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JR's Journal Greer, South Carolina to Baltimore, Maryland
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| Joan awoke Elise, Matt, and me at 4:30. We had coffee and then
she left for work. The three of us ate breakfast after I finished
packing. We piled into the Pathfinder and drove over to GSP where
I picked up the rental car from Budget. Having previously packed
3 ice chests at Brevard, I upgraded the car to a Mercury Grand Marquis.
We drove back to the house and packed the car and then drove up to Brevard
via US 276. Lauren was waiting in the parking lot. She did
a double take when she saw our wheels. Getting Lauren’s gear and
the three ice chests into the car was a bit of a challenge but they all
fit.
We pulled out of the college at 8:15 and drove up 280 to I-26. We then took I-240 to US 19 to the TN line where we picked up I-181 to I-81. I drove as far as Wytheville, Virginia. Elise took over for an hour and then Lauren drove to I-66 and toward DC to I-495. I took over there and brought us to the airport via I-95 and I-195. We returned the rental car and took the shuttle to the terminal. The driver got us 3 carts and we pushed everything the length of the terminal to the Iceland Air counter. As we approached we saw a crowd of people wearing Volcano Tours T-shirts. We introduced ourselves and then checked in. Aaron, Anat, and I checked the ice chests as personal baggage, avoiding overbaggage costs. Iceland Air was very accommodating and gave us some slack on the weight of the luggage because of the size of our group.. Elise, Lauren, and I got a cup of Starbucks coffee. The line was
extremely slow. By the time we got to the gate, they were already
boarding. I didn’t have time to phone Joan or Edna. We took
off on time. The excitement of the group was high as they started
to get to know each other. I had a glass of wine with dinner and
fell asleep soon after. I slept soundly for at least two hours.
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Division of Environmental Studies, Mathematics, and Natural Sciences |