Received 09/13/2009 00:53
Fri/Sat, Sep 11/12 - Getting There is Half the Battle
Friday, Sep 11 – Today started with a REALLY early wake up – about 3 am. It was one of those nights where I try to get to sleep early (didn’t happen) since I had to getup so early. Finally managed to get to sleep somewhere around 11ish. Then about 3 am, I woke up and spent the next 45 minutes snoozing in that state where you are afraid to really go back to sleep for fear of oversleeping the alarm. It was so early that when I got up to take my shower, not even the puppy woke up.
This trip feels very strange in that this is the first time in all the years I’ve travelled to this event, that I am travelling totally alone then entire way. In the early years under Sharon Anderson’s leadership, it was mandated that no Team Member travelled alone. In fact for the first 3 years, the entire team traveled on the same aircraft. But that was 98,99, and 2000, before 9/11 and the world changed. Then we went through a number of years where we had a couple of east coast departure choices, but those of us from the West Coast still had to fly east to meet up with the Team. Eventually, as flights got harder to find and the airlines set greater restrictions on the number of dogs in cargo, we were given more options about our routes of travel. Many times it depended on where we were going. But since 2003, West Coast team members travelled from the West Coast without having to transit an east coast gateway. Since 2006, I’ve accompanied the team as Assistant Coach and, in 06, 07, and 08, I was assigned escort duty” for teammembers from the East Coast, so I still ended up flying east. Up until this year, I flew out a day early and spent the night on the East Coast so I didn’t have to worry about missing my flight, but this year, with money so tight (I financed my own way this year), I opted to be brave and hope the airlines and weather all cooperated. So far so good. The flight out of Sacramento departed right on time and I have 2.5 hours in Atlanta to make my connection. So, I should have plenty of time to exchange some money and easily make it to my gate.
One of the toughest parts of this trip is leaving my dogs, especially my baby dog. I know Jake will take great care of her and all the rest, but since the day she came home, we’ve never been apart for a night. I doubt she’ll care all that much. We’ve hopefully taught her that its OK to be alone. And, I want her to be OK with me not being there. But its still hard. Will have to kidnap some of the Team Shelties at times to get my Sheltie Fix! Unfortunately, I don’t think there are any goldens in the competition (last year Canada had one), so I’ll just have to grin and bear it.
The connection in Atlanta went smoothly and the very long flight to Zurich departed right on time. It was 9 hours and 45 minutes. Arrival in Zurich was quick. In just about 30 minutes after landing I had cleared passport control; collected my bags and cleared customs. Now I just had to wait for the two team members I was meeting: Ashley Deacon with his pyreanean shepherd, Luka from San Jose; and Paulete Swarchzendruber with her sheltie, Rush, from Massachusetts. I had about an hour to kill until Ashley arrived, so I picked up the rental van (fortunately both the rental car counter and the garage were on site at the airport) and loaded my bags into it so I didn’t have t haul them around with me. By the time that was all done, Ashle’s flight had arrived. Luka was very glad to get out of her crate. It had been about a 17 hour trip for her from the time she was loaded in her crate iin San Jose until she got out here in Zurich. Once we met up with up Paulette and her party, we had a 90 km drive to our hotel in Dornbirn, Austria, just over the Swiss/Austrian border. It should have taken about 70 minutes but we hit major traffic to the point of our 70 minute drive taking 2.5 hours! We were all really glad to find our hotel and get settled.
