The day started early at 6:30 am with some last minute packing. A see you later to Jenny and Bradley (Rachael was on a Scout Camp) then drive into Adelaide Fire Station to drop off the company car. Hopefully it gets repaired while I am away.
Taxi to the airport. Checked in and they charged me for 3kg overweight baggage (26kg + 11 kg). In for an early morning coffee at Hudsons and met up with someone from work whose daughter was on my plane to Sydney and the US as well as someone from Rally.
Even though we loaded on time, it was 1/2 an hour before we took off. This was a sign of things to come. All went well for the transfer from the Domestic terminal to the International terminal in Sydney (even saw my baggage going in the right direction). Again we loaded on time but it was 3/4 of an hour taking off late this time.
The flight across the Pacific was not too bad but any turbulance was felt hard in Premium Economy as it is in the upper tail. Only managed about 3 hours of broken sleep in the 13 hour flight.
We arrived on time in Los Angeles. Into the Immigration Hall and it was packed with 4 planes that had landed at the same time. It took 1 1/2 hours to clear Immigration, Customs and re-check my baggage for the Reno flight. I am told that it was a quick trip through.
It was now 11:30 am and my next flight was 18:30 so what to do for 7 hours??
I had a couple of IT things to sort out with reactivating my US phone and data card. A quick walk to Radio Shack in Westchester to achieve this. On the way I came across Ladder 11 and Engine 211 of Los Angeles Fire Department at the In-N-Out Burger for their lunch.
Stopped off at Starbucks for a caffiene fix and some free Wifi to check emails. Still had hours to use up so decided to do some geocaches through Westchester and Inglewood. It took 4 hours and I walked 17 kms to find 7 geocaches.
Walked past Randys Donuts, the I-405 and Manchester Square.
Got back to LAX around 16:30 with some blisters and some new muscles. A bit of line up at the Security and I didnt even get back scattered.
And to get the trifecta, another delayed flight. At this stage, I was getting very weary and was struggling to stay awake. The flight to Reno finally got off the ground at 19:15 (3/4 of an hour late).
There was a spectactular sunset above the clouds and after a bumpy finish, arrived at Reno around 21:00. Shuttle bus to the Grand Sierra Resort, checked in and up to the room.
Now the quandry – unpack or go to bed. After 32 hours from Adelaide to Reno – it is good night ………
