Next to Last Chapter - The Trip Home

I awoke with plenty of time to get to breakfast. I brought my computer to the Commons for Bob to use before breakfast. I noticed I had some email and when I opened Glenda’s there were these two beautiful shots of the snow covered fields one looking west and the other east. By the time I got finished with my email I needed to go get ready for the day’s activities. We started off by making our sandwiches for the picnic lunch. Then our little remnant went shopping at the fabric store after dropping Barb off at the CTC garage sale. We had to come back this way anyway. We stopped back to get Barb and a shirt for Bob so we had some time to visit at the garage sale. Then we headed out toward the airport and passed it to a primate park. We hung out there for a while looking at the animals behind high electric wire fences. Depending on the size and danger to human beings the fences might be tall or short. Our guide was very knowledgeable but the conditions were primitive. Sometimes we could hear loud roars through the trees from animals in other enclosures. One time such cries agitated couple of through the bars trying to engage the other who was doing the same.
I really enjoyed walking down the jungle trails. We ate lunch around the van but in the shade this time and then drove back. I got a little nap before we hit Yaoundé and as I said the power was off when we got back. There were no planned activities so I started reading a book Barb suggested entitled “man no be god”. It is written by a Canadian doctor who pioneered medical missions in Cameroon. I got to bed early.
Sunday we were supposed to go to the “missionary church” at the Hilton Hotel. Barb suggested we might rather go to a Cameroonian church. Carolyn agreed so we went to Covenant Baptist Church. It is a three story block building including the basement. We parked a block or two away and as we were walking down a muddy red clay street dodging puddles and rivulets we could hear the singing and the drums. I could not wait to get inside. The main floor was full so we were ushered into the balcony. The floor was a rough poured concrete that sloped toward the stage. We were among the first ones there and sat on the first bench. The benches were broad and backless and were built right into the floor so there was no tipping. An unfinished wooden railing was in front of us. We peered through it to view the platform below. The lead singer wore a red dress and a hat that matched and sang with a strong lilting voice. To her right were two other singers and a man playing a set of drums and cymbals? To her left in the center of the platform were the pastors and on the far side of the platform were more percussionists. One was beating what appeared to be a large porcelain vase with some sort of soft stick. Another had three bongos in a pipe rack and a third had a drum on its side which sounded like a bass drum. The rhythms were so impressive and the harmonies so beautiful they brought tears to my eyes. The sermon was preached in English and translated into French. It was about Jesus teaching people who believed on Him about the fact that there was no room in their hearts for the word of God.
We went out to a restaurant for lunch but it opening times had changed so when given our options we chose to go back to the garden spot we visited the first Sunday. It was called Café Yaoundé and again the food was delicious. The menu was all in French so I needed help with finding the lamb chops but I was able to order in French and they were delicious. After lunch we went back to our rooms to make final preparations. I wanted to go for a walk. It had begun to rain while we were at the restaurant and Carolyn wasn’t sure she would go but when the rain stopped we ventured out. The steep rutted red clay road soon added about an inch and a half to our heights and made the descent treacherous to say the least. I was wearing shorts and flip flops so the back of my legs were soon spotted rusty red. Carolyn was wearing her waterproof hiking shoes but she had some ankle color too. When we got back I just got the hose going the way I had watched the kids take care of the same problem. Carolyn decided to use a scrub brush and pack the shoes in plastic.
Mickey and Barb showed up around 4:00. Barb fixed us soup and after we cleaned up we packed the van and headed for the airport. There was an air of sadness at the table and when we dropped Barb off it was an emotional send-off. Carolyn, Bob, Elaine and I had an uneventful (thank the Lord) departure from Yaoundé. We left the gate about 15 minutes after the scheduled time. We arrived in Zurich at 5:22 Africa time and had coffee and hot chocolate. As of 2:00 AM EDST our flight is delayed 2 hours. We actually got off about two and a half hours late and after a couple of hours of flying we were just passing England and heading out over the Atlantic. It was then we heard the captain summon the cabin crew to the telephones. That was a new one on me and a little disconcerting to say the least. He wanted them to immediately collect all service items, cups drinks etc. because as we soon learned we were about to U turn back to England for an emergency landing at Heathrow. It was something about the fuel not dispensing evenly from all the tanks. It actually felt good that we were just that close to land and not in the middle of the Atlantic. A safe landing at Heathrow, a bus ride to the terminal and another trip through security and most of us were on another plane for DC. Carolyn and I actually volunteered to stay and fly business class the next day but we were the last ones called to board.
On the plane out of Yaoundé I met a med student Elana from Nashville who is about to get her MD. She was working in a Baptist hospital in Cameroon for the month of April as an ER intern and was on her way home to graduate. Carolyn and I talked to her for a while in Zurich and shared our experiences in Africa. I almost called on her services when I started to have fever and chills but Carolyn shared some of her Advil with me. I was at one point sure that they would have to call 911 to get me out of Dulles. I sweat so much and shook under one of those little airplane blankets I thought at least they would have to cart me to my transfer point. Hours dragged by. I was afraid I was contaminating the cabin with some jungle fever but then I started to feel better. By the time we were getting close to DC I had the blanket off was eating and drinking and feeling very well. I just wrote it off to exhaustion. When we arrived I said good bye to Carolyn because she was exiting and I was transferring to a PHL flight.
Everything went splendidly in Dulles. Luggage was right there. No problems with customs. Rechecked the bags and headed for the gate. Many were required to stay the night. Elana stayed the night and still had mechanical problems the next morning. My layover had originally been 7 hours. It was down under two now so I made a few phone calls happy to be back on unlimited minutes. Mine was the only cell phone working in Heathrow so Elana, Carolyn and I all used it to alert our families of the delay. Flight to PHL was full so we left early and arrived early and my friends JR and Jim were there when I landed. They stopped at McDonalds so I could but a milkshake because I was very thirsty. We arrived here a little before 1AM Tuesday. Having left Sunday at 9 PM with five hours difference I figure it was about a 33 hour trip. I was exhausted and need to quit now but will try to add the final chapter tonight.