Greetings! This is the (in?)famous BobLog, a record of all the significant and insignificant things during one of my trips. This log is on my trip to Puerto Rico. I'm sending this out via a list. I've taken the liberty of sending this to many of you, my friends. If you do not wish to receive this, you can click on the link at the bottom of this email and unsubscribe, or send me an email, and I will do it when I have internet access available. 07/20/06 7:30AM: Today is Thursday, July 20th, and I am on the plane for the first leg of our trip to Puerto Rico. The initial purpose of this trip is to be with my good friends Willy and Gladys, who are renewing their wedding vows (its their 25th wedding anniversary!) in a service that will be this Saturday night, in the little island of PR. Their families are both from here, and there will be a lot of the family members in attendance. On board with me is Isaac, Willy's son, and Scott and Elaine Porter (more friends from Rochester). Also, Patty Garrido was to go (more friends from Rochester). Patty is to be the Maid of Honor in the ceremony, and I the best man. She was just at my house last night for some last-minute dance practice. She left at 11PM. She was supposed to pick up Isaac this morning to bring him to my house, then we would all go to the airport. She never showed. She hasn't answered her cell or home phones, which is very un-like her. Right now we're all a little concerned about her. She had some of my clothes she was to take in her garment bag, which includes my wedding attire. In anticipation for this wedding, Willy, Gladys, Patty, and I have all taken some Ballroom Dance lessons from Shaun and Suzie at Rochester Ballroom Club in Webster. They were wonderful instructors, and we learned some basic stuff in anticipation for this event. We just barely made it on time for the flight! We arrived at the airport a little more than an hour ahead of schedule, but there were lines at both the ticket counter, and a longer one at the security checkpoint. They had us take all our baggage right to a preliminart security area (haven't had to do this before), where they were VERY SLOWLY checking bags. They just took our bags and added them to the pile, and then waved us through. They had a sign saying that they recommended NOT packing electronic devices in the checked baggage. My bag is loaded with all sorts of electronic stuff, in addition to the clothing! I sure hope it made it on the plane, because at the rate at which they were checking bags, it looked like it would have been about an hour before getting to ours! 07/20/06 12:00PM: We arrived in Charlotte, NC, where we will connect to the next flight to PR. We had about 1.5 hours before the next plane left. We finally got a call from Patty! She had overslept, and woke up after we had boarded the flight. Unfortunately, she called the 800 number for US Airways, and they charged her full retail to go on the next flight, almost $700 additional. We learned that if she had gone to the airport, she probably would have fared better. Oh well, at least she will be coming. She will be arriving around midnight tonight in PR, a bit later than our 3PM scheduled arrival. Elaine, Scotty's wife was a little apprehensive of the plane travel, but she's been doing really well. Patty will be on her own, and she's a bit nervous about making the connecting flight, but I'm sure she'll make out ok. 07/20/06 11:00PM: Arrived safely in PR! It took a while to get our luggage, but everything arrived ok. My big suitcase didn't look like it was messed up either! I found Willy just outside the baggage pickup area, with his brother-in-law. They took us back home, via a rather "interesting" ride through the highways and roads. It seems that the roads are VERY small here, especially outside the city areas. What we could consider a one-lane road is used routinely here for 2-way traffic. A bit similar to NYC traffic! It took several hours to get to our destination. Gladys' mother's home (our base HQ at the moment) is on top of a hill overlooking some small towns. Very nice area! She had dinner ready for us when we arrived (around 6:30, I think). Oh, I should mention that it is HOT here! And its a WET heat! They just had a tropical storm go through a couple days ago. Thankfully, our van has good air conditioning! Afterward, we went into the town (San Sebastian), and stopped at a ice cream shop for some dessert. Mmm! Also stopped by a baseball park where one of Gladys' brothers was practicing. I stopped at the church where the wedding will be, which is just across the street! Willy and I messed around a little, and I set up my equalizer on the sound system. Finally got my laptop working with the stuff I brought, and I'll do more work on this tomorrow. Scott and Elaine went to bed around 8:30. Back now in my room, which is like a little in-law single room apartment in the house next door. Its quiet here in that there is no traffic noise, but the crickets and frogs are quite noisy! There is no Air conditioning here, but there is a breeze that goes through the room. There is no high-speed internet access here that I can see. No WIFI, and apparently no Cable TV. Not sure if DSL is available here. Thankfully, Willy's cell phone is able to have access, and I'm connecting my laptop to the internet through that. It is slow, and drops out frequently, but at least it is access! Update on Patty: She has successfully made it here! She arrived just before 11PM tonight, and will be staying with another relative who is closer to the airport. We will meet up with her tomorrow. She is in good spirits, as the plane flights and connections went well. Scotty wanted to meet up with another auto mechanic that he knew here in PR, but unfortunately left the address at home. Interestingly enough, our driver knew the guy and the guy's shop, so Scott was able to get the info! He'll be visiting him at some point. I hope to be posting some pictures online soon. I had a ton of email when I got online tonight, so a chunk of time was attending to that. God bless! Bob