Good Coffee!!

Finally did make it home Saturday evening, thanks to many people as you will read. Had a great reunion with Mika and Miko and my cats...Cap't Jack has a head wound, a puncture wound, but it appears to be on the mend. He was happy for the doctoring and stayed close to my pillow last night. After 30 hours without any sleep, although lots of sitting, I crashed last night with the sun. And now at 5:00 AM am enjoying some Good Coffee and watching the sunrise.

It's weird how in China the sun rises and sets at about 7:00 every day. It was dark by 7:30-8:00 every night. Here, the sun went behind the mountains at almost 8:30 and will be rising here before 5:30. ??

On to my travel stories from Seattle to Sunnyside yesterday. So, it took me 15 hours, and two plane flights, to go about 7000 miles from Shanghai to Seattle. It took me 7 hours to travel 180 miles from Sea-Tac airport to home with a mountain stop, several mini-crises and surprises on the way... ; 0

Luckily, Becca and Michael were flying to NYC just as I was getting into Seattle, so our loving parents (Thanks Mom & Dad!) kindly delivered them and picked me up. But, no time for a lunch break, we had to get to the cabin in Cle Elum to meet up with Kristi and/or Matt to get me the rest of the way home. Mom & Dad wanted to spend the night at the cabin. I, on the other hand, was most antsy to get home to my own home & hearth.

It was very lovely up at the cabin, enjoyed the warm sun (not hot or muggy), fresh air, blue lake and sky. Anyway, about 4:00 we decided to meet Matt at Thorpe because Kristi was still out hiking somewhere...

...Now here's where the craziness starts...As Dad & I are driving through Cle Elum, Matt calls saying he has car trouble up wherever he is in the mountains. As he is trying to figure out the problem, Kristi calls to see if I'm going to get the dogs out of the kennel so she can stay for dinner at the cabin. Dad wants to stop for JC food, I want to get Mika out of the kennel, Matt is supposedly stranded on the road somewhere, Kristi's in no hurry to leave the mountain air for the valley heat.

Dad & I stop at Safeway, I pick up a few essentials, Matt's still working on his car & Kristi finds some kind friend to get the dogs out of the kennel before 6:00 PM. Dad & I are trying to get to Matt to figure out what to do next, he calls & says 'I shifted and it stopped.' What, the car is dead? 'No, the noise stopped, I'll see you at Thorpe.' Ok, great, another crisis solved and/or averted.

At Thorpe, I'm picking out some corn and who shows up? None other than best friends Gail, Gary and Kevin (with Kevin's newly-bought car!). So, there I am meeting friends and family in the middle of small-town USA, still wondering if I was going to get home by dark (it's about 4:00 PM by now), but at least I had all bases covered somehow; Mika is getting home, got groceries, corn and more than one way to get back home thanks to the timely meeting with Gail. : )

Dad goes on his merry way back to the cabin with plenty of corn for dinner, Matt and I (with Gail's cell number) head east for home, knowing that Kevin will be happy to give us a ride if Matt's car goes weird again. After a Big Miner stop, Matt and I arrive home safe and sound about 7:00 PM with a burger for Mika and Miko as well. I made it home!! Again, no small thanks to my Budda protector (God) and lots of great family and friends.

The end of my tale, but photos of home, pets (and probably China) will follow.

Thanks to all for following my travels, hope you enjoyed my narratives. I can see my entire blog now easily, so post comments or questions and I can easily send up responses.

Steph