January 6, 2004



Mom said I should sell my packing list. I've done this so many times in the past few years that it's almost a no-brainer. That's probably why I'm starting this trip without a watch. We left from Lexington this morning at 7:40 a.m. I took my first swerving trip through parts of New York City in a chartered minivan from one airport to another. We spent a long time waiting at JFK airport to be checked in: a nine-hour layover, to be precise. However, this afforded us a good deal of time to get to know one another better, to goof off, to play cards (betting ridiculous amounts of imaginary money), and to read

a little more about the marvelous places to which we are embarking.

Airport security seems to have worked against us all day. At JFK in particular, our flight was the only one where every person had everything searched, their bodies "wanded", and their shoes swabbed for explosives. With flights running late out of Cincinnati due to a false security alarm, we were very nearly short a few members when the final boarding call went out. But thankfully, we are all on board and headed for