Wendy's new passport arrived moments before we left. This is the first time she had smiled in a week! Jan Blalock saved the day again (she also took the two pictures on this page)!

We were delayed 15 minutes waiting for Tami who overslept but finally we were underway.  We drove out on U.S. 64 and took NC 281 down to SC 11.  The view over Lake Jocassee was beautiful without any leaves on the trees.
 

This was not the last time the group would find itself standing  around, waiting for Tami...

After a pit stop, we got on I-85 and headed toward Atlanta.  At about mile 232 the other van disappeared.  We waited a few minutes before driving back to discover they had had a high-speed blowout on their right rear tire. A state trooper was there when we arrived.  Jof Mehaffey, who was driving, saved the day by guiding it onto the shoulder up against a guardrail… no damage was done except for the destroyed tire. It was a brand new Firestone tire. A Georgia State Trooper pulled up and kept his light flashing to divert traffic around us.

The tire was changed within 30 minutes and we were on our way again.  Our delay caused us to arrive at the airport late but the flight was delayed 1½ hours so all was copesetic.  I called Reid Plemmons back at Brevard to report the blowout of the new tire. He immediately wanted to know if we still had the tire because we could get a refund. I assured him we did and paranthetically inserted that no one was hurt and there was no damage to the vehicle.

We slowly checked in.  Another 15 minutes was added to the delay.  American Airlines assured us the Miami-San José flight would be held for us.  They lied and didn’t hold the plane for us.  Instead, we were attended by complete idiots, who put us on a later flight that only had 17 open seats.  I continued on with the group while Margaret, Lindsay, Brian, and Jof stayed in Miami to take the morning flight to San José.  At least I got to fly in 1st class as did Wendy and Mike.

We cleared customs and picked up our bags.  The IAU bus met us and ushered us to their bus. A thief disguised himself as an employee, got on the bus, helped students store their gear, and made off with Lauren’s fanny pack.  It contained everything important: passport, credit cards, plane ticket, cash, driver’s license. She took the loss remarkably well. IAU assured us that they would take care of everything to get her a new passport and plane ticket.

We stayed at the Hotel Edelweiss run by an Austrian and American.  They helped us contact the appropriate authorities to start the process of recovering from the theft of Lauren's valuables. The hotel ia a very nice place with dark hardwood floors and antique furniture.  At the restaurant across the street we had a beer and then turned in at midnight.