A delayed start from Mainz

It's taking a little longer than expected to get the bike tour started....

Flights (Medford-Denver, Denver-Frankfurt) were fine.  Our flight out of Medford was full, and we were in the last boarding group, so we followed the gate agent's advice and checked our two small backpacks (the larger suitcases with the tandem and bike gear were already checked).  Naturally the two backpacks (containing non-bike clothes, toiletries, bike map books, misc other gear and wedding clothes) didn't show up in Frankfurt.  We waited two hours in the line for Lufthansa baggage service to put in a claim, then took a local train 30 minutes from the airport to Mainz.  Our hotel is right across from the train station, so easy to wheel the bike suitcases over.

Since arriving Tuesday we've spent literally hours on the phone (mostly on hold, of course) trying to run down our bags, with no success.  We do know they made it to Denver and were transferred to Lufthansa there, but nothing past that point.  

Wednesday we reassembled the bike and picked up a few things.  And at some point Dan managed to lose his passport.  Trying to get someone at the local consulate is pretty much impossible: I've called and emailed but so far zero response other than one person who told me they are very busy and I shouldn't expect anything soon.  I will continue to work on this, online and over the phone, over the coming weeks, but we decided it was foolish to stick around waiting for the Godot of the State Department to respond: we're going to start touring tomorrow and hope for the best.

Today (Thursday) we went shopping: replaced Ellen's bike jerseys and gloves (which were in her missing backpack), the first of the Bikeline bike map books (I won't get started without their detailed information), toiletries, and a couple of other necessary clothing items.  We've walked all over Mainz locating gear (it took three bike shops before we found bike gloves for Ellen).  Some of the bike and other clothing is still missing: we'll continue to replace as needed along the way.

We've already stayed in Mainz one night longer than planned.  When the missing backpacks show up, the hotel will hold them until our return at the end of July.  Tomorrow (Friday) we'll wheel north along the Rhine toward Koblenz.