Arrival

Monday was spent getting to Madison. All I can say is that it was one of the worst days I have ever spent travelling not helped by my bags being in Chicago whilst I was in Madison. The airline were brilliant though. Arriving at the Baymont at about 4.30pm, the hotel where I stayed marked the beginning of the improvement. Through Morey, I got it for a stunning $50 as opposed to the normal $80 a night and each night you got a complimentary drinks voucher. Also next to the hotel was a Ribs and everything else restaurant which was also excellent.

So I got to sample some of the local beer (and it is excellent) and chilled out waiting for my suitcase to turn up. It did eventually and with everything together I began sorting my stuff out in preparation for the next two weeks. Clothes to take with me on the trip, clothes to leave behind. By midnight I was sorted and it was then I realised I had been up 24 hours as Madison is 6 hours behind UK time. A quick shower and off to bed.

Tuesday was spent relaxing. I had hoped to use it to get the jet lag out of the system. I spent some of it chuntering over the lousy trip the day before. But I took the opportunity to visit the State Capitol Building and wonder around the city centre in Madison. In the afternoon, I checked in with Morey and was all ready for the next day. From then on started an amazing experience. The Middleton-Morey Airport (C29) had been going through a rebuild. The installation of the new runway was running behind schedule. So they were using the taxiway as the runway. The temporary runway was 12 yards wide.




	Screenshot of airport info page


	The new runway was completed two weeks after my return and you can see the difference.

In the evening I went and did some shopping for stationery. I had decided there was no point travelling to the US with a bag full of stuff so it was down to a nearby Walgreen’s. Ten minutes later I was armed with highlighters, pens, pencils and post-it notes. All I needed was a good night’s sleep in preparation for the next day.

The complementary drinks voucher helped as did a fine supper. All I needed to do was be up in good time as the next day work started at 8 am.


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