Hiya Sweetie,
I was asleep by just after 7:00 last night, so not surprisingly, I woke up around 1:00 a.m., which would have been about right if I was still in Tanzania! I read for quite awhile, managed to nod off occasionally, but still felt exhausted. I got up around 7:00 a.m. to have a bowl of cereal and do my ablutions, then went back to bed until after 1:00 p.m., when I finally went from bone weary to just sheer exhaustion. I went out and said hello to my horses, giving Apollo a bit of a brushing as his winter coat is coming out in shaggy clumps, found the spare flooring in the back of the trailer so at least I know I have the material to do some patching of the floor from the damage that Lola inflicted. Later, I moved all the tack and equipment out of the small trailer and put it away in the big trailer, and hooked up to the truck to the small trailer, since I have to take the horses in for their Coggins and health certificates in the morning. Other than a short walk out to the corner of the pasture to retrieve Flash's fly mask, I had no energy for anything else. Watched a couple of movies just to sit in my recliner for awhile, had dinner, and now, at 9:00, I'm ready for a shower and bed, right after my tea. Hoping I move the bar from exhaustion to nearly normal by tomorrow morning! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Well, I hope I don't have to do that again anytime soon! The KLM flight arrived on time, and headed out on time, arriving in Dar El Salaam about an hour later, then an hour layover, then another nine hours or so in the air before landing in Amsterdam. By the time I got out of the plane (I was way at the back), and went through security, again, and looked at the board, my next flight was already boarding! Got to the gate and it was only a few minutes before I was boarding the next flight, another nine plus hours. My hip and shoulder were killing me, though the flight attendants were kind enough to make me an ice pack on a latex glove, which helped somewhat. I managed to get a few catnaps in, mostly by resting my head on my arms on the tray table, but it was incredibly exhausting and my back and hip were killing me. Finally arrived in Atlanta, and was extremely surprised at how quickly I got through customs and immigration. They didn't even look at my passport! What's up with that? They did take one photo which I assume is for facial recognition, but other than that, there was no stopping. Totally different from the nightmare at DFW that time we came back from Hong Kong and it took us three hours to get through! Anyway, I arrived at the gate with a two hour layover, and spent the entire time laying flat on the floor, just trying to straighten out the sitting position I'd been in for so long. Finally got loaded on the flight to Gainesville, which blessedly was only a little over an hour long, arriving early, but Art was ready and waiting for me. After a wrong turn, we ended up getting back home after about an hour. I can't express how tired I was by this point. I felt like death warmed over. Everything hurt, and the depth of exhaustion was incalculable. I barely got my suitcases inside, took a shower and am heading straight to bed, even though it's only about 7:00. Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Woke up around 6:00 this morning after a deep sleep, went to breakfast, then came back to the room. It was mostly cloudy this morning, so I elected not to go to the pool, and read until about 3:00, had a late lunch so I didn't have to eat on the plane, took a shower, finished packing, and read until 6:30, when I checked out and caught the car to the airport. I had to go through two security checks, and the second one decided my manicure scissors were a hazard and confiscated them. I decided to use the restroom, only to discover it was down a circular staircase with no elevator, and since I'm not checking baggage, I had to drag it all down and back up again. As I'm sitting here, the KLM plane is arriving, so that's it for the day. Next stop, Amsterdam, then Atlanta, the Gainesville tomorrow around 6:00 pm. Long trip ahead! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Was asleep pretty early, but woke up around 2:30, and I don't think that I ever really got back to sleep. Finally got up a little before 5:00, and finished doing my packing and was ready to go before our wake up call at 5:30. I went over to the mess tent, and was shortly joined by the other two ladies, where we shared our last breakfast together. We had a royal send-off, with the whole crew standing at attention, and gratefully accepted our envelope of gratuities. I had slipped a separate tip for each of the main leaders: Luke, Morissa, JB, and Henry. After the ceremonial speeches and numerous thank yous, in Swahili, that's Asante Sana, and we piled into the Open Jeep and headed out. It was quite a cool morning, the sun hadn't really come up much yet, and it was a very cloudy and damp day, which only got progressively worse as we headed up into the Highlands, where we were met with extreme winds and clouds and cold weather. We stopped once at what was supposed to be a beautiful lookout, but it was completely fogged in, so we didn't stay. I had learned that there was a ceasefire in the Iran war, so I spent some time online trying to see if I could re-book the Qatar flight, and for a while there it looked like I would be able to. They had some seats open but then their website sent me around in loops and circles trying to reconfirm who I was, changing my password etc etc, until eventually I finally was able to get through, only to discover that the flight I wanted was full and I wasn't able to book it anyway. The next flight was $600 more and extended the trip to over 33 hours, so I decided to just forget about it and go with my original plan B. By then we were all so cold, Luke was bundled up from head to toe with only his eyes peering out from behind a scarf, and everyone else was pretty chilled. I was happy that I had put on several layers and my rain suit, which did a pretty good job of keeping me fairly warm, but we were all quite cold by the time we came off the Highlands. We stopped at a little tourist gift shop area for about 45 minutes or so, I just took one local around and used the restroom, which I was very happy to see were extremely well kept in clean, and then got back into the Jeep while the others went shopping and wandered around. You know me, I'm not much of a shopping or souvenir kind of gal. We were only about 5 minutes from the airstrip, where we climbed into a single engine prop plane. Apparently usually they charter a plane, but because there was only three of us they decided to just take the regular commercial flight, but there was literally no one else on the flight at all anyway, so it felt like a charter. At least this flight had two pilots, whereas our first flight only had one, so I felt a little better about that. It was only about 35 or 40 minutes before we landed in Kilimanjaro, just glimpsing the mountain top a couple of times between the clouds, as it was still a cloudy rainy day. It was much warmer in Kilimanjaro, however, when we got off the plane, it was feeling much more tropical, but still wet. We all said our good-byes, and headed our separate ways, though it wasn't long before we started texting each other and sharing our pictures and videos through WhatsApp. I was meant by Angel and we waited for the ride back to the hotel. I had considered going to the desk at the airport and trying to see if I could get the original flight that I wanted today, but by then I was so cold and achy and only really wanted to just lay down after taking a nice hot bath, so once I got back to the hotel, driven by the same lovely Samil that I had on my first night of arrival, I upgraded to a deluxe room so that I could have a hot bath, and also added a day room, so that I would have some place comfortable to hang out until I have to be at the airport at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow. I did have a lovely hot bath, but when I pulled the drain plug, it backed up out of the shower drain and ended up flooding in the bathroom. Whatever. I lay down for the rest of the afternoon, happy to be warm and comfortable, though the air conditioning in this room was nowhere near as efficient as my last room and it was pretty hot for quite a while. No matter, I just rested and read until it was time for dinner. Once again, excellent service and delicious food, I had a lamb stir fry, which was plentiful and filling. Back in the room I watched one episode of the series I'm binge watching, but I kept nodding off so I'll probably have to watch it again. Same goes for the previous episode, I don't remember much of that either. Lights out by about 9:30! Glad to say the beds here are quite comfortable, so I'm looking forward to a good night sleep. Even though it didn't go exactly as planned, it was an absolutely incredible adventure, and I will have priceless memories that I'll never forget. I will say that it has prompted me to add another item to my bucket list. I realize that even though now I've been on six of the seven continents, I haven't ridden on all of those continents yet. Have decided I need to go back to somewhere in South America, and to Europe, so that I can then accomplish that goal. I may have to wait until Lola has passed, though, because apparently she's been a basket case since I was gone. I got a text from Michelle that she has ripped up the flooring in the bathroom and by the back door, and has been digging at the hole where her underground propane tank lives, and has otherwise been quite unhappy, particularly whenever there was any wind and storms. I had just replaced that floor when I put in the new toilet two summers ago, so that's another chore I'm going to have to do, though I doubt I can get it done before I'm scheduled to leave Michelle's, unless I decide to delay my departure, which means canceling the tickets I have for an event in Chattanooga. We'll see. I called and canceled my chiropractic appointment for Monday, and instead had my doctor order up an x-ray for my back, to see if I have in fact cracked a rib. I still have an appointment for the horses on Monday, so I'm going to have to work that out. Well, I've carried on long enough, so I'm going to get in my zzzzz's! Good night, my love!

Had a good night's sleep, woke up once around 4:30, but I guess I must have fallen back to sleep because the alarm woke me up at 6:20. Went about the usual morning of having breakfast and packing up, because today was another moving day. I decided to definitely not ride today, so they went off on the horses about the same time that I went off in the Jeep with Morisa, which Luke arranged for me as an alternative to riding. As we meandered across the plains, observing the usual collection of zebra, wildebeest, Thompson gazelles and Grant gazelle's, we did come across a pair of cheetah, a male and a female which is apparently rare, and we had hoped that we could watch them on the hunt, because they seem to be very thin and a bit on the hungry side. Unfortunately the female was walking in a direction that took them away from the herds, and eventually they just lay down and napped for a while. Once we got thoroughly convinced that nothing was going to happen there, we headed on and got to another gorgeous lunch spot on the brow of a hill overlooking a vast, animal populated valley. It wasn't too long after that when the horses and their riders arrived. We had a lovely lunch and then several hours of relaxation under the trees, mostly reading and enjoying the quiet, before we once again set off on our respective modes of transportation. We once again we're looking for some interesting wildlife, saw most of the usual, and one female cheetah that was traveling along on her way to something, but got lost once she passed the tree line. We got back to camp shortly thereafter, and I relaxed in my tent for a while resting my back. Once the team arrived on horseback, we once again conjugated at the bar and enjoyed gin and tonics and other drinks until dinner, enjoying each other's conversation. Had another lovely dinner, like having gourmet food from a fabulous restaurant out here in the middle of nowhere. Amazing! Dinner was a little bit later, but afterward I had my usual shower, and I'm quite ready for bed. I've made plans to have a shorter slower ride tomorrow, hoping that my back will be cooperative. Fingers crossed! Good night, my love!

Up bright and early this morning, I set my alarm for 6:20, and was ready to go by the required 7:00. Loaded up into the Jeep and headed out. One of the first things we saw was a couple of lions stalking something, then onto flamingo's and hippos around the shoreline of the lake. Then we had a long stretch where we didn't see too much, waiting to spot the leopard, which we never ended up doing. But we did see tens of thousands of zebras, which I'm told was the most zebra's that our guides have ever seen at one time. We also saw lots of wildebeests and hyenas and ended up with watching for cheetahs. We also spent some time watching two lions and two lionesses lazing around by the river. Finally ended up back at camp at about 1:30 or so, had lunch, and then retired to my tent for a while. There was a plan to go riding at 4:00 which I said at lunch I probably would not be going on. In fact I stated that I thought the riding portion of my adventure was probably done. Luke generously offered to arrange for someone to go with me at a walk in case that would make things better for me. But I considered it in this way. Would I want to ride my own horse in my own tack feeling the way that I feel right now? And the answer was no, in fact, hell no. My shoulder is still aching, though not too terribly except occasionally when I move it the wrong way and then it feels like someone stabbing me in the back. I hope it improves, but I took three Ibuprofen this morning and it didn't seem to help all that much. Though I do appreciate his efforts, and I may take him up on some of it, but probably not for a day or two. We got back to camp and it was quite pleasant for a while and then a serious thunderstorm came in and apparently blew down one of the shower and toilet tents, and Luke's tent, but in my tent things went well, I felt as snug as a bug in the rug even though the wind was blowing quite heavily. I relaxed for the afternoon as the storm blew over, then it was time for sundowners. One of the guys brought me some wellies, otherwise known as gumboots here, because I still had not gotten my boot covers returned. So I had joined the sundowners group, followed by another fabulous gourmet dinner (hard to figure out how they make such delicious food out here in the middle of nowhere!) , then took my shower and now I'm off to bed! Luke has offered an alternative riding option, which I may take up, but we'll see what happens, there is still some doubt as to the schedule tomorrow because of the possibility of more rain. It seems to have drained pretty quickly but apparently if there's another storm it may cause problems for the breakdown tomorrow. We'll see! Very flexible, this whole mobile camp thing. Still looking forward to the upcoming days, but frankly, I feel as though I have received full value for my money, even if I don't ride another day. Of course, I would still like to do a little bit more riding, but not if it puts my health in danger. Don't have anything to prove at this point in my life. Going to bed shortly, just going to read for a bit, then off to Nana land. Good night my love!

Woke up feeling fairly reasonable, actually slept past my 6:30 water delivery, but pulled my earplugs out at 6:45 just as he came back through to check on me. They are so attentive here! Took some painkillers, got dressed in my riding gear and headed to breakfast. After sitting there for awhile and reviewing the itinerary for the day, I decided I just wasn't up to the ride. I didn't want to exacerbate what felt like a possible cracked rib, and since the ride was all plains riding, where there wasn't likely to be sightings of any new animals, just the same wildebeest and zebras that have been in the area for a while (how blasé I sound now!), and I would be better served trying to make my back I feel better. So off they went for the ride at 8:00, and I went back to my tent, rested for the morning. I didn't fall asleep but I did read and I did feel quite a bit better by the time they returned from the ride and we had lunch. I also slowly packed the stuff that we would indeed for the next portion of our adventure, which was a Jeep Safari followed by a night in what they call a fly camp. The Jeep Safari turned out to be incredible experience. Of course, this is the typical way that most people safari, and I can understand why. As we were leaving camp, of course, we saw the usual wildebeest and zebras and hyenas and Thompson gazelles as well as a few more of the creatures that we have already seen, but we were really in the search of lions today. We went for a long period when we didn't see very much wildlife, but as we got closer to a place they simply call the "marsh" area, we started seeing things in droves. We saw some giraffes, which we have seen quite a few of previously, and then we came across a herd of elephants, watching the family dynamic for a while, and then we came across two lionesses sitting right out in the open next to a little water puddle, they paid us no mine whatsoever. We stopped literally within 10 yards of them, and watch them for a good 20 minutes or so as they slept and yawned and stretched and luxuriated. We are so excited to see lions! We went on the hunt for some more things to see and before long we came across a gorgeous cheetah, once again in the middle of a wide open area. Evidently they like to do that because it has them see what's coming from a ways away. We were in search of leopard at this point, and we were all anxiously looking for cats in trees, when we noticed a couple of more lions. We watched them for a little while, then we kept going when we saw that they were more lions further up the road. Then we noticed that there were two more lions that were beginning to stalk a herd of wildebeest, so we moved along to see what we could see. We watched for a while but it was clear that the lions were not going to have any luck hunting, because they heard them coming and ran off. By now it was getting late in the afternoon, and there had been a big storm nearby that started flashing a lot of lightning, so we started to head back to where we would be spending the night. We didn't get very far when we ran into four hyenas, quickly followed by a herd of buffalo, which apparently is the first sighting that Luke has had the whole season, then Tracy saw hippopotamuses swimming in the lake that we were by, and we also saw pink and white flamingos walking across the shoreline. It was a cornucopia of animals! I never imagined that I would see so many different species in such a short time! It has been a really amazing day! We arrived at fly camp, which still had the modern conveniences of a shower and toilet tents, the bar for our sundowner, although the sun had pretty much gone down by the time we got over to the bar. Dinner was served shortly afterward, today we had kebabs cooked over the fire, potatoes, coleslaw, and a slice of pineapple cooked in cinnamon. Absolutely delicious! A beautiful finish to a beautiful day! My back is feeling somewhat better but occasionally I still have a major pain when I move in just the wrong way. Will have to see how it pans out tomorrow. Meanwhile poor Tracy has contracted some sort of virus and is not doing very well. I gave her some zinc and Katja gave her some other medications, so hopefully she'll be feeling better in the morning. I was the only one that decided to brave taking a shower, but that's the only way I know I would get a good night's sleep. We are each in our own little dome tent, which is much bigger than my old dome tent, I can practically stand up in it. Tomorrow, we will start today at the same time but skip breakfast until later in the morning, and take the Jeep Safari again back to the camp we were at last night. There's a ride planned for the afternoon, I'm just going to have to see how I feel tomorrow. I hate to miss another day of riding, but I also don't want to be in horrendous pain. Signing off for the evening! Love you, babe! Good night!