Somewhere over the North Atlantic to Reykjavík
Trip Start
Jul 08, 2007
1
3
21
Trip End
Jul 23, 2007
Reykjavík,
Iceland
Monday, July 9, 2007
For some reason, I did not sleep but rested without being able to cross over to sleep. We landed at 6:15 under cloudy but clearing skies. We breezed through customs and met our contact, Heiđa on the other side. She introduced our bus driver who took us to the bus and loaded our gear. One of Rain's bags did not arrive. Soon the Boston and Minneapolis flights arrived. Sydney was not on either flight. Curt's bag did not arrive either. Our driver was really antsy because we were making him late for another job. He drove too fast to the Laugardalur campground and just dumped everyone's stuff in the parking lot while I tried to register. The campground had no record of our coming but allowed us in anyhow. Heiđa knew nothing of our gear rental. I had everyone put up their tents and called Þráinn and checked my email at the hostel. There was a note from Frank Schreck saying that Sydney's Las Vegas-Minneapolis flight was delayed and she arrived too late to make her connection.
Þráinn arrived and began to undertake a mission to get us all of our rental equipment. He left a few minutes later promising to return. I crawled into my tent and immediately fell asleep. It was around 10 am. I was awakened by Þráinn three hours later. He had almost all of the gear. Then, he, Audrey, and I went grocery shopping for two days of supplies at the Kronur store. Audrey wasn't feeling well so we took her back to the campsite and put the food in my tent. Then Þráinn and I drove to his wife, Elsa's work and picked up his car. I followed him, driving it, to his office where we returned the ISOR vehicle. We then swung by his house before going to four bookstores to buy copies of the guidebook. The first two books cost $60 each. Thereafter, I asked for a discount. The student bookstore sold me seven for $46 each. Then Þráinn dropped me off on Laugarvegur and I went to the M&M bookstore to get the geological maps. After that, we went to a Chinese restaurant for a great meal. I hadn't eaten at all since a small airplane breakfast at 4:30 AM.
Þráinn took me back to camp and set off to find our ice chests. I crawled into my tent and fell asleep. I awoke as people started returning from the pool. We put up the cook tent and cooked a salmon dinner, which was very tasty. Rain, Audrey, Kathy, and I stayed up late talking and not turning in until nearly 2:00.
