Final Day of Preparations

Schoolgirls in Monrovia, Liberia; March 28, 2016

Twenty-four hours from now LouElla and I will be either driving to or at Tampa International.

As I type this it is early Sunday morning. I woke up too early this morning. Did the same thing yesterday. Both days I awoke, my mind racing with a critical travel problem to solve. Yesterday it was making sure our passports and Liberian visas arrived (they did). Today it is making a revision to LouElla's itinerary, hours before she starts her flights.

Allow me to explain. LouElla's part of the journey starts this evening. She's taking a red-eye from Portland to Tampa, arriving to Tampa International at 5:43am tomorrow morning. Then, six hours later, the two of us fly from Tampa to JFK where we'll meet Tim. Then the three of us take off at 5:46pm heading for Monrovia, Liberia via Accra, Ghana; and Freetown, Sierra Leone. Our feet will touch Liberian soil on Tuesday, 4:45pm WAT (West Africa Time).

LouElla's itinerary: Portland to Los Angeles to Tampa to NYC to Accra to Freetown to Monrovia. Problem is this seven stop journey is international which means she needs her passport in hand to board in Portland. However, her passport is sitting next to my keyboard right now. I am in Florida.

So today's project solving adventure: in the next few hours, get the travel agency that booked the plan (Delta couldn't do it) to break it into two itineraries. The first leg domestic (no passport needed), the second international (passport needed). Oh, by the way, another reason to break up the itinerary is so we can collect her bags in Tampa and get them home. Otherwise, everything she's bringing from Oregon and the Delphian School is going to Africa with us.

LouElla is with her club team this weekend competing in a volleyball tourney. They're playing at the Portland Expo Center near the airport. It is the regional championship. They played three matches yesterday and will play three today. When the tourney is over, she heads to PDX. Her team, the McMinnville Volleyball Club 16s, started the season as the 44th ranked team in the region. Depending on how they finish today, they'll finish the season ranked somewhere between 17th and 24th place. An amazing move up the rankings over the course of the season. Go MVC!

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It is now Sunday night. Two updates.

Update 1: As I write this, LouElla is on her PDX to LAX to Tampa flight. All systems go. I am packing. Getting ready to go.

Update 2: LouElla's team made it to the championship game in their bracket and lost a closely fought match in three sets. They ended the season being as the 18th ranked team in their region. They started the season ranked 44.

Back to packing.

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Finally, believe it or not, we are still fundraising to pay this adventure. Go to this link. Help how you can and spread the word.

Thanks!

https://www.gofundme.com/african-literacy-project-2018