Smiths on Safari

Our plane rides to Africa were pretty smooth. Nicholas was very well behaved for a little guy. We flew Air France on a pretty large plane. I’d never been on one before that had first, business and coach classes, with actual separation between the three areas. We were in the first row of business class between D.C. and Paris, and you could see the uncomfortable looks on the faces of our fellow business passengers. (God bless the State Dept. for sending us this way, because it would have been a LONG ride in coach and without the cool amenities!) Little did the others know that they were dealing with a seasoned traveling kid. Nicholas had quite a few flights under his belt in his short little life between D.C., California and Texas. And he wasn’t much trouble on any of those flights. So, we brought his car seat on board and strapped it in the seat in the middle between Cecil and me. Right before closing the cabin doors, a passenger got on in first class, put his carry on overhead and sat down … right in front of me. I was on the floor, busily removing Nicholas’ shoes for the trip, when Cecil nudged me and pointed to this new traveler. You’ll never guess who it was … General Colin Powell (former Secretary of State, among other titles)! He was Condoleeza Rice’s predecessor, and if you didn’t know, the Secretary of State is the head of the State Dept. (which includes the Foreign Service). So … in a round-about way, Condi is Cecil’s boss. Anyhow, I wasn’t really sure that it was him, because he looks so much different in person than on TV. He was wearing a casual shirt and khaki pants with a windbreaker. I told Cecil that we should tell him who we were, where we were going and why. Cecil was nervous and got all embarassed and said we should leave him alone. I said that I was pretty sure that, since he had been the head of the Foreign Service, he would be interested to know where we were going. But since this was within our first 30 minutes on the plane and our “adventure” had just begun, I didn’t want to make Cecil uncomfortable. As our flight continued, Nicholas did get a little bit noisy and he turned around once and gave us a look like, “Could you please shut that kid up!” It was a very proud moment for me!

I KNOW … I KNOW … I KNOW … for many of you, it’s been quite some time since you’ve heard a peep from us (me). Please don’t let me have it, because I have gotten it already from my family (Debbie, in particular). So, let me just fill you in on the past few months. We left Washington, D.C. on April 19 in the late afternoon and had a stopover in Paris, before catching a flight to Libreville, where we arrived nearly 24 hours later (not literally, but with the time changes, it worked out that way). Now, I see the look of confusion on many of your faces, going “Where?!?” Libreville is the capital city of Gabon, Africa. Gabon is a relatively small country on the West coast of Africa, right on the equator. (When I get access to a map and a scanner, I can show you precisely where … until then, find an Atlas and see for yourself.) The country is stable, in terms of other places in Africa we could be. The above are some of the sights, adventures and musings that we’ve experienced in the past three months. (Like a good reporter, I’ve been keeping a steno book and writing things down as they happen, so I won’t forget.)