Florida in October...

Greetings to those who actually have enough spare time on their hands to follow this nonsense. This little flurry of writing activity will cover our latest adventure, a trip to Florida to participate in the Southern Tandem Rally. This is the first time we will have flown with our newest tandem bicycle, which breaks down into pieces and fits into its own suitcase. I'm anticipating undergoing some major surgery at the airport when United Airlines charges me extra for this case... either for the weight or the size. There's little doubt in my mind that I'll be paying through the... uh... nose... for checking this particular item.

The Southern Tandem Rally is being held in The Villages in Florida. Valerie's mother's husband (stepdad?) has a place there which he's allowing us to stay at during the rally. (He also has a home just outside of Tampa, which is where we've always stayed on our past trips...) The beauty of this is we're going to save a bundle on lodging! The downside? United airlines will suck up all of those savings (and then some) through the fees they charge on checked baggage, and whatever the bike runs us.

Here's a little sidenote: Southwest Airlines apparently still allows you to check a couple of bags before the fees start to tear into your budget, and their oversize and overweight fees appear to be half that of United Airlines. So if I'm gong to be travelling with more than just a carry-on bag, guess which airline I'll be checking with first?

I'm going to try something different when it comes to posting to the blog this time around; I'm going to do all of my posts via e-mail through my Blackberry. So the photos probably won't be as good, and the posts might not be as wordy as some folks would like -- it's a lot harder to type on a tiny keyboard using your thumbnails than it is on a full sized keyboard!

I haven't decided whether I'm going to take my laptop with me or not, but I don't think I'll need it this time around. Have Blackberry, will travel!