We fly to Seattle on Wednesday (from San Diego) to begin our tour.

A few weeks ago I used the shipping calculator on the UPS web site to check the cost and shipping time to get our bikes there using the less expensive UPS Ground. The site told me to deliver them to the UPS service center this morning (Saturday).

Just to be safe I took them in yesterday (Friday). When I got there they told me I was far too late AND even if I had brought them early enough, the fee for my bike alone would have been $298.

I nearly fell over. Six months ago I had shipped a bike to Berkley I had sold through eBay from this UPS Service Center for $26. No amount of polite, friendly prodding helped. After remeasuring the box the price went down to $190, still far too high.

Fortunately we are flying Southwest...they have a great bike policy...fifty bucks per bike and they still allow three hefty checked bags (not that we'll need it).

The moral of the story: Do not trust the UPS web site calculator.