One advantage of being delayed by 2 hours is that the room at the crack motel is ready. As always, my regular Room 201, and a creditable 2 coathangers on the rack this time. Is it only a month since I was passed out in this very same room while waking intermittently to babble truth-serum enhanced burblings down the phone to westerly locations? (yes). Does not seem to be a large biker crowd staying here (tumbleweeds blowing across the parking lot) so guess the venerable Starting Line may be primarily hard core locals this weekend. Raining, so standard sugarcube protection plan: down to Marsh's Supermarket to pick up water and fruit for room, quick one in the Starting Line to say hi and see who's behind the bar, then across the road to The Union Jack for lunch and to check out the waitresses. Then a leisurely stroll down to the track across 25th St, resulting in a left turn towards Scotty's or a quick right into the track for a mooch around (I'm
predicting the former)
Made it to Indy, only 2 hours late. Sadly, Yeah Yeah Yeahs tickets for MHOW went onsale during those 2 hours, while I was in the air. Still impressed by the new Indianapolis Airport. A little soulless, but well- thought out and well-executed. And no TV's blasting out CNN at top volume all over the place. Bliss. Now if only they could do something about the "reaching the end of the moving walkway" recordings. Surely a few tumbles from unattentive midwesterner's would be a small price to pay for the peace and quiet, as well as being mildly diverting while you're waiting for your flight. Unlike the 500 and the Brickyard, not much sign of the Moto GP in the terminal. Can't see any bikes on display, though there are a couple of desultary Red Bull tables scattered around. To the crack motel then lunch, I think. Looks like drizzling this afternoon, so may be forced to jettison wander round track and replace it with a wander round several barstools.
An auspicious start to the trip to Indy involves a healthy shuffle from gate to gate at La Guardia. After two gate changes they let us board only 15 mins late. However, as the first person boarding I walk to the plane in the drizzle to be met by a pretty but frazzled flight attendant who looks shocked and says they aren't ready for us. 10 mins in the drizzle and we're moved back to the gate, then after another 10 mins back into the waiting area. That was an hour ago, and Delta is in it's famous "up the departure time 10 mins every 10 mins" loop. Changed gates again just to keep us on our toes, and were now showing departure in, guess what, 10 mins.