It was quite a journey getting here. Late Monday evening, Lori dropped us all off at the airport - 11 p.m. Here is Lori bidding us adieu just outside the security check. We were already sleepy, but our 'day' was just beginning.
We checked all of our bags - we had to pay fees to check the five heavy bags. Then we took our carry-on bags to the security check. The first casualty of our trip was the toothpaste - we had a big tube that didn't make it past security. They threw it away.
Shanlee and Megan each had a bag that went through the security check three times. Everything from toothpaste to lotion to contact solution had to be removed and checked by the security people. By the time we were done, Megan's masturful job of organizing her carry-on was ruined. We went down to the gate and waited another 30 minutes before we got on the plane.
The flight to Atlanta was a 3-hour flight. As tired as we were, we slept a lot. Well, at least I slept a lot - here's proof:
Here's some good advice: don't fall asleep on an airplane next to two daughters who both have digital cameras; you're bound to end up looking like this.
All I know is that every time I woke up, I saw two girls sleeping, yet I'm the one who ended up with a flattering picture.
We arrived in Atlanta at 6:30 a.m., then had to wait until 10 a.m. to leave. A 3 1/2-hour layover is good for one thing: eating. We had some breakfast together, then we found the gate for the flight to Santo Domingo. More waiting.
The flight to Santo Domingo was more of the same - really tired, slept, read a little. Once we arrived in Santo Domingo, we had to get a travel card. The cards had really cool pictures on them, so I wanted to save them. Instead, we walked from the line for the travel cards to the line for customs where they took the cards and threw them in the trash. What?!?!? Oh, well. The pictures were of water-falls and beaches. Not Great Salt Lake-style beaches, but beautiful green-and-blue-water-with-white-sand beaces.
We then went through customs and declared the books we had brought. Here is a picture of Shanlee and Megan just before we went through customs:
We then found Greg Denning. He was waiting just outside the airport exit and we went to rent a car. Once we had the car, we drove from Santo Domingo to Sosua - about 100 miles. Beautiful country - everything is green. Trees, grass, sugar cane, palm trees, flowering trees - you name it, they have it. We'll have more pictures to post of the DR tomorrow or the day after.
We arrived at their home in Sosua at about 7 p.m. All told, we travelled for about 20 hours.
When we got all of the books in, Rachel unpacked them. We are so excited that this will have an impact on the lives of many people here. What looked like a few small boxes is really a significant amount of books that we will help distribute to various places over the next week. Rachel took a picture of all of the books laid out in their front room - she will publish that on their web-site: http://www.discovershareinspire.com.
We plan to go to a place called Playa del Rincon (Beach of the Corner) tomorrow - it's supposed to be breath-taking. We will also visit a school built by a group called 'Dream' and visit a few places where we can give away some books. It feels good to finally be here - after all of the work Lori went to (with some help from Shanlee, Megan, and I), we are finally here to do some work.
1 comment:
Dear Richard, Shanlee, and Megan,
Itwas so wonderful to hear you are there and doing all that you have planned. I talked to your mom this afternoon and she misses you already. We all say way to go! Aunt Ruth says hi and she is impressed. Take care and I really mean that. Love, Mom and Grandma
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