Sunburned in Greece

Sunburned in Greece

Yasoo the greeting of Greece.. Also my one and only non swear word that I know in Greek
Though good merda is good morning but from me it makes everyone turn and scrunch their brow.
After two days of riding I find myself in a small resort area that is not yet open for the season. Not open as no stores, restaurants, no signs of life as I rode along the beach fronted street waves crashing in on one side and boarded up after boarded up motels, hotels and restaurants on the other. I had pressed on earlier in the day as from the map this place looked large enough to provision me out. But I am jumping way to far ahead here.

March 28

Seattle airport arrived as planned to be first in line at check in.. I Can not swear to it always working but there always seems to be less of an issue when you are first in line with an overweight and those too large bags. Not the serious overweight problem but those few extra pounds that going on a subway diet wouldn’t cure. I smile a lot make sure they see the bicycle helmet that I carry as a badge and smile some more. More often then not few extra pounds are noticed but overlooked and off I go to the over sized bag inspection area.
Again life was giving me a large smile as the TSA inspector told me not to worry as he would handle the bike with kid gloves. I watched , he did.. What was the past presidents saying 'trust but verify'.

Plane ride was long and mostly uneventful thought the one problem of this flight was a national issue :(
Air France out of wine, no white no red, no wine.. I asked to make sure that this was an Air France plane..Forced to swill brandy as a substitute for some reason the trip went entirely too quick.

Back to Bike worry in Paris. Layover was short had the traditional five mile run from one terminal to the next. Will I make it? Will my bike make it?
Huge crush of bodies all going through passport control then back through security. flight turned out to be delayed small 20 minute wait then we all we loaded on a bus to be taken the whole five mile trek back to a plane that was waiting only three planes down from my Seattle jet.. I waved.

Athens, sunshine, warm breezes, bike and duffel seen doing the carousal dance. can we see the happy smile on my face.. Now it was lugging both pieces to the ferry terminal. Cab fare was 55 euros. Metro train 6 with one transfer. I got to know several Greeks quite well as the metro was packed. After the transfer thing the train went several stations and stopped a construction transfer was to put us all on buses.. Now I grabbed a taxi as lugging the bike box up onto a city bus would be nearly impossible. With over an hour to spare I was standing in front of my ferry just a fourteen hour sea cruse left to be in Lesvos.

Body clock and local time having there way with me. By now I was pushing the 24 hour clock of zero sleep. Bike case and duffel stored in the secure area provided by the ferry I headed for a bed.