Sunday June 10, 2001
I fly out of DIA with Jim and Amy Zeiset at 6:30pm to London's Gatwick Airport. I am amazed at how small and out of date the airport appears. Madrid's airport is even smaller. We board the 737 in London using a ramp from the runway, and deplane in Madrid the same way.

Monday June 11^th
Arrive in Madrid and walk through customs without even seeing anyone! The Volvo wagon we reserved is unavailable so we negotiate for a Dodge van, which is better for our purposes anyway! We drive to the town of Toledo and spend the night in Alfonso IV hotel. Toledo is a nice little town on a hilltop. All the towns are on hillsides, built around fortified castles.

Tuesday June 12^th
We arrive in Algodonales, find our hotel and get our rooms. I am the primary Spanish interpreter, even though my Spanish leaves much to be desired.

Wednesday June 13^th
JZ and I get a rack built for the van and a base unit installed. We pick up his ESC and Jamie Sheldon's Exxtacy from the Swiss team. Attilla Bertok asks for a ride to launch and we comply. Attilla seems quite nice, unlike what his name would indicate. Launch is quite beautiful, but will be cramped with 150+ gliders. The bailout LZ's look pretty bad. Restricted with power lines and the closest one faces downhill into the prevailing wind. It is primarily used by paraglider pilots.

Had a nice dinner of meat and salsa. I have also had pollo and fritos (chicken and fries). Both were very bland, but tasty, although I am not that picky about food.

I bought a cell phone today as my US phone does not work here. Cost me $200, but I purchased the more expensive model that works throughout Europe so I can sell it after the meet. There are many hills here that pilots report greatly disrupts and limits radio coverage, so a cell phone is a necessary safety item.

Thursday June 14^th
I registered this morning and discovered that Jamie may not qualify to fly in the Worlds as she has never placed in the upper 2/3rds of any Class 2 meet.

Mark Bolt will be replacing Mike Barber on the flex team. Mike injured his shoulder a couple days ago. Mark will stay with me in my small "single" sized room. At least we have 2 beds! I like Mark, it should not be a problem.