What comes along...

So, here's our answer to the question posed previously of what you carry with you when you can only bring two checked bags and a carry-on when leaving your country for two years.

Here's... The Packing List
 (weighing in at approximately 120lbs of checked baggage; the clothing list is Kiyomi's, Jack is bringing a similar list of things)
6 tank tops
7 shirts
3 cover-ups (light-weight sweater things)
1 sweater
3 skirts
4 pants (1 capri)
1 bathing suit and rash guard (diving shirt)
1 jacket
1 sweatshirt
1 shawl/poncho thing
1 belt
assorted underthings and socks
4 hats
2 sunglasses
2 umbrellas
2 flashlights (dive light)
2 travel towels
2 hammocks (they served us well in Mexico)
2 camp mirrors
2 iPod shuffles full of music (thanks to our former coworkers!)
insect repellent
Benadryl gel (for those spots we miss with the bug repellent)
toothbrush and paste
shampoo
soap
deoderent
Japanese washcloths
razor and replacement blades
2 masks and snorkels (just in case! - thanks Leah!)
shoe polish kit
dress shoes
flip flops
Vibram five fingers
neti pot
jump rope
exercise bands
Gatorade powder
2 kitchen knives
pour over coffee basket and filter
personal French press
personal coffee carafe
assorted spices
vitamins and prescriptions for three months
sandwich size Ziplock bags
1 journal
2 mini travel sized bibles
1 day planner
2 laptops (thanks Dad!)
2 flash drives
external hard drive
Peace Corps Volunteer paperwork and handbooks
1 notebook
chapstick
bobby pins and hair ties
measuring cup
measuring spoons
travel Scrabble, Uno, and a deck of cards
underwater camera housing (it gets rainy...)
camera
sunscreen
extra soap (Mom-made), shampoo, sunscreen, toothbrushes and make-up (3 months worth)
2 passport/money belts
vegetable peeler
hair cutting scissors
speakers
duct tape
straight razor and strop
shaving brush and cup
coconut oil (read the SAS book - it's good for everything)
face lotion
2 combination padlocks

So, we hope this is as helpful to other adventurers as previous PCVs' packing lists have been to us.  And if we find we've forgotten something that we can't live without, remember our address is listed down below!  Actually, as we prepare for staging tomorrow, we'd just really love to know there are comments, e-mails or letters on their way from home when we land in Africa!

We'll post again as soon as we can.

Back where we started

So after three weeks we are back where we started.  What an incredible trip, and we haven’t really even left yet.  A couple nights ago we were rolling into Pittsburgh after surviving a downpour in the mountains in Virginia.  The bridges were all lit up and there was no one else on the road.  You know you’re loved when you show up on someone’s doorstep at three in the morning and are met with a hug and sent to a comfy bed.  We finished up the last of our business (cleaning our apartment), got coffee at our favorite coffee shop (Espresso A Mano in Lawrenceville – the coffee’s delicious, the baristas are awesome – ask for a pour over and tell them hi from Cameroon for us!), and then got back on the road.

So here we are back in the DC area with three days to go.  There have certainly been times in the last month when we’ve asked ourselves what we’re doing, and we probably are a little nuts; getting rid of most everything we owned, boxing up the rest, quitting our jobs to make a mad dash around the country before moving to Africa is not the typical next step after college, marriage, and good jobs.  But then as the miles of road disappear beneath our front bumper, and even more miles of road and ocean and who knows what else stretch out ahead, now and again we’ll catch each other’s eye and see the contentment of starting out on the next adventure and embracing the maxim we started our marriage adventure with: hold tight to each other’s hand and jump.  It’s always served us well and problems seem to show up only when we’re doing something else.  So as long as God will keep leading, we’ll keep jumping, and do our best to learn and love and encourage and serve wherever we land.

When in Houston...

If you get to the Houston area on a Monday night, stop by McGonigel's Mucky Duck for their open mic.  You'll get to hear some of the best musicians you've never heard of (yet), if you're lucky Wayne will get up and play guitar (we were very lucky), and you might just run into Jack's dad (tell him hello for us!).

Last night we really enjoyed the performers we got to hear, especially The Poor Kings.

It’s good to be back in Texas

If you know us, you know we’re “from” Texas, where “from” means that we lived here back in the day, and it’s where we, as a couple, got started.  We both lived in Texas for more years than any other place – not saying much, since our average has been about three years, but still we were here for some growing up and through college.  You might not know that neither of us liked Texas at first – it was too hot, too far from the water, and people get tattoos in the shape of the state.  They’re a strange breed, those Texans.  But then we left and we missed our friends and the music and sitting in a hot car after coming from an over-air conditioned building, the idea that driving an hour is “not far,” everyone saying hello on the street, cowboy hats that are not intended as a fashion statement, and the contraction “y’all” (“you all” – it’s a legitimate contraction!).

We got here via Mississippi, the Gaines homeland (for a given value of “homeland”), where we spent time rowing around a little lake (so great after so much sitting in the car!) and picking blackberries.  Despite our quality assurance along the way, we actually got a decent amount of berries into the container.

And here we are, at the furthest point on our trip before we turn around.  Reflection time, people!  Our car got sold half-way here.  We were looking to sell it and at the same time someone we’d never met was looking for a car, and on both sides, everywhere we looked, things were falling through - we still holding a car we only need for a few more weeks, and he still without - until finally, in a stroke of serendipity and grace, we were brought together!  We hit annoying delays, random stuff that has just held us up, keeping us from the road – the tow dolly not working, was a big one, but other things have come up too, as they will – but instead of limiting our already too shortened time, it seems to only have given us more time in the arms of our family – time for one more meal with  each of Kiyomi’s parents, flying kites with the little nieces who will not be so little when we get back, a visit to a great brew pub in Florida with Greg and Angela, blackberry picking and visiting with the Gaines’.  And in the annals of perfect timing, we were crossing the Mississippi just at the crescendo of U2’s “The Saints Are Coming.”  We’ve said before that we’ve had green lights all the way on this adventure, and it continues with each arising need being met with abundance.  We continue to be so grateful for and humbled by the outpouring of support in resources, love and prayer.  We thank God for his constant provision, and with nine days to go – we can hear the slow clicking of our box car reaching the very top of this roller coaster – we’re  as ready as we’re going to be.  Deep breath.  Hold tight.  Wait for it.  10…  9…

We made it to Florida...

We've made it to Florida, our southernmost point in the new world on this trip!  We've managed so far not to use the AC in our vehicles, and the AC is currently down at the house here - the locals aren't happy about it, but we've been taking every opportunity to acclimate to warmer temperatures.
We left Virginia and stopped in South Carolina to spend some time with Kiyomi's sister and family, where we also sold our car (barring catastrophe! - Thanks Michelle and John for getting that all set up!)  Then we had a great week with Kiyomi's dad in Georgia, including a visit to the Renfest and the Shakespeare Tavern to see Kiyomi's favorite play.  If you are in the Atlanta area, Shakespeare Tavern is always a treat - good food and a great performance, guaranteed!  We were so glad to be rid of the moving truck and back in our little car for the duration of our trip.  Once we got everything off-loaded and stored in the house, we got to spend some time getting packed up for the rest of our trip and Cameroon!  Given some additional information we recently received from our country desk, we'll be making some further revisions - packing details to follow...
The time continues to just fly by, and it was time to say goodbye and continue south before we were ready.  But here we are in sunny Florida with Kiyomi's brother and his wife, and the tears on the way down have turned to pretty much non-stop laughter.  We have more bittersweet times ahead as we head west to visit Jack's family soon.  These goodbyes are not getting easier with practice!  But for now, we are just enjoying the time we have with our loved ones.

An Appleton tradition when visiting Renaissance Festivals here in the south is to find where Tartanic is playing!  The pipes!  The drums!  The kilts!  The great accents!  Here's more of our farewell soundtrack for your enjoyment...
http://www.tartanic.net/

Travels and Travails

So, we finally got out of town around 11am on the 8th!  It took approximately nine years to finish packing up - thanks to those friends who stopped by to lend a hand!  Once we packed 50-55 small boxes (I wanted to get down to 20 - next time, I guess) and loaded them into the truck, got 8 bags of trash thrown out, and 3 more bins plus some to bring to Goodwill, taking a four hour break for a nap sometime around midnight (the packing in zombie mode thing was not working so well for us), we were eager to get on the road!
And then the car wouldn't fit on the tow dolly. On Sunday.  There are two raised parts at the front of a tow dolly that your tires are supposed to fit snuggly between, then you strap them down, and you're on your way.  Theoretically.  Our front bumper was too low to allow our tires to get where they needed to be.
Penske was awesome though!  We called the number on our invoice, the woman there was very sympathetic to our difficulties.  The place we'd rented the truck from was closed, but good news, she found a place in Monroeville that was still open - bad news, only for about twenty more minutes.
So she called and talked to the guy there, then put us through to talk to the guy there.  Good news, he had a car carrier there: bad news, it was missing an essential strap.  Could he stay put until we got across town and look again for a strap?  Otherwise, we would drop off the tow dolly and one of us would drive the truck and the other would drive the Fit.  All the way to Georgia.
But we got to Penske in Monroeville, and the guy was still there, and he had found an extra strap, and he changed out the tow dolly for the car carrier and got our car hooked up, and sent us on our way with well wishes and a smile.
Finally, we got on our way!
And after 7 days of goodbyes, 6 nights of trying to get organized while still getting up for 5 days of work, followed by a day and a half of frantic sorting and boxing, on roughly 5 hours of sleep a night, this is an artist's approximation of what your wandering Gaines' looked like on Monday:

The Great Gaines and Losses Farewell Tour

Tomorrow is the launch of The Great Gaines and Losses Farewell Tour (thanks, John M., for the title!).  I was going to get T-shirts made with all our stops and dates, but we ran out of time.  So instead, just imagine, slate blue jersey cotton (organic and fare trade!), on the front an outline that vaguely resembles a chicken (that would be Cameroon), and on the back, in basic black, the information below!

 So where does one find one’s wandering wild Gaines’ in the coming weeks?  I’m glad you asked!

DC Area – May 7-9

Warner Robins, GA – May 10-15

Tampa, FL – May 16-19

Houston, TX – May 20-25

Flyover Country – May 26-27 (driving)

Fairfax, VA – May 28-31

Philadelphia, PA – June 1

Brussels, Belgium – June 2 (approx. 3 hours)

Yaounde, Cameroon – June 3!

If all these tour dates put you in the mood to actually hear some music, here are a few of the guys we’ll be listening to on the road!

kengaines.com

davelongstrethmusic.com

timruff.com

Goodbye for now...

The goodbyes have started in earnest this week.  A few of our coworkers are out for our last week at work, so it began early.  Everyone has those days of counting down to the next vacation, or thinking the last thing you want to do is go into the office this morning, even if you have your dream job.  Then suddenly, here we are saying goodbye to people we’ve seen every day and grown to care about, and it’s so hard.  Next week will be our official going away parties, and we’ll be emptying out our cubes.  So, five working days left… four… three…

Today was our last day at church.  We were so humbled by all the encouragement and prayers both in church and at a small, celebratory gathering with a few people afterward.

Even as our excitement to go builds with each passing day, the last few years in Pittsburgh have been good to us.  We’re both glad and sorry to see the time end, and it’s going too fast.  We visit with friends, knowing it’ll be the last time, at least for a while, and we promise each other, “in two years…”

We’re so grateful for the send off and the knowledge of all the support we have going with us!  These last things are so hard to get through, even though we know that on the other side of it is a new, exciting adventure that we’ve been so looking forward to, but we promise to come back to visit!

Last night we went to the PAPCA (Pittsburgh Area Peace Corps Association) welcome back/send off dinner and had a great time talking to other invitees/nominees and past volunteers.  For the first time we were told malaria is not necessarily inevitable – good news!  We also heard again and again that it was hard, sometimes frustrating, that for the first six months you can’t get a thing done because you can’t understand anyone or make yourself understood, and that every one of them would do it again in a heartbeat, that it was all worth it, and that it was one of the most rewarding experiences they’ve ever had.  That sounds good to us.

It’s also been so exciting for us to watch our faith in God’s timing come into fruition.  We are boldly going where many have gone before us, but many of you know that this time came much more quickly than expected, leaving us only three weeks to say goodbye to our lives and home here so we can say goodbye to our families elsewhere.  Today furniture has started walking out of our apartment!  We thank God that he has all these details worked out, and that we get to watch as things fall into place each step of the way.

So, whether we’ve said it recently, or will be saying it soon: to our Pittsburgh friends and loved ones, goodbye for now.

Our address in Cameroon will be:

Peace Corps Trainees

Corps de la Paix

B.P. 215

Yaoundé, Cameroon