Day 2, June 30, 2012

Days 1 and 2 kind of melded in together. It seemed like one big day and, judging by the amount of sleep we got (or didn't get) during this time, it really was one big day. We arrived in Dublin on Saturday afternoon about 1 pm. We had been scheduled to arrive at about 9:30 a.m. but we were just glad to have made the flight. Unfortunately for us, our big suitcase with all my cycling gear didn't make the flight. The plan is for the suitcase to arrive in Dublin on Sunday, catch a flight to Donegal, in northwestern Ireland, then be driven by car to the B&B we'll be staying at on Sunday night. I'm just hoping the airline can pull that off. If they do, I'll be grateful.

We got our rental car, a Stoda, which is made in the Czech Republic, and drove up to the home of our hosts for the evening, John  & Maisie Duncan, who live in Ballynahinch in the County Down south of Belfast. Since our GPS was in the affore mentioned suitcase, we traveled by the seat of our pants and ended taking the "scenic route". We made it to the Duncans' at around 5 p.m. and were treated to a wonderful BBQ along with about 17 of their friends in the ministry. John is the area director for Youth for Christ in Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. We had a great time socializing but we had to cut our visits short since we had to pick up my fellow cyclist, Paul Luedtke, and his wife< Becky, at the downtown airport in Belfast at 9 p.m.  Their plane got in about 20 minutes late and, just like us, were missing a suitcase. We went back to the Duncans' and the party was still in full swing. It was still light at 10:30 p.m. That's pretty amazing, since where I live in California, it's dark by 9 p.m.. We finally retired for some much needed rest and look forward to our continued adventures tomorrow.