Those of you who have read my most recent Facebook post are already aware of my circumstances. Donna and I arrived in New Jersey, safe and sound...even a little ahead of schedule! However, there is bad news too...
Those of you who travel know that getting your baggage can sometimes prove to be problematic. How often have you arrived at your assigned carousel, waited for your luggage, only to find that it had come out on another carousel? Well, I am happy to say that was not the case for us!
Not only did our luggage come out where it was supposed to, it came out pretty quickly...even my bike case came through the "bulky luggage" area just fine...and it was located right next to our baggage carousel!
Things were going nice and smooth...possibly too smooth. Next step...rental car.
Let me start by saying that I have had some real bad experiences with rental car agencies in the past. I should also tell you that we were requiring a specific type of vehicle due to the volume and size of our luggage. As many of you well know, reserving a specific vehicle is really a crap-shoot, and almost no agency will 'guarantee' you that they will have it on their lot once you arrive. Donna had made arrangements ahead of time, and was even offered an upgrade at no cost...a way of saying thank you to me for being a firefighter. Thank you Dollar Rental Car!
When we arrived at the rental car desk...oh wait, I haven't even told you about our experience getting all of our bags onto and off of the shuttle. So, let's back up a bit and talk about that...
Again, if you have traveled, you have no doubt had to take some sort of a shuttle to get to the rental car area. Isn't it amazing just how many escalators or elevators are involved in this little journey to get to the shuttle or tram? It seems to me like every one of these requires an 'up and over' of sorts. Well, let me say that we made it through this little challenge with flying colors!
So, back to the rental car desk...
You would think that if you had talked to the director of operations of Dollar Rental Cars in New Jersey, and had been offered some sort of deal, that it would have been noted on your reservation, right? I don't know, maybe I simply expect too much. Anyway, of course there was no notation made on our reservation, but my wife (being the great organizer that she is) printed out a copy of the email communiqué...a smart move! So just like that we were given the deal that we were offered...again, too smooth.
We ended up with a very nice vehicle that easily accommodated all of our luggage, and didn't smell like cigarettes! Off we headed for our hotel, The Appalachian Resort in Vernon, New Jersey.
Shortly after we began our drive, my team mate Paul (who we traveled with) called me with some bad news. He had checked his email, and found out that all mountain bike Events had been cancelled...shortly after we touched down In Newark. Apparently, the amount of rain that Irene dropped on the area, had caused significant erosion to the ground that supports the gondola at the Mountain Creek Ski Resort. What does that have to do with mountain biking you ask? The Mountain Creek Ski Resort was scheduled to host the mountain bike events for the 2011 World Police and Fire Games. The gondola is required to get both racers and spectators to their respective locations on the mountain. So...if the gondola can't be used, the races can't be run...it's just that simple.
So, with no race to win...I mean compete in...we are planning on going to the athletes' village so that we can get the bag of goodies we paid for within our registration fees (which by the way, I am not expecting to get refunded...not without a little 'push and shove' anyway.
So that's the story. It's not how I had dreamed it would turn out...my dreams involved an all out effort to come from behind, passing the first place rider just prior to the finish line...then hoisting the Gold Medal above my head with tears streaming down my cheeks. Hey, it's my dream...I'll cry if I want to!
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