OOOO We Made it to Uden!

1...2...3....AHHHHHHHHHH

It feels SO good to be at our first destination: Uden, The Netherlands. And not only are we here in one piece, but so are our poles, which is much much more exciting if you have heard some of the stories we have about taking poles overseas...It wasn't easy getting here(more so for some than others) but we all made it and are exhausted but really grateful to be in such a beautifully quaint town that Uden is.

The first leg of my flight went off without a hitch, but then I ended up sitting in the plane for 2.5 hours in Philadelphia, ready to depart for Amsterdam as mechanics struggled to fix the plane's air conditioning unit. Great. So not only are we cramped on a plane, but we are cramped on a plane that is getting more sweaty and smelly by the minute. Eventually that was fixed and after a meal of pasta and some red wine, I was fast asleep for five hours, waking up to eat a breakfast danish and some coffee right before landing in Amsterdam.

My bag and pole came out right away, to my utter amazement and as I hauled everything to make my way out of the airport, I realize the only exits they have are what I like to called, "the double spinning doors of death." You know, those big spinning turnstile doors you see in big buildings, especially in colder places? Well they had not one, but two sets to go through to get outside, which isn't a problem enough you have a sixteen and half foot pole bag to try and get outside. I walked around for a while looking for a regular door but found nothing so eventually figured out how to stop those spinning doors and squeezed my way out. I was picked up by one of the track and field agents outside the airport, strapped the poles to the roof and were on our way to Uden.

We made our way to the track, dropped off the poles and was immediately greeted by a man named Hans who took me and my bags back to his house. Hans is one of the meet directors of the Mondo Keien meeting and who we are staying with tonight and possibly for the entire weekend. He has a beautiful house not far from the track with two extra rooms with beds for all of us! Hans has been the perfect host, offering us free reign of the house and whatever we could ever possibly want. After getting a grand tour of the house, I made my way upstairs to read a bit, but with the time change and lack of sleep, I fell right asleep.

At this point, Dustin and Bobby had not even gotten to Hans house yet(they flew in separately and to a separate airport), and with no phones to use, I just had to wait and see when they would get there. Eventually, during my nap I awoke to the sound of  voices at the door and knew they had made it. Evidentally they got more than a bit lost after making it into Uden and after a lot of walking, a few rest stops, and a beer, they finally found their way. We were all really excited to finally have found each other and after cleaning up a bit, Hans went into town and brought us back some Chinese food for dinner and we recapped our days.

Hans then had to make his way back to the track to get some stuff together for the meet so we borrowed his bikes and rode across town, checked out the track and just soaked the town(or village as Hans calls it) in. The track is in really good condition and we are getting really excited to jump there. The stands are stone, about 6 rows high only, but right on the track and stretch all the way around the perimeter. Looks like a fun jump if the crowd is right! We have all really enjoyed ourselves here in Uden. It's such a quiet place with very friendly people who all are willing to talk to you and help if you need directions or anything else. It is very green here, a lot of bikes all around and just a general peacefulness to life here. Just slightly different from Los Angeles.

So we are back at the house now, all really tired, slightly delirious and ready to go to bed. It's past 10, the sun still hasn't set, but I must. Good night.