The alarm clock sounded at 6AM. At 7AM Corinne knocked on the door to see if I was up. Though awake I apparently had slept some after I shut off the alarm. I hurriedly showered and we left to catch our 8:30 ferry, for which we were told to be there 45 minutes ahead of time. Neither the hotel nor ferry company took credit cards so we were forced to put a big dent in our Euro cash reserves. I drove the car onto the ferry at the appointed hour. There were lots of cars and a number of large trucks that were 'packed' aboard. The ride itself was nice. The seas were calm and the sky clear. The journey to the port of Poro on the island of Kefalonia lasted just over 90 minutes.

View from the ferry	Taking pictures from the 3rd deck
Island of Kefalonia	Port of Poro

We drove the car off of the ferry and headed toward the town of Argostoli. The signs indicated that it was 67 km away. The roads were narrow and winding and going was slow. The hotel at which Chris and Corinne had rooms was in a town closer than Argostoli. Again, the few road signs were of marginal help. After over 2 hours from leaving Poro, we had not found their hotel. We stopped twice to get directions and finally found it. I do not know what we are doing wrong (if anything) with the cell phones, but we could not get a call through to the hotel. Things would have been much easier had we been able to. Their hotel was nice. It was near the beach, had a pool, nice rooms with a kitchenette, and a wonderful view.

After settling in and eating lunch we set off again for Argostoli. It helped that I had been there before. We found the venue without any problem. There we saw the meet director, Nikolaos Galiatsatos. He took us to my hotel, the Ionian Plaza. It is a good hotel next to the city center. It is about 1 to 2 km from the venue. Ellyn and Mary were sitting in the outdoor restaurant enjoying a meal when we arrived. I unloaded my luggage into the room, changed into my workout clothes, grabbed my laptop, and headed to the venue. We all checked our body weight. Chris and I were about 87.2kg (we need to be 85 or below) and Corinne was about 65kg (she needs to be 63 or below). Chris, Corinne, and I went to the training room to catch a workout. Two other lifters from the USA were there; Fred Lowe and Debbie Hudson. My workout did not go well. We were all quite stiff from the travel and spent extra time warming up and stretching. Regardless, I felt a twing in my lower back when I was almost done with my snatch workout. I walked around a little, stretched a little more, and decided that I had done enough. I skipped the clean and jerk workout altogether which turned out to be a very good decision. After the post workout stretching I sat down with Nikolaos to show him what my software could do. He is depending on it to help run the competition.

When Chris and Corinne were finished with their workouts the three of us drove back to the Ionian Plaza. Chris got something to eat there and I got a Mythos beer (or "my toes" as Ellyn likes to kid me). I told her that I would foot the bill for "my toes". Ellyn and Mary got a bag of ice for me that I put on my back. Jan Hinrichson from Sweden joined us (Mary, Ellyn, Chris, Corinne, and myself) at the table. Shortly, Chris and Corinne headed back to their hotel (about 9km from Argostoli). I washed clothes in the lavatory, showered, changed, and worked on the computer for awhile. Before long Ellyn and Mary called and we went headed off to supper. Jan joined us as did Myrdin John and his brother Dell, both from Wales. Myrdin is the representative from the IWF (International Weightlifting Federation) who will observe the competition. Supper was fun. Then it was off to the room and to bed.