Lethargic depression is what we call it, that longing ache to get back to our lives. We had only been stateside about 2 weeks when it started creeping into the far reaching corners of our mind. We missed the every day routine, seeing new sites, hearing new sounds, experiencing new things. Cycle touring gives us purpose, it’s what we do and who we are.
Plane tickets had to be purchased in advance, medical tests were scheduled in advance without knowing if there would be required follow-ups. Luckily, we are healthy which is a very good thing. However, now we had so much time to burn in the states.
The words “Is it Dec. 6th yet?” were said often, too often. We compensated by eating and drinking too much, we gained weight and with that we longed for the open roads even more. Dec. 6th could not come quick enough.
We spent Thanksgiving in El Dorado, Arkansas with Curtis’ mom and sister. We spent time in our Little House in the Piney Woods. I flew to Minnesota for a Girlfriends Weekend with my bestie Colleen. We did medical tests, eye exams, dental check ups and other such things in Longview, TX. We visited with friends and finally we made our way back to Aransas Pass where my folks reside. It felt like we were off our bikes years and years but alas it was only roughly 2 months.
And then it happened, Dec. 6th rolled around, the calendar days moved forward and we welcomed our flight day back to Medellin. Back to our bicycles awaiting our return. My sister Juli and my Mom took Curtis and I to the Corpus Christi airport. We had a 7:35 AM flight so it was an early arrival. They dropped us off along with three large bags to check. We got in line, checked the bags and waited for the flight to depart. The flight to Houston was non-eventful, as was the flight from Houston to Miami. We had a two hour layover in Miami.
Cool, our flight was on time. Just as the flight was beginning to board, our names were called to the flight counter. They were not going to allow us to board the plane since we had no exit flight our bus ticket out of Colombia. They were wanting us to purchase a return flight. It took about 15 minutes of discussion and for Curtis to explain that we were on bicycles before they finally allowed us to board without buying a return ticket. They required the name and address of our hotel we would be staying at, luckily Curtis had one booked so we were able to provide that information. I have to say other than that snafu the flight was amazing.
Each seat on our Avianca flight has a built in screen for us to enjoy a movie or tv program. In addition, we were offered a full meal on board which turned out to actually be pretty good. This made the three hour flight go fast.
Immigration was a snap, they never even questioned our exit plans, they did ask where we were staying so again the hotel information was needed. We were just stamped through and that was that. Next was baggage claim and we heard our names called over the loudspeaker again. It seems that our 3 bags decided to remain in Miami but we were assured they would be here in the morning and delivered to our hotel, again very relieved to have had a hotel selected that we could provide information about.
Curtis had arranged a taxi to pick us up. It is about an hour drive from the airport to our hotel. I have to say it felt good to be back in Colombia.
The hotel was booked for one night, tomorrow our bags arrive and we will be off to reclaim our bicycles, or so we thought.
The next day, Dec. 7 came and went, no bags. We found out that they were sent to Bogota and would be on a flight soon. We stayed a 2nd night at the hotel. Finally, on Dec. 8 at 9:30am we were informed that our bags were on a truck bound for our hotel. What we thought was right away turned into hours.
Our bags finally arrived at 3:20pm and by 3:25pm we were in a taxi enroute to Casa de Ciclistas. Our wait was over and we had our bags in hand. These bags contained basically our whole lives! Tent, sleeping gear, camping gear, clothing and all of the bike parts to totally rebuild the bikes. We were even more relieved to find that the bags were not even opened, consequently nothing was missing or lost.
Our adventure awaits!!
CJBikeTours 