We have arrived in the Dominican, but let me start at the beginning. The majority of the team arrived January 3rd in Miami. Some found hotels, most stayed at the airport since we had to be there at 7 the next morning. Once we all arrived, as squad leader, I led us over to the ticket counter where we proceeded to spend the next hour checking in to our flights. As we walked from our designated meeting spot to the ticket counter most others in the airport would stop and stare. As we approached the counter the ticket agents looked at me in fear. I walked up and explained to the ladies that we were checking in as a group on two different flights. They took a deep breath and dug in. Once we all had checked our bags and dropped them off at the TSA luggage point we headed out to our appropriate gates. We discovered we were in two different terminals so I watched with a slight bit of anxiety as the largest part of our team walked to the E terminal. The remaining 15 of us walked to our gate in the D terminal and waited for the 2 hours we had until our flight. 1st WR lesson….hurry up and wait. As time came and passed for us to board our flight I realized that we had a potential issue. I approached the counter where a random ticket agent just happened to be using the computer and she informed me that our flight had been moved to the E terminal. So, we quickly gathered our stuff and headed out to the new gate. We had no idea the time it would take to get over there…we walked up to the gate as they should have been going through the last call. Thankfully, we weren´t the only ones that were late, as we walked up the flight crew was just walking onto the plane. 2nd WR lesson…plans change in constantly. Once we all arrived, we went through immigration and customs and found the big group from the first flight all there WITH ASHLEY, YEAH!!!! Mission accomplished, the squad had arrived. We quickly hopped on buses and learned lesson number 3. 3rd WR lesson….you can never have too many people on a bus. We all piled onto two buses and drove the 4 hours to San Juan de la Manguana. We arrived to a delicious meal and then set up and hit the sack. Oh, sweet sleep!! Today we have had worship and a meeting, a trip to the ATM with all the leaders, and an amazing lunch. The racers are headed out this afternoon for a scavenger hunt around town so they can learn about the layout and begin to understand what steps they should go through when they enter a new town. Ashley and I have decided, after quick blogging, to go home for a siesta. What can we say, it´s the squad leaders perrogotive! Life sure is hard on the race!
