Next Stop Nairobi!

Washington, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsi, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York.....Next stop (and final destination) Nairobi!

We have traveled over 3000miles, and have not yet even left the states. We were able to see Mt Rushmore, and Crazy Horse national monuments along with the infamous Wall Drug in South Dakota. We saw a huge lightning storm over southern Minnesota and were able to detour through Niagara Falls on the way into Syracuse, NY where John’s family is living.

Thursday we are getting on an airplane with our team (11 of us + two children)-- half of whom we just met today-- and travel approximately 8 hours by plane to Amsterdam, have a quick 2 hour layover there and then another 8 hours to Nairobi.

However; the biggest distance we will have to cross will be the divide between all our expectations for this trip and actual reality. Regardless of how much experience we may think we have or don’t have, we construct an image of what we want or hope. It may be as simple as what we will have for dinner, or as uncontrollable as how a team that has no previous relationships will gel together in an unfamiliar environment.

We will try and share our experiences of having these expectations dashed or pleasantly fulfilled over the course of our trip.

Here are a few of our attempts to capture sights from our travels to get this far.

Before heading East, we detoured through Seattle to visit some of Clarissa's family. This is Hannah, Clarissa's second cousin.

Start them early.

Ah, Pike Place Market...so many memories (for Clarissa anyway).

After heading East, we camped the first night in Montana, and there was a peacock living at the campground!

Driving through the Black Hills of South Dakota, we snatched a shot of this guy standing next to the road.

A roadtrip doesn't really feel complete without a stop at a National Monument, so we managed to make it to Mount Rushmore.

If you have never been to Wall Drug in South Dakota, it is worth stopping, though without a doubt it is a major tourist trap.

I am pretty sure this was a taxadermied horse...uh...weird.

Because of major storms, we could not camp the second night, but we were able to snatch this picture of the lighting that was lighting up the sky. It is official. Midwest storms are A.MAZ.ING.

Apparently our trip would not be complete without getting stuck in Chicago traffic.

We also managed to make it to Niagara Falls. Impressive, but utterly run over with tourists...I guess it is to be expected.

Midwest = Corn, therefore here is a picture of corn growing in John's grandparents garden in Ohio.

We finally made it to Syracuse to spend time with John's parents and sister. This is from a walk we took through a nature area near their house.