Philip Kiracofe · Adventure Capitalist

End of 2 epic days of riding. Very sporadic cell service means we are a bit behind on the updates, and will do that tonight.

quick tally: 2 days of riding, 135 miles, ~10,000 vertical feet of climbing. At least as many stories.

Apparently, there was a misunderstanding at the bike store when we said we wanted to ride for 4 days.

Despite all our good intentions, and positive thoughts–we arrived into Minneapolis to discover our connecting flight was delayed 4 hours due to crew delays–I’m hoping someone pulled a JetBlue maneuver frankly; a scheduling misshap is not a good excuse for such a long delay. Truthfully I’m about ready to grab a beer and evacuate…travel is downright frustrating.

Meanwhile we get ourselves re-ticketed and granted vouchers for food…which would have been great had we not just devoured two of the largest, non-fried, non-meat, non-dairy sandwiches you can find in a Midwestern airport. Regretfully we canceled hotel reservations, called the bike shop to tell them for the second time today that we won’t be picking up our bikes on time–and decide to test out the voucher at the nearest wine bar.

Again, strangers came to the rescue—-our server was a former carnie, bike part dealer, vibram five-finger enthusiast, recent vegan convert and only paused in our 3 hour long “conversation” to take a 15 minute meditation break. Our kind of gal. Next to us was a very funny businessman who lives in Chicago, is also (like Philip) 8 feet tall– he and his wife are taking a bike trip of their own in 2 weeks. To top it off he grew up next to Katie’s suburb in Cincinnati, where his mom still teaches high school.

After hours of chatting, amazing conversation and subtle nudges from the universe that we are not all that isolated in our lives after all; we finally made it on the plane. …only to be met by Katie’s cousin, Tracy, who had also been delayed coming from Cincinnati. She too is taking time off before the wedding, gave us the de rigeur “you all are craaazy” stare when we told her we are biking to the wedding, and then went on to her seat.

Keeping in mind that our original itinerary had us on a different flight, connecting cities, and was booked on an entirely separate airline–meeting these three tonight is either coincidence or destiny. I’d like to think it means the following: clearly we’re destined to find adventure; and no matter where we go, a bit of home always comes with us; and finally that no matter what we’re meant to be exactly where we are.

As we tried to pay for our wine with the vouchers, we were told it only covered food, not drinks ( Katie: they delay our flight 4 hours and expect us NOT to run to the nearest bar?!!)…so we told our server to gift it to some unsuspecting guest later in the evening– knowing full well we are still in karmic debt for the generosity we received all day today.

Meanwhile, Antonio at the bike shop offered to come into work over 2 hours early tomorrow–just so we can pick up our bikes and get on with the trip as quickly as daylight allows. Another kind stranger on this most unusual day. Since the only traversing we’ve done today consists of moving through the flight of Pinot Noir samples; tomorrow will be double mileage. As we pulled off the jetbridge and onto the runway–at last headed to Boise–the captain informed us of current weather conditions; cloud-less skies, little wind, and, oh, a cool 98 degrees when we touch down at 11pm.

–pkk & kkg

Despite all our good intentions, and positive thoughts–we arrived into Minneapolis to discover our connecting flight was delayed 4 hours due to crew delays–I’m hoping someone pulled a JetBlue maneuver frankly; a scheduling misshap is not a good excuse for such a long delay. Truthfully I’m about ready to grab a beer and evacuate…travel is downright frustrating.

Meanwhile we get ourselves re-ticketed and granted vouchers for food…which would have been great had we not just devoured two of the largest, non-fried, non-meat, non-dairy sandwiches you can find in a Midwestern airport. Regretfully we canceled hotel reservations, called the bike shop to tell them for the second time today that we won’t be picking up our bikes on time–and decide to test out the voucher at the nearest wine bar.

Again, strangers came to the rescue—-our server was a former carnie, bike part dealer, vibram five-finger enthusiast, recent vegan convert and only paused in our 3 hour long “conversation” to take a 15 minute meditation break. Our kind of gal. Next to us was a very funny businessman who lives in Chicago, is also (like Philip) 8 feet tall– he and his wife are taking a bike trip of their own in 2 weeks. To top it off he grew up next to Katie’s suburb in Cincinnati, where his mom still teaches high school.

After hours of chatting, amazing conversation and subtle nudges from the universe that we are not all that isolated in our lives after all; we finally made it on the plane. …only to be met by Katie’s cousin, Tracy, who had also been delayed coming from Cincinnati. She too is taking time off before the wedding, gave us the de rigeur “you all are craaazy” stare when we told her we are biking to the wedding, and then went on to her seat.

Keeping in mind that our original itinerary had us on a different flight, connecting cities, and was booked on an entirely separate airline–meeting these three tonight is either coincidence or destiny. I’d like to think it means the following: clearly we’re destined to find adventure; and no matter where we go, a bit of home always comes with us; and finally that no matter what we’re meant to be exactly where we are.

As we tried to pay for our wine with the vouchers, we were told it only covered food, not drinks ( Katie: they delay our flight 4 hours and expect us NOT to run to the nearest bar?!!)…so we told our server to gift it to some unsuspecting guest later in the evening– knowing full well we are still in karmic debt for the generosity we received all day today.

Meanwhile, Antonio at the bike shop offered to come into work over 2 hours early tomorrow–just so we can pick up our bikes and get on with the trip as quickly as daylight allows. Another kind stranger on this most unusual day. Since the only traversing we’ve done today consists of moving through the flight of Pinot Noir samples; tomorrow will be double mileage. As we pulled off the jetbridge and onto the runway–at last headed to Boise–the captain informed us of current weather conditions; cloud-less skies, little wind, and, oh, a cool 98 degrees when we touch down at 11pm.

–pkk & kkg

Despite all our good intentions, and positive thoughts–we arrived into Minneapolis to discover our connecting flight was delayed 4 hours due to crew delays–I’m hoping someone pulled a JetBlue maneuver frankly; a scheduling misshap is not a good excuse for such a long delay. Truthfully I’m about ready to grab a beer and evacuate…travel is downright frustrating.

Meanwhile we get ourselves re-ticketed and granted vouchers for food…which would have been great had we not just devoured two of the largest, non-fried, non-meat, non-dairy sandwiches you can find in a Midwestern airport. Regretfully we canceled hotel reservations, called the bike shop to tell them for the second time today that we won’t be picking up our bikes on time–and decide to test out the voucher at the nearest wine bar.

Again, strangers came to the rescue—-our server was a former carnie, bike part dealer, vibram five-finger enthusiast, recent vegan convert and only paused in our 3 hour long “conversation” to take a 15 minute meditation break. Our kind of gal. Next to us was a very funny businessman who lives in Chicago, is also (like Philip) 8 feet tall–he and his wife are taking a bike trip of their own in 2 weeks. To top it off he grew up next to Katie’s suburb in Cincinnati, where his mom still teaches high school.

After hours of chatting, amazing conversation and subtle nudges from the universe that we are not all that isolated in our lives after all; we finally made it on the plane. …only to be met by Katie’s cousin, Tracy, who had also been delayed coming from Cincinnati. She too is taking time off before the wedding, gave us the de rigeur “you all are craaazy” stare when we told her we are biking to the wedding, and then went on to her seat.

Keeping in mind that our original itinerary had us on a different flight, connecting cities, and was booked on an entirely separate airline–meeting these three tonight is either coincidence or destiny. I’d like to think it means the following: clearly we’re destined to find adventure; and no matter where we go, a bit of home always comes with us; and finally that no matter what we’re meant to be exactly where we are.

As we tried to pay for our wine with the vouchers, we were told it only covered food, not drinks ( Katie: they delay our flight 4 hours and expect us NOT to run to the nearest bar?!!)…so we told our server to gift it to some unsuspecting guest later in the evening–knowing full well we are still in karmic debt for the generosity we received all day today.

Meanwhile, Antonio at the bike shop offered to come into work over 2 hours early tomorrow–just so we can pick up our bikes and get on with the trip as quickly as daylight allows. Another kind stranger on this most unusual day. Since the only traversing we’ve done today consists of moving through the flight of Pinot Noir samples; tomorrow will be double mileage. As we pulled off the jetbridge and onto the runway–at last headed to Boise–the captain informed us of current weather conditions; cloud-less skies, little wind, and, oh, a cool 98 degrees when we touch down at 11pm.

–pkk & kkg