Still Waiting to Leave

Monday, June 29
Rick Steves, a travel book author, says to relax, and do nothing for 48 hours prior to a trip to Europe... I guess he did not count on a tornado hitting Wethersfield Friday. The resulting electrical power outage forced us to change our "cook-out" for Mom Sweeney and Mom and Dad DesRosier into a potluck (“what can we serve without opening the refrigerator “). We have had difficulty sleeping due to the din from our neighbor’s million-decibel power generator. In addition to packing in the dark we have had to clean up the fallen branches in our yard, and transport our still-frozen food to Spitzer’s freezer warehouse in Newington. We finally left to begin our trip yesterday at 4pm.
Thanks to our chauffeur, Dave Spitzer. The I-84 HOV lane was smooth, but it’s too bad we didn’t have our traffic alert GPS on to warn us about the hour-long backup on the Mass Pike near Sturbridge- when it finally ended near Worcester, the only possible cause was a pickup towing a small boat, off to the side with a flat! That’s the Mass pike! After Dave dropped us at the hotel, we realized a bag had been left in the far back seat of the van…he turned around and delivered it- what a guy! At least that way, he got to stay and eat dinner with us at Margarita’s- but he passed on the fish tacos. (It is too bad he didn’t save the ones from Trader Joe’s that were refugees from our freezer on Friday)
The “Un-Comfort Inn” Logan airport is okay, but our “non-smoking” room’s last occupant must have been the Marlborough Man, our neighbors had requested that 3 a.m. wakeup calls be sent to their room at 10 minute intervals until 3:30 (snooze alarm, anyone?), and the garbage truck came to empty the dumpster below our room at 5. Well, at least it got us up so that Dean could be first in the pool at 6:00, before any cannon-balling children arrived. We had our complimentary continental breakfast, and will spend the day relaxing, organizing our luggage to meet the requirements, and being ready for the 3:00 shuttle to Logan.
Thanks to all of our family and friends who have helped us plan and prepare for this adventure- wish us luck! The next time I write, I’ll be looking over the Atlantic from the other side (the west coast of Ireland, County Clare).

---

---