Fly By Mid-Morning

"Airport scurry, a flurry of faces

parade of passers-by

People going many places

with a smile or just a sigh"

And we're off! After a hellacious week of finishing up school and work, giving and grading exams and getting the house in shape after a semester of neglect, waging a holy war on an ant infestation, organizing everything for the trip, testing our bikes and trailers, dealing with a last minute plumbing emergency and, oh yeah, packing, we're finally on our way. The bikes packed up very easily, this time. There was only about 25 minutes of swearing before they were comfortably in their travel cases, ready to go

All ready to confuse the TSA!

Speaking of testing the bikes and trailers, it's a good thing we did. On a quick ride with everything connected, my right trailer wheel just kinda fell off. The whole axle came separated from the rest of the housing. No cracks, no damage, nothing. One piece used to fit inside the tubing of another and didn't move. Now it moves (like Jagger). Interesting, and a bit concerning. We limped our way to a nearby hardware store and bought some amazing goop that bonded the two pieces together in quite literally two minutes. After letting it set for about half an hour, I could pick up the whole trailer by the wheel. Very impressive stuff.

Amazing Goop™

So, by this time tomorrow, we'll be in Ueno, two jet-lagged zombies assembling our bikes and trailers in preparation for a 4am departure (gotta beat rush hour and get out of Tokyo before everyone wakes up). Let the "rest and relaxation" begin!