I opted not to run last night and spent 2+ hours out on the back deck staining spindles and rails. At least now I have that part of the lower deck done. Now onwards to the upper deck and stairs. Storms forecast here seem to be a fizzle and staying south other than some light rain. Should be able to get a run in tonight. Can't seal the deck when rain is forecast, but you can run.

QOTD: I've had several flight cancellations and delays on winter flights to Florida, but the worst scenario I remember was in the late 80's flying Northwest Disorient from LA to Cleveland for the holidays. This was way before smart phones and internet, I supposed I could have called but arrived at LAX to a longgggggggggggg line for mid-morning flight and found out flight was delayed until midnight. I lived near the airport so cruised home, came back late that night, checked-in and flight was again delayed 4 hours until 4am. Finally boarded, a little buzzed from beers in the bar, and of course my connection in Detroit was all whacked out. I remember being very groggy but was patient and polite (ok I begged please) and managed to get on the next flight to Cleveland. I was bushed. Most embarrassing was a layover in Chicago to fly back home to Cleveland... left the plane to stretch my legs on the stopover from LA, found a bar, had a few beers, came back at the appointed departure time and they had closed the gate and would not let me on. I had to explain that one to the folks. Ha.

George - You could have driven there by now!! Hope you are on your way. Weather seems ok here right now.

Made it to Chicago. Now have a 4.5 hour layover. My flight wasn't even on the monitor yet when I first checked. And it was a 15 minute walk from gate to gate once I found out where to go.

No run today, drove to VA Beach with the kids. It was fun, and we are now at a cute little hotel on the ocean front. I can see the waves from the room. Looks like some nice two days coming up.

QOTD: I’ve also had some major delays, but most adventurous was a stopover in NYC in July 1976, when the big blackout hit. We (my parents, my sister and I) had just arrived from Vienna, Austria, it was late afternoon or early evening, and were waiting for our connecting flight to Los Angeles. At that time, a transatlantic flight included a fuel stop in Iceland, and from our small town in the middle of Austria to Vienna airport it had been a 6-hour train journey, so we had already been traveling for about 18 hours. Just half an hour before boarding, the lights went out and didn’t come back on. For several minutes, everything was pitch black inside JFK airport. Security and police were yelling, but people in general stayed calm.

About half an hour later, news spread that it was a major blackout that affected the whole city, all flights were canceled, and the airport would be closed. We should come back next day in the morning.

All people were ushered out of out of the airport, and we found ourselves somewhere on a street. We knew English but were not too proficient in terms of vocabulary. A long line formed in front of some improvised information booth, and somehow my parents got a room in a downtown Holiday Inn. At the time, that was a nice hotel. A taxi took us theee. We had to walk up 6 floors to our room, and I remember we had to carry all our heavy suitcases (all stuff for 4 people for a 7-week expedition) up the steps because the elevator was of course not working. Lights were out, too, they gave us flashlights. It was after midnight local time by then.

Next day, we somehow made it to the airport by 9 a.m. , just as it re-opened. We were put on an early afternoon flight to Los Angeles, and I still remember the beautiful Boeing 747 which would take us there, as it was parked at the gate, shining and sparkling in the sunlight. It seemed like a miracle plane to me.

Rest of the trip trip went uneventful, but it was, all in all, a very long travel to get from Austria to LA.