Bravo! Adventure
December 2
Memphis Airport
The two attendants at Gate 33 must have just sent off a plane upon my arrival at the gate. They were tidying up things and soon left, leaving me alone sitting between CNN on the monitor by the windows overlooking the ramp and violin music, occasionally interrupted with a safety announcement, in the hall. Gate 33 is at the very end of the concourse and thus is visited momentarily by the walkers and that's about it. I enter the sanctuary provided by my Bose active noise-cancelling headphones, an indulgence, in an attempt to tune out the competing background sounds. After several minutes, most of the lights in the gate area go out, apparently because I'm the only person here and haven't moved enough to be detected by the activity sensor. That's fine, as the lights above me remain on since I'd taken the seat furthest from CNN and thus on the edge of the hall. The outside of the main terminal building is visible from the hall and is bathed with red and green light in consideration of the upcoming holiday season.
The flight out of Cleveland was a little delayed, but the layover here was over three hours, so there was no worry. I'm starting to get into the notion of spending the next couple weeks on this adventure. Organizing for this time away from the routine, however, was a little stressful. Life goes on (conference proposal deadlines, etc.) and I have some discomfort on the prospect of having forgotten something that needed to be done. I tried to prioritize by doing those things that needed to be done while at work and saving those things that can be done on a tugboat, not that I intend to spend all my time working, and appreciate the assistance provided by co-workers in preparing for my departure. However, I do intend to stay connected through voicemail and email as often as access is available.
Jules Legal, the third of our crew, is meeting me here at Memphis. I believe that he is arriving from Grand Forks, North Dakota (home of Anthony Arnold!), since that is far less costly than and not that far from his home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He says that we met at the University of Pittsburgh several years ago. I'm looking forward to meeting again and getting acquainted. The crowd heading on to Tupelo, Mississippi can't be that big, so connecting with him should be no problem.
Sure enough, after discreetly looking at luggage tags of single male travelers at the gate and having no success, I just waited and watched for approaching people. Jules soon appeared and I readily identified him. We sat and chatted and then organized to have seats together for the flight to Tupelo. It was a good chance to get acquainted. Jules is also of an engineering background and had met Doug in the early to mid 60s in Winnepeg. He now does some contract work with Doug on various wheeled mobility projects, including the development of a docking system for securing wheelchairs in vehicles.
The flight to Tupelo was under a half hour and we talked the whole time. Elaine was just inside the terminal door and Doug was waiting in Elaine's car outside. They had just arrived. The drive to Columbus was just over an hour and toward the end Jules and I came to the full appreciation of their effort to collect us at the airport. We might still be searching for the Columbus marina. Besides that, Jules and I were entertained by their stories of recent travels and stops.
Bravo! had been at this marina since early September and Doug had just repositioned her to the visitor dock area right beside the building. We moved things from car to boat and vice versa. After some orientation and conversation, Jules took the lower bunk and I took the top one for a good night of sleep.