Catching Up...

Wow… The last few days were a combination of busy and relaxing… On Sunday, the day went from 8 in the morning until around midnight… We got to the hall around 8, got ready, and started putting flights up early… It was pretty obvious that Brett and John would be fighting over 3rd place, as Schram with his 39+ flight was in a very solid 1st, and Treger had consistently been doing times better than us… I’m going to shorten it up, and just get to the end which was that Brett bettered his times and moved into 3rd place in the individuals, and both Brett and John worked with Nick both flights and he bettered his time to put the US into the gold medal position… So after three long days of flying, the US took the top spot in the team, and Brett took third place in the individual… Not a bad week… And both John and Brett are already thinking of what they can do the next cycle to improve… Those two never give up, and will be at the top of F1D for a long, long time…

After the flying was done, we packed up and talked to the others… There were few reflights that didn’t end until pretty late (the last round was shorter, 3 hours, and supposed to end at 5:30…) and even though the award ceremony was supposed to start at 7, it was after 8 when it started… All of the awards were given out, and Team USA got to take the podium with our national anthem playing… After that, we packed up the vans and headed quickly back to the hotel to get cleaned up before going right back to the banquet… We got there and had a nice meal and then most either started leaving or migrated outside where it was a nice evening by the river… I left with Dennis and the kids a bit before midnight, and John and Brett decided to go out for the rest of the night, and apparently got in around daylight…

On Monday, I slept in (as good as I can… seems without the right cold medicines, I can only get a few hours of good sleep without clogging up… ok during the day, but nights are still pretty miserable…) and around noon finally got up and walked around the city around the hotel for a bit… nothing much, but did get to see around, and it was a beautiful morning… Got a cup of expresso and headed back to the hotel, and got lunch… After lunch, Dennis and the kids were coming into the hotel and we talked a bit about trying to figure out how to get the monster box with the perpetual team trophy in it back home, but finally gave up and decided to go downtown (in the new section of Belgrade…) and walk around… I’m really glad that I did that, because that part of Belgrade is beautiful… Shops, restaurants, large walking streets, and lots to see… We got some coffee and sat and talked and watched people going by, and then took a walk to the old fort… Then back to where the cabs were, and got a cab back to the hotel… We were meeting Nicola (who organized and ran the Dorcol Cup…) and his wife with everyone for dinner… We got back and hung out in the lobby until everyone got there, and headed back downtown to a beautiful little restaurant that had an outside area where we had a wonderful dinner… Nicola ordered for us a little of everything to try, which was a great idea since it was great… Lots of pork, beef, chicken, and sausage… After dinner, we walked through one of the large parks (which was full of people…) and said goodbye and caught cabs back to the hotel…

So now it is 8 in the morning again, and we are going to leave this morning around 10 to catch our 12:40 flight to Paris… It’s been a great time in Belgrade, but I’m ready to head back, and don’t want to chance being late for the flight…