Getting ready to leave

Hi all

Crunch time.  I am down to my last night here in the states.  Tomorrow morning I will be heading to the train station for a short trip up to Newark International for my flight tomorrow evening.  It is always a chore trying to figure out what to bring and how much of it.  So I always over pack somethings and under pack others.  There is a great bread that I get at the Nakumatt that makes for great sandwiches.  Since there is a lack of refrigeration it's not so smart to bring any jam or jelly.  This time I am going to be having peanut butter and fluff sandwiches to remind me of home.  I have my jar of Jif peanut butter and two jars of Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme.  I am bringing two in case TSA decides to take one.  You never know about TSA they always seem to leave me a little card in my suitcase letting me know that they have been snooping around.  No telling what fluff looks like on the X-ray.

A day before I leave and I am still trying to figure out my agenda for the first two weeks.  The second two weeks are already determined.  I have the arrival night covered but I am not sure exactly how long I will be staying in Nairobi before heading to Western.  I haven't even figured out how I am getting to Western yet.  Plane service to Kakamega was great but it did not last very long and service has been discontinued.  I could fly into Kisumu, Kitale, or Eldoret but the logistics of it aren't that appealing to me right now.  So I think I am going to take the 11 hour kidney busting bus ride.  Some day I am going to be very adventurous and take a Matatu to get a real feel for life on the road in Kenya.  I hear the Matatu ride to Maralal is a blast.

I am getting really excited to see how the surviving passion fruit orchards are doing.  The last couple of emails that I have received have stated that fruit is being harvested and sold.  I know the pictures that I have seen show not only vines in the foreground but also in the background.  I saw quite a bit of green fruit and by the time I arrive there should be a few for me to sample.  What I do not understand is that the passion fruit is a vine.  So if there were gaps between seedlings because of death why not just let the vines grow further out the wire and fill in the gaps?  I am so happy that my wait is almost over.

Not much else to say except keep up the prayers and stay tuned.  I should be posting every day.

Take care and God bless

Dave