Final Preparations....

November 2, 2018

Tomorrow we board the plane in Redmond, to begin about 32 hours of travel to Johannesburg.  We fly first to Seattle, have a decent layover, fly to Amsterdam, with a tighter layover and then to Jo’burg. For the most part, it’s a miserable experience, but we just put our heads down and somehow get through it.  It’ll actually be good to have a short layover in Amsterdam so we can actually do a bit of walking, though it does increase the total travel time.  If everything goes to plan, we land in a hotel at about midnight, after about 36 hours of being upright.  Try to sleep for 5 hours or so, and then catch a bus to Hoedspruit (picking up a lens at the hotel), on the western edge of Kruger National Park.  Then pick up a rental car, probably stop for groceries and then drive into the park, arriving late afternoon on Monday.

And then the fun actually begins.

Over the past few days, we have nailed down a location to land in Sierra Vista for the next six months. We’ve packed about 70% of what we’ll pack. We’re going to stop now and Gina and movers will pack the rest when we get back. All of this is of course very upsetting for Tunzi the cat, who’s moved from a vague awareness that something was looming in her life, to full on confusion and unsettlement…. Cats don’t like change, and she’s probably less resilient than the average cat.  It’s going to be a tough few weeks for the smallest member of our family.

Gina and I slept in, went to Jacksons Corner for a last breakfast here and took a short walk downtown, taking in the beauty of this little corner of the world.  There are certainly things about living in Bend that are frustrating and goofy, but it’s still a beautiful place, especially in the fall, and Gina and I are feeling some melancholy about leaving.  You know, that thing where you hold two seemingly contradictory feelings at the same time? Excitement and readiness for a new challenge, with new sights and sounds, along with a sort of early nostalgia for what we’re leaving behind.  No regrets about leaving, and we certainly have no regrets that we’ve spent so much of our lives in this beautiful community.

Here's a little glimpse of downtown Bend in fall from our walk this morning –

And now on to Africa, and the ever-present possibilities of adventure in the bush.  It’s the best thing ever.  So to lions and leopards and elephants and vultures and eagles and the first woodlands kingfisher of the season.