Prep Work 7-21

Getting the Gliders Ready to Go
We woke up this morning with a pretty long list of things to do. My stress level had been steadily increasing, and when Mike knocked on my door this morning to wake me up because I had slept through my alarm, I knew this was going to be the most challenging day yet in terms of patience. I had planned to sort through my things, finish getting settled in our apartment and pack everything that I needed for today. Things that generally keep my stress level low. Instead I ran around the house rushing and felt totally unprepared which quickly turned in to impatience and grumpiness.
We found that navigating Reiti was pretty hard -- who knew that street signs aren't fashionable in Italy. So we had to ask directions from our few english speaking friends every time we wanted to go somewhere. Our first stop was the TIM store, to activate our SIM cards (the brain of a telephone using GSM (global services mobile)) that most countries except the US and Japan use. As always, the Italian employee was very heplful and was able to get us what we needed although I slaughtered the language. The next stop was to head to the airport and hopefully check in and get the scoop.
While we realized we weren't able to check in until the 24th we quickly met up with Giorgio, our hired Italian, English/German speaking crew, and Leonardo Brigliadori, the contest manager and owner of Mike's glider, RB. Giorgio and Mike quickly went to work setting up his perfectly prepared contest glider. Meanwhile, I went about trying to find the stupid key to the hitch again. It was so unbeliveably frustrating that we couldn't find that key. Giorgio pulled out the spare tire from the trunk, and sure enough, the key's were stuck in the styrofoam that lines the trunk. I called Jane, the owner of the B&B where Richard is staying, whom we had asked to check with TopCar about the key, to let her know that we had found it. She informed me that the owner was on his way with adaptors for the light connectors going from the car to the glider.
Feeling relieved, I took the car over to my trailer to hitch up the glider and bring it to the area where we were tying down. Unfortunatley, I didn't see the concrete in the grass, and I scratched the lower part of the front bumper of the car. $$$ It's not that bad, but I feel like a huge retard, and I'm expecting to cover the cost. Richard was amazingly calm and relaxed about the whole thing, simply offering to drive the car so I didn't stress. But it didn't help my mood in the least.
We took a break for lunch, to have the best spaghetti bolognese that I've ever had, and then Giorgio took us aside for a briefing of the normal procedures. This was really helpful and Giorgio agreed to fly with us tomorrow to give us a view of the area. We headed back to the grocery store, bought dinner, had a fresh salad, and planned for tomorrow.
I'm getting tired now, and I'm really looking forward to getting some flying in.
Kathy
Anyway, overall, we had a really good day and got a lot accomplished. The gliders are assembled, on the line, I got my NGC stickers on the glider. We will have to wash the trailer to get the bigger logos to stick.