Back in the USA! (or "Misery Loves Company")

For those of you that haven't seen us in person just yet, we're back! We arrived according to schedule yesterday afternoon at O'Hare, picked up our baggage and cleared customs with no real hassle, and hopped on our bus headed for Madison. We arrived at Blackhawk around 4:00 to a crowd of friends and family waiting to pick up each team member.

That all sounds lovely and quite smooth. And were I to stop there you might never know the drama that unfolded before we ever arrived Stateside!

[Note: This tale is humorous only because we are all back (the feasibility of which at one point was certainly in question), we have mostly all recovered from the lingering effects of nausea, and we have had a good night's sleep in our own beds. Continue reading at your own risk - aka if you have a strong stomach.]

After a great couple of nights on safari, staying at a fabulous resort with amazing food (or so we were lulled into thinking!), we set out on Friday morning for our return trip to Nairobi. The morning was clear and on our way out we were able to see the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Six hours, a flat tire, and a truckload of dust later we had arrived back at our hotel to shower and repack for the long trip home. While there one of our team members who shall remain unnamed (initials: CT, smallest person on our team for those of you that might know her =) began to show the effects of what we would soon assume was food poisoning, vomiting multiple times that afternoon. By the time we loaded up the luggage and arrived at Prestige Plaza for dinner, another team member had thrown up, and one of our Kenyan drivers was starting to feel ill. A full 12" pizza later another of our guys (tall, lanky fellow with a sly grin and seemingly bottomless stomach) also let loose (how many different ways are there to say it?). On a traffic-riddled ride to the airport, in the bus that we will now refer to as 'The Vomit Comet,' there was more of the same. And when we arrived at the entrance to the airport no less than 3 people used the bushes while the rest of the team unloaded the luggage.

Inside the airport was no better. At one point half of our team is checked through to the gate, and we are sorting out some ticketing issues with the other half. While that is going on, one of our team members (who had just used the bushes outside) was being detained because it appeared she didn't look 'flight-worthy.' What exactly might not flight-worthy about a person who can hardly stand, sporting a greenish tinge, possibly hyperventilating, and breaking out in cold sweats, I'm not really sure, but the closing line was that we had to wait for a Kenya Airways doctor to determine whether she could get on the plane. Attempting to hold it together between waves of nausea, myself, I certainly had the thought "There is no way we are getting on this plane."

This image is captured in my mind from that harrowing evening: Letters R-Z of our team are attempting to stand to the side at the check-in counter while other people move forward and check in. 'Attempting' because of tidal waves of nausea. Tim is in the office behind the ticket counter trying to understand why they can't find itineraries for that half of the team in their system. Clare can barely stand at this point, and Lisa is providing much needed support (and plastic bags). I accompany Cammie, her capable nurse Maggie, and a Kenya Airways doctor to a side room with 1-way glass. We are asked to wait outside, but Dale brandishes his MD credentials to gain access to the consultation. What is being said inside there, I cannot really know, but I'm confident it's not good. I wait outside the door, sitting down for the first time in all the chaos, hoping not to puke, myself. Moments after I sit down, Andy begins moving quickly away from the check-in counter (in my direction), filling a plastic bag on his way with Maggie then directing him to the location of the nearest bathroom. The door opens to the consultation room and the Kenyan doctor quickly exits, pausing briefly to spot the nearest accessible trash can. She grabs it and scurries back into the office, only to return a moment later for the mop bucket nearby. So I'm pretty sure that's not going well. Tim makes his way to the far end of the check-in lobby with a manager, to get things squared away on ticketing. Amy is reading a book.

In the end, they let Cammie go and charged us a nominal fee of $10 USD for the consultation. If that was a bribe (which is not always easy to tell), then it was probably worth it, and they issued us a receipt and clean bill of 'health' which I thought was quite professional. And the rest of the team proceeded to the gate. I waited to enter the security line at our gate until I took care of what I had been bordering on doing for the last hour (again, how many different ways can you say it?), and then Holly and I joined everyone inside. A few minutes later we were boarding the plane, and avoiding questions about why we needed sprite and ginger ale. We were in!

More team members continued to join the club, and at last tally (with Tony's initiation happening somewhere over the waters of Lake Michigan) the club was 10 or 11 strong, including one of our Kenyan drivers. But we were happy to be together, and to be on our way to our own homes and beds and toilets! In all seriousness, there was a lot of praying that night, and Holly and I were fully expecting to be spending the night in a hospital with one or 2 other members of the team. So we thank God for his provision for our team and keeping us all together for the return trip. Besides, misery really does love company!

So thanks again to all of you who were praying for us. We'll continue to post pictures and stories to fill in some of the gaps!

Joel