The Long and Winding Road Drive

We awoke to the alarm going off at 6:30, as ready as ever for a long 10 hour car drive (which ended up being 13 hours). We got our stuff packed up for the hundredth time on this trip, went down to meet the group, and went to the hotel’s restaurant for breakfast.

In the group, there is Edward, Morgan, Jean, Lee, Jennifer, Lindy, and the car driver Mohammed. Edward is the team leader. He has a family with a wife and 4 children. The oldest is 21 and youngest is 6. Morgan (age 19) is a sophomore in college, studying history. She went on this trip as an internship, traveling alone, and it was the first time she has ever traveled! So a big leap for her. She has already been here for 3 weeks & is returning for 2 more. She plans to come back after college to teach one year at Pommern. Jean is the only other grandmother. She is retired now, but she worked in ballet and theatre. Lee was a lawyer in his mid 30’s. He just quit his job—burned out as a mesothelioma litigator. Jennifer is 29, turning 30 soon and just started getting into backpacking. She works in social services. Lindy is a former marine. She’s 34 and works as a pathologist. We don’t know much about Mohammad either, other than he’s Muslim, has several wives, and so many children, he has to think about how many he has before giving an answer. They all seem like very nice people.

After breakfast, the group hopped in the car for a long ride. It was better not to keep your eye on the road ahead and to just trust Mohammad’s driving skills. Because several times, there was a car coming down the other lane and people still would try and pass. There were lots & LOTS of big trucks. Many of which were crashed. Along the way to Iringa, the town to stay at for the night, we made several stops for people to get out and stretch their legs & “check tires”. Then at around 2:30 we made a stop for lunch. LuRue got fried tilapia, which was like Montana’s from before—a whole fish just fried, and Montana got a Tanzanian version of sweet and sour chicken. The American version was by far better. After the lunch stop they were back on the road. They passed a national park on their way, and saw several animals they had already seen on their safari. The later it got, people started dozing in and out of sleep. FINALLY, they arrived in the town. By that time it was about 9:30. Edward said that they were going to arrange a late dinner, but Montana and LuRue passed that up and decided to go to bed instead.