We departed from Coach Lamb's house yesterday at 2:30 and almost immediately hit our first snag when we realized 15 minutes into the trip that we had forgotten Kate and Lizzie's stroller. From there on out it was smooth sailing, that is until we reached the airport. As we went through our first security checkpoint it turned out that captain Mike Protesto's passport was three days expired. As the rest of us continued on to the terminal, Mike was forced to stay behind and take a flight at the same time the next day when his passport would be renewed.
We slept for most of the 6 and 1/2 hour trip to England and finally touched down in London at 6:30 on Monday morning. From the airport we rented a van with manual transmission and laughed the entire hour (would have been 45 minutes had it not been for all the times the van stalled out) drive to Henley as we watched a very frustrated Coach Fife attempt to learn how to drive manual and get used to driving on the opposite side of the car and the road.
By nothing short of a miracle we arrived at Henley accident free and went immediately down to the race course where we familiarized ourselves with the course and then went to the Anchor Inn to eat lunch. From the lunch we took a quick tour around town and then went back to the race course where we rigged our boat and then went out for our first row with Vince McLaughlin sitting in for Protesto at stroke seat and Coach Lombardi rowing the four seat. Though tired and jet-lagged the practice went well as we familiarized ourselves with the course over two full loops of rowing (approximatley 10,000 meters).
Leaving the race course Coach Fife's manual driving skills were once again tested as he was forced to try to reverse the van while on the side of a steep slope. This would not have been too bad if it weren't for the very fragile looking fence located just a few feet off our front bumper. Luckily for us Kyle was in the front seat and able to keep Coach Fife aware of the fence, as he stalled on the hill, by shouting, "FENCE", each time Fife stalled and began rolling back toward the fence. Finally, we made it back to the Coleman's house around 6:30 where Mrs. Coleman treated us to a delicious meal of chicken, potatoes, green beans and bread. After dinner we immediately went up to bed and quickly fell asleep.
Love,
The Prep V8
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