After a stressful five days since Joe’s dad’s fall and hospital stay and lots of working out 24/7 care and back-up for him, we pulled out of Winnepeg Court at around 6:30 on Monday evening. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to check in our bags with no questions asked about the bike box. Our 10:20 Lufthansa flight left on time and we had an uneventful overnight. Thankfully we both slept most of the way (a first for me). Spent two hours in the Munich Lufthansa lounge and then another smooth, easy 2-hour flight over the mountains to Dubrovnik.
Happily, all of our bags arrived with us and we were met by Jan McCready, one of the co-owners of Santana Tandems and we slapped on our magnetic name tags. Along with maybe 20 other couples, their bikes (some in two suitcases, some in one like ours and some in long standing-up cases) and all their luggage, we piled into a bus for a 30 minute ride along the coast down into Dubrovnik . This place is really spectacular. The Adriatic sparkled as we descended toward the ancient walled city jutting out into the sea. We arrived to the Rixos hotel in the “new” city around 6:45. People and luggage were everywhere as we checked in. The buffet dinner for our group lived up to the standards we have expected from the McCreadys: plentiful, varied and delicious.
As we ate we began getting to know some of our fellow tandem riders: a recently retired MD, a semi-retired environmental lawyer, a coordinator of hospice volunteers, and real estate agent. A first cross-section of the 80+ couples we’ll be with for the next 9 days. Before heading to bed, we took a long look at the full moon over the Adriatic from the balcony of our hotel. Magical.
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