Day 1 & 2, Zurich, Switzerland -Let the Adventure Begin! 

Tony's View

This blog would have been out earlier, but we had no Wi-Fi at the Airbnb. I discovered later in the night that someone unplugged the router here. 

Well, the trip started out with us getting everything loaded. The bicycle bags were at 49.8 pounds each, and our other checked bag at a mere 48.8 pounds. We decided to just check 3 bags and bring a carry on with two large back packs. It worked and saved us $200, yea. We drove to Monroe Michigan to drop off Luna at Marla and Nick's. When we got there Joan decided to let Luna, a.k.a. Dumb Dog, in the fenced backyard. Joan, however, forgot to lock the gate and when we went to look, Luna was off chasing squirrels somewhere in the neighborhood. We started calling for her. Why would she answer when she had squirrels on the run? OK, I chase squirrels too, only mine are in coaching sessions, workshops or really any meeting (thought I better say that since many of you were thinking that). We were starting to think we can just let her run the neighborhood and have Nick take us to Detroit Airport, figuring that Luna was now Nick and Marla's problem. Finally, after about 10 minutes of 3 people calling for her and about giving up, she came running from down the street.

 The flight came off without a hitch. All the bags showed up and everything was on time. After struggling with my phone to buy train tickets, we were off to the Airbnb in Zurich.

After walking about 2 miles with the bag, my arms and shoulders were sore and yes, they are still sore. Yes, I know I am a weakling. 

So, I started to put the bicycle together trying to set a new world's record, which if you remember was 3 1/2 hours up to now. Well, as I started, to assemble I remembered that when I was packing there were two long bolts in my tool/parts bag, which I though at that time, "Why do I want to bring these? They just add weight." Well, it hit me while I was assembling that those are the bolts that hold on the front pannier racks so there goes the record. What a dumb dumb thing to do. I do these dumb dumb things all the time. Thinking we had a huge challenge ahead of us, we first asked a local cyclist where to find a bicycle shop because none showed up doing an online search. He sent us to a bicycle shop to find these rare bolts. 

Sarah doing her magic.

No luck there, so they referred us to a hardware store where we found Sarah, this super helpful young lady, who came up with a great idea to jerry rig an option for us using a long 5mm rod. We cut the bolt to length and put a lock nut on it. Sarah even grinded the ends to make sure the nut fit. What a rescuer! Finally, the bicycle went together, and I was off to bed at 10:00 to join Joan who went to bed at 7:00.

Joan's Extras

We had a 4-hour layover in Amsterdam and found this nice spot for a nap. Below, you can see Tony dreaming of the next big bike climb.

Since Nick is a popular name in our family and I love shoes, how meant to be is this photo? Another discovery while out searching for a nut & bolt. 😁