Back in the US

Hi all

Well that was what I call a long journey.  I left the Sheywe Guest House for the Kakamega airstrip at seven am on Monday morning.  I spent a few hours with Pastor Ososo and family in Nairobi before going to the Nairobi airport at four in the afternoon.  I waited for about five hours before the night flight to Amsterdam.  We arrived in Amsterdam shortly after sunrise and I headed over to get some breakfast.  I do not know what they were trying to serve us on our flight from Nairobi but it was not fit for human consumption.  I remember the little box that it came in.  It had the KLM logo on it and it had some words printed on it "Delicious Food".  Both dinner and breakfast on the flight were just nasty.  Gives a whole new meaning to airline food.  Anyway I had a wonderful breakfast at a little eatery at Schiphol and it was worth the twenty six bucks I paid for it. 

After a few hours it was time to board the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.  After another long flight on another crowded plane we arrived on time in Detroit.  The food on that flight was much better but I can not figure out how to get any sleep.  By this time my eyes were on fire from not having any sleep and I knew I still had quite a few hours to go.  Upon arrival in Detroit I passed through the long lines at customs without any major hurdles.  After customs it was time to go back through the security procedures again.  I guess the US does not trust any other countries security procedures for boarding aircraft so everyone must be checked again before getting on a domestic flight. 

After going through the process again it was time to find Wendy's and a spicy chicken sandwich.  Right next to my gate in terminal B was a Wendy's.  I noticed I am not the only weird one out there.  I saw a few other people that had been on my flight from Amsterdam coming in the Wendy's too.  I really enjoyed my sandwich.  After another hour or two it was time to leave for Philly.  I walked from the gate onto the jet way and I got my first reality check since coming home.  The heat hit me like a ton of bricks.  Welcome home!!  After a short taxi out to the runway the Captain came on and said we were next for takeoff.  We turned the corner onto the runway and he started to fire up the engines for takeoff.  Before we moved very far down the runway the engines slowed and we just moved down the runway without taking off.  The pilot turned the plane off the runway and went back to the staging area.  He came on and told us that our tiny plane would be delayed for a while because Philly had just shut down. 

By now I was feeling fairly anxious to get back.  Not only was the plane hot but the person next to me was much too big for her seat and took up part of mine.  After about a thirty minute delay we took off for Philly.  We landed in Philly an hour or so later to a packed airport.  The airport had shut down again and planes were everywhere.  Planes were landing but none were taking off.  We could not get to the gate because planes were just sitting there blocking the terminal.  So we sat again on the tarmac waiting to move for another hour and a half.  The airport opened again and before long we were at the gate.  My forty four hour journey home had just extended to forty six. 

It is good to be back and I finally got some sleep.  Many thanks to all of you that have been following along with this blog.  I pray that I have been able to show, explain to you a little about East Africa and the conditions in which these fine people live.  Our challenges here in the states are nothing compared to how some must cope with daily life in East Africa.  I will be posting again as soon as I can digest everything that has happened to me in the last few months.  In the last two and a half months there have been thousands of views from people in thirty countries.  I still have had no one from South America.  I also would like to thank all my friends in Kenya for making my stay as comfortable as possible for me.  I hope to see all of you again soon.

Again thanks and God bless you all

Dave