Good News! Bike Arrives in Seattle

Yesterday I checked the the FedEx tracking site to find out if anything had changed on my AirCaddy delivery. I was surprised to see that my bike had arrived in Seattle on the 9th and was now in Auburn, Wa. It was loaded on the delivery truck at 5 a.m. and the expected delivery was sometime on July 10. Now how to get it picked up. Since my daughter Kim was on vacation she had made arrangements with her neighbor to sign for the bike if it had a delivery while they were gone. Since the AirCaddy form was for a "direct delivery", the bike had to be delivered to Kim's address. FedEx won't deliver next door unless you have and "indirect delivery". I called Kim's neighbor around 8 a.m. and alerted them to the possibility of a Fed Ex delivery and asked if they could possibly intercept the truck and sign for my bike at Kim's home. Unfortunately, I got an update shortly after noon that the delivery was not made. I then resigned myself to a Monday delivery, shed a few tears and went back to watching the Tour d' France. Later that evening Kim called and surprised me with the news that she had arrived home shortly after the FedEx truck had departed (they left a door tag). She called the number on the tag and the truck made a second attempt and delivered the bike in the afternoon. Hurrah!! So it's been 13 days since I last rode. Hope my legs haven't atrophied too much and I haven't gained too much weight from lack of exercise. We leave today at 5 p.m. and arrive in Seattle at 10 p.m. We'll meet Brett in Salt Lake City for the final leg into Seattle. We'll set up the bikes tomorrow and go for a little test ride. I noticed that today's Tour d' France was in the Pyrenees Mountains and they had one climb of about the same grade but a little shorter as the climb up the Columbia gorge we'll be doing in a few days. Should be fun.