On October 16th, Karissa and I drove to San Francisco International, intending to meet the rest of the delegation in Atlanta. Fate took a hand, however, and canceled our flight from Atlanta to Belgium. After some nail-biting, we were shipped to Los Angeles for a flight to Frankfurt, Germany. We finally arrived in Belgium and were greeted by the nicest people on earth, the folks from Charleroi. I'll never forget the friendliness and warmth of the people, and the superb coffee.
Bad coffee is a capital offense in Belgium.
At the hotel, we met the rest of our little party, all in great spirits despite the day's delays. The next stop was the gym, for a light training session. Neil Resnick, who attended this meet last year with Mary Beth Arnold, had warned me that equipment in Europe is different. The girls had a hard time getting enough air time to get some skills around. The competition was held at a middle school, so many of our meals were taken at a small cafeteria at the meet site.