From Choma to Lusaka . . . and we survived in the bus.
July 11
Sitting in the Yotel at Heathrow typing this blog. As usual with the bus, our trip from Choma to Lusaka was an adventure. The journey actually went well until after we stopped at Mubuyu Farms to buy Munali Coffee. Maybe it is something about the bus and climbing Munali hill. You might remember when we first arrived in Zambia that the bus started having problems as we climbed Munali Hill and we stopped at Mubuyu Farms for lunch with the Lublinkhoff family. Heading northest across Munali Hill we were first accosted by a police check point, and had to pay a fine because our registration expired.
The police stop was dramatic for two reasons. First, we were all out of Kwacha because we bought coffee, and Blu had to pay in US$. Second, we were hoping to cruise through the checkpoint so we could get a picture of the sunset over the Kafue River (pronounced kah foo wee). While Blu was begging for leniency and exchanging dollars for kwacha (the exchange rate was highway robbery), I dramatically leaped from the bus and jogged about 1/4 mile down the side of the road to get a sunset picture. I got some great pictures, and then we were cooking . . . almost. We ran into road construction that had us sitting and idling for long enough that the bus started to overheat. We limped along to a gas station and sat to let it cool. While it was cooling blu shared the Gospel with two of the guys who worked at the station. After it cooled and we put some water into the radiator, we made it to Kentucky Fried Chicken in time to eat. Then we drove to the "middle of nowhere" to spend the night at the Flying Mission. No kidding, it was the middle of nowhere. But, the accommodations were awesome. Flying Mission even made us a bag breakfast for this morning. We arrived at the airport early, ate our breafast and were off to London.
Wait you say, what about the surviving part. Blu, Katie and Melody told us that Darbi always has a contingency plan in case of emergency or disaster. Darbi's theory is that those who plan have a better chance of survival. So as we sat in the middle of the African bush, with the bus motor and lights turned off we began to make contingency plans. Say if we were stranded there and ran out of food, who would we eat first. It was about this point in the conversation that Blu remembered Darbi had sent some banana bread along, and he began to pass it around. The Wes called. And Blu shared with him the fact that the bus was
overheating, and that the bus only has problems when Lynne and me are in it. Then the planning was who we would throw from the bus to lighten the load so the bus would stop overheating. It was very interesting to hear Melody and her daughter Katie debate which of them should be eaten first (in a survival situation) and why. We also discussed how to distill your own urine if you ran out of water in the bush. You can tell by the rambling nature of the topics discussed we were sitting idle in the bush, in the dark for a long time.
On a lighter note, the children of NDO came out en masse to our hut to say goodbye. Blu was playing the guitar, and they were all singing Awake My Soul. There is a story behind that song for me that I covered in an earlier blog. It was a very sweet, and tearful send off.
Almost time to go to bed so we can get up early and sight see a bit before we check out of our room and check in for our flight. It has been interesting to see who has been reading our blog during our time in Zambia. Most have been missionary friends from around the world, high school friends that follow me on FB, and various and sundry other folks. I love to write, but I am never sure if what I am writing is worth a read. As I said goodbye to Darbi in Choma, she asked me to keep on blogging. So I guess it has been interesting. I may keep the same blog address and just blog whatever is on my mind or happens at our house (there is always something going on with the animals, just like at NDO). I will post a blog about our London adventure when we get home Friday night. Good night.
Sitting in the Yotel at Heathrow typing this blog. As usual with the bus, our trip from Choma to Lusaka was an adventure. The journey actually went well until after we stopped at Mubuyu Farms to buy Munali Coffee. Maybe it is something about the bus and climbing Munali hill. You might remember when we first arrived in Zambia that the bus started having problems as we climbed Munali Hill and we stopped at Mubuyu Farms for lunch with the Lublinkhoff family. Heading northest across Munali Hill we were first accosted by a police check point, and had to pay a fine because our registration expired.
The police stop was dramatic for two reasons. First, we were all out of Kwacha because we bought coffee, and Blu had to pay in US$. Second, we were hoping to cruise through the checkpoint so we could get a picture of the sunset over the Kafue River (pronounced kah foo wee). While Blu was begging for leniency and exchanging dollars for kwacha (the exchange rate was highway robbery), I dramatically leaped from the bus and jogged about 1/4 mile down the side of the road to get a sunset picture. I got some great pictures, and then we were cooking . . . almost. We ran into road construction that had us sitting and idling for long enough that the bus started to overheat. We limped along to a gas station and sat to let it cool. While it was cooling blu shared the Gospel with two of the guys who worked at the station. After it cooled and we put some water into the radiator, we made it to Kentucky Fried Chicken in time to eat. Then we drove to the "middle of nowhere" to spend the night at the Flying Mission. No kidding, it was the middle of nowhere. But, the accommodations were awesome. Flying Mission even made us a bag breakfast for this morning. We arrived at the airport early, ate our breafast and were off to London.
Wait you say, what about the surviving part. Blu, Katie and Melody told us that Darbi always has a contingency plan in case of emergency or disaster. Darbi's theory is that those who plan have a better chance of survival. So as we sat in the middle of the African bush, with the bus motor and lights turned off we began to make contingency plans. Say if we were stranded there and ran out of food, who would we eat first. It was about this point in the conversation that Blu remembered Darbi had sent some banana bread along, and he began to pass it around. The Wes called. And Blu shared with him the fact that the bus was
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| My last Zambian sunset taken down the road from the police stop. |
On a lighter note, the children of NDO came out en masse to our hut to say goodbye. Blu was playing the guitar, and they were all singing Awake My Soul. There is a story behind that song for me that I covered in an earlier blog. It was a very sweet, and tearful send off.
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| New Day Orphanage Goodbye. |
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