Sara was calling me to let me know she was having a surprise birthday party for her dad's 60th birthday and she expected me to be there. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.
I said no problem I would not miss it, when is it? Her response, “Next Week! After a few seconds of silence I said why the short notice. Sara came back with a very quick "You know how long it takes to find a person that lives in some tiny village in Botswana”. I said, “I will be there, some how”.
I had not planed on going back to the United States I had a lot of work to do on the wind generator project and had just been to the United States for the Idaho Trip. So I had an issue of time and money. I would only be able to go for the day and I needed to find a low cost way to get there.
I had heard that there were some World War II B17 bombers that had been sitting in Botswana since about the mid 1940's heading back to the United States to join a museum. So for 50 U.S. Dollars I could hitch a ride. Perfect. Then I found out a United States diplomat would be heading to Uganda on one of the air force corporate jets, and they would give me a ride to Uganda, from there I could hitch a ride back to my village in Botswana. I think Margarite’s family pulled some strings to get me the ride back.
The flight over was like flying in a steal trash can noisy, bumpy, and cold, (see video) but very cheap. We took off in the evening then flew east banking back west directly to the east coast of Florida, then straight up the east coast of the United States. We had to refuel three times in mid-air. The flight was a total of 30 hours flying time. Most of the video was shot on the east coast of the United States since it was dark for the ride over until we hit the United States.
Cliff picked me up at the Air Nation Guard terminal in Richmond, Virginia and took me to his house which is where John’s party would be.
Everybody would be joining at 6:00 pm and John would show up at 6:30 it was Saturday night and John already had a few surprises this week. The first a very sad event Brando John’s great dame and long time companion passed away on Tuesday this was a sad day and low point of the week. Then on Wednesday Sara showed up along with her mom to surprised John coming all the way from Hollywood and spent a day and a half cleaning John’s house. On Friday Andy and Pam showed up at John's. Andy and Pam are John's brother and sister in law. Boosting John's spirits even higher, a few hours later John's son Prentise showed up from Memphis. This surprise almost put John over the edge. From what I heard watching a 60 year old man cry not once but three time can be heart wrenching and emotional.
So now it is Saturday and John thinks he is coming to Cliff’s for a barbeque unknown to John, Sara has gotten about 20 of John’s closest friends together for surprise number 4. Also another famous actor Peter Oldring Sara’s fiancé has flown in from location for John’s party.
John was very surprised and started crying again a very sad week had improved quite a bit for John. The party was fun the highlight was John and Cliff performing their magic tricks. See videos.
The travel over was tough I am glad I attended you only get so many friends and so many days in your life so when you can maximize both, it is a great feeling.
Travel to Richmond worth watching
Intro and Magic Tricks I
Magic Tricks II
Magic Tricks III
Magic Tricks IV and some fun stuff
Pictures
Cheers,
DUG