We are back in Yendi. We left my brother Paul in Tamale. When he found out that we had 2 vehicles that needed to be driven back to Yendi he decided that he would spend the night at the hotel in Tamale. He has to go back to Tamale tomorrow to get the insurance on his truck and to get a non-citizen card. So, the new plan is for him to stay in Tamale overnight and for us to send Red over in the morning on the State transport bus. Red will meet up with Paul in the morning and he will drive him around Tamale to the various offices and then will drive him back to Yendi tomorrow night. I love it when a plan comes together! He is staying at Relax Lodge; a small hotel that is run by a very sweet Indian couple. There is a restaurant in the hotel so he will have something good to eat for supper and I don’t have to cook.
Paul’s plane was a couple hours late getting into Accra; not sure what the problem was this time but something about the plane they were flying to Accra was late getting in from wherever it originated. We had booked the 12:30 flight from Accra to Tamale so we had more than enough time to get over to pick up Paul and go over to the domestic airport. We hired Immanuel, the taxi driver that drove us around Accra on Tuesday, to come to the hotel this morning, pick us up, take us to the airport and then we paid him to wait on Paul to arrive so he could then take us over to the domestic airport. Of course, Immanuel was more than happy to make money just sitting in the parking lot! The taxi he drives is old and tired. We had to go up a slight incline to get out of the airport; Immanuel tried to get up the incline but the poor taxi did not have enough “umph” to make it up the hill. The taxi has no shocks and it sits low to the ground so he scraped his back bumper on his first attempt! When he realized that the little car could not make it; he had the cars behind him back up so he could let the car roll back down to the flat area. He then took a running start and this time his bumper drug again but we made it up the hill. We wondered if we were going to have to get out and push! We felt like we were in the middle of the story, “The Little Engine that Could”! “I think I can, I think I can!”
They have a very odd way of doing things when we check in for the domestic flight. Every ticket is allowed 50 pounds of free luggage and anything over the 50 pounds has to be paid for. Well, as always, we had excess luggage charges. The weird thing is that you cannot pay for the excess luggage at the ticket counter; you have to get out of line; go upstairs to the AWA (Africa World Airline) ticket purchasing counter; stand in line; pay; and bring your receipt back down stairs to the agent that check you in; stand in line again; present your receipt and then the agent will tag your luggage and put it on the conveyor belt! Please! I know they are trying to keep the agents honest but really there has to be a more efficient way to pay for excess luggage!
Enough complaining!
Thank you for the prayers!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie, Brother Paul and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
The parents did not come home until almost dark! I do not do well in the dark! I do not have night vision like those stray cats that walk across the property at night or those owls that scream in the night. So, I do not like to come out of my condo after dark! Mom knows that I do not like to come out after dark but she tried anyway! She came into my condo and sat down on the stone bench and we had a nice conversation. She tried to coax me into her lap but I was having none of that besides about the time she sat down Tichak, the night watchman, came walking through to turn on the security lights! I do not like him! Then Red came and I don’t like him either so the whole evening was just a series of unfortunate events! Red came to the house to pick up the papers on Uncle Paul’s truck and the money for his transport so Mom had to leave my condo! I was so sad to see her go because I really was happy that they had finally come home! I cried and chattered to her and tried to get her to come back but she was too busy!
After Red left Mom came back for another visit; this time she came bearing gifts! She had a bottle of milk and a fresh banana! She kept the banana hidden until I finished drinking my bottle. She knew that if I got the banana, I would climb to the top of the condo to enjoy it and forget about the bottle. I am full as a tick!
I will sleep well tonight!
Love, Skeeter
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