June 29

June 29, 2007 LISA: As predicted, we did not get off quite as early as we’d hoped. It’s actually quite remarkable that we did get off at all. In the morning, Mom went to the mall to pick up Dad’s shoes (we finally figured out that the lady on the phone was talking about shoes, not cheese), Erin, Nicole, Renae, and I got dropped off at this Craft Show Renae would probably die if she didn’t see, and Dad and Travis went to the hangar to drop off suitcases and take care of other such important tasks. The Craft Show was really neat and we ended up buying quite a bit more than expected. Renae also made some friends that plan on flying to America with us. I don’t know why somebody doesn’t just add Renae’s name to the dictionary, because it keeps getting underlined in red on spell check. Anyway, it turns out that it takes several hours longer than anticipated to drop off some suitcases, but that is just how Africa works. I can see where Dad gets it from. It was after 1:00 when they came to get us. By the time we finished packing everything and headed out, it was after 4. We had to stop at a butchery, and of course figure out where we were going. We headed toward Lebenche or something (and that is most definitely not even close to what the town is actually called) and WOW there are a lot of cattle crossing the road now. Anyway, it was getting dark and mom was getting anxious, so we found a non-fenced in area of the bush near a cattle post we hoped was not occupied to set up camp. We made carrots and potatoes and onions and sausages in the black pot by a thorny fire. It was spectacular. There were cattle and donkeys everywhere, and at one point they all decided at once to come check us out. Moral support, I suppose. The big lead cow with the loud bell sniffed Tau, and I guess she lost interest when she realized it was a lion, not a cow. At first we were a little wary about all these cows surrounding us in the dark and contemplated charging them, but we realized we were very outnumbered and outsized and just got used to it eventually. Never thought that the first animals that would make us nervous while camping in the bush would be cows!!! We fell asleep to the melodious sound of the occasional moo and the far-off jingle of cow bells in the distance.
Lisa