Another Brutal Travel Story

Tuesday I packed an overnight bag and headed to Bentonville for a late afternoon meeting. Preparation for the meeting had been lengthy but we were ready and the meeting went well. Based on the late hour of the meeting and the limited evening flight schedule out of NW Arkansas Regional Airport, I spent a short night at the new Hilton Hotel in Bentonville.

Wednesday morning arrived too early and I was on my way to the airport by 6:00 am. My flights into NW Regional on Tuesday had been pleasant and on time. I had brief thoughts that my ongoing travel troubles were over but I was not really surprised when my Delta flight was canceled about 25 minutes before we were due to board. Bad news, the flight was grounded for the day and the next available Delta flight was scheduled to depart for Charlotte, NC at 12:30 pm.

Much time was spent standing in the ticket line, an effort that resulted in a 10:00 am United flight to Chicago connecting with a 1:30 pm American flight to Knoxville. Not an ideal schedule for sure, but at least I would get home by late afternoon. I am happy to report the flights went off as scheduled and I finally arrived in Knoxville about 4:00 pm. It had been a long day.

My luggage was not so lucky. You guessed it, I was lazy and checked my bag along with a duffel filled with one of a kind samples that my boss brought to the meeting. The baggage carousel coughed up my personal bag fairly quickly but the duffel did not appear. So who was responsible for the lost the bag....Delta, United or American? An hour lost here going from airline to airline trying to track down who last had the luggage. American never had it, United thought they did but didn't and Delta thought they didn't but did. The luggage madness went on for several days, including numerous dead end phone calls. Finally Delta called this afternoon with good news, sorta. The luggage was in Savannah, ticketed with the name of a Mr. Gunnali.

Delta patted themselves on the back for finding the real owner and put the bag on a US Airways flight to Knoxville. I will spare you additional mundane details except to say that Delta did not follow through with instructions to US Air (who was suppose to do the hand off to American). Hours and phone calls later, the bag finally connected with me.

Happy Father's Day

Today is the day that everything else is put on hold so we can celebrate our wonderful dad!

Flowers for the table

A small bouquet of flowers from the store filled in with flowers de jour from the yard. Blooming today are geraniums, yellow and orange day lilies and multi colored lantana. A couple of large oak leaf hydrandra leaves and English laurel provide a nice green backdrop.

Yum! Chocolate cake with fudge icing!

Lots of cards and gifts for the world's greatest dad!

Daddy, Carol and Leslie looking at the latest day lilies in bloom. In the foreground is a spider lily from Oakes Day Lily Gardens. It is one of several that Daddy and I purchased on our visit some 12 years ago and is one of my favoites!

Happy Father's Day Daddy...love you always and forever!

Low Gap "Do Over"

Good hike to Low Gap yesterday. Our packs were about the same weight as last week (me-25 lbs, John-40 lbs) and we arrived at the gap within the expected time with two short stops for water and no whining!! While the weather in the parking lot was hot, overcast and very humid, we were in the clouds at the gap with low visability and a chilly, gusty wind.

Looking into the clouds

John on the trail, the gap is just behind him

A Little Hill Workout

Saturday, John and I left the house early for a day hike on the Low Gap Trail in the Cosby area of the Great Smoky Mountains. By all accounts we (I) have some serious work to do to get in shape for our August hike in the Maroon Bells Wilderness (Colorado) where we will be scrambling about at elevations around 10,000'-12,600' for a week.

We last hiked the Low Gap Trail in April (see post), when the temperature was cool and lightweight daypacks were slung on our backs. While short in length (2.9-miles to the AT), this little trail packs a lot of elevation gain (just north of 1,800') and is uphill all the way. Sometime during our April hike, John determined that the Low Gap Trail would be the perfect conditioning hike to help get us over three high elevation passes in Colorado. Little did I realize that he had inked it in on our weekend exercise schedule and had plans for us to hike the trail till I can comfortably (aka without whining) carry a 50 pound pack up and down at least once.

So yesterday the "conditioning" began in earnest. While John's pack was almost at full weight, I decided to ease into things, loading my pack with 25 pounds. The sky was overcast, shielding us from intense sun but the humidity was a beast. Not too bad hiking on the lower part of the trail but oh, as we climbed higher... I think I did pretty good for the most part but John tells me the whine factor was off the charts for the last .5-mile. Hmmm, I don't remember whining so much but I was really, really ready to be done!!! Guess this means I am in for a summer of "do overs" with an increasingly heavy pack.