Home again at last

It's been one week since leaving Sorong, Indonesia. Our travels included four hours to Jakarta, five plus hours to Taipei, Taiwan, 10 plus hours to Seattle, Washington. Once we arrived in Washington, after picking up our luggage, we had to clear US Customs and Immigration. Fortunately we were able to take advantage of this time at SeaTac to complete our Global Entry interviews. Mission accomplished...for the next five years, we are classified as "Trusted Travelers" which means we get TSA Pre-check status when traveling and expedited Customs entry back into the country.

Because our original Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Austin was changed to the next day, we checked into the Best Western Airport Hotel for the night and got a wonderful full night of sleep before our last flight leg home to Texas. That flight was four hours and, trust me, I was ready to stop traveling. After 24 hours, not including layovers, I was done...physically and mentally. Karen had the misfortune of having to travel with Mr. Pissy back to Texas. She still loves me, thankfully.

We were picked up by Ed and Mary Compton from the RVICS village to give us a ride back home. Thank you both for being so available and generous! We arrived in Smithville just in time to join the "village people" at Dairy Queen for dinner. Honestly, the double burger, onion rings and Coke Zero tasted marvelous after two days of airplane food. When we got home we double checked all systems in the RV and prepared for snow that night. Yep, you read that right.

The next morning we woke up to an inch of snow. The temperature before sunrise got down to 19ºF, but we didn't have any problems with our water pipes or keeping warm through the night.

After unpacking our diving gear and doing laundry, we attempted to get back on a normal sleeping schedule. In the middle of the day I needed a nap because I couldn't stay awake. In the middle of the night I would wake up at 2 or 3 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. When I finally did fall asleep I wouldn't wake up again until 10 or 11 AM. We're both stuggling with getting back to a regular sleep schedule after the 14 hour time zone change.

We are counting our blessings; we're safely home from a long journey, tired but in good health, and everything is good back in Texas after two plus weeks away. Best of all, we returned with wonderful memories of great times with friends, old and new, spent in places some can only dream about ever visiting.

We're once again in awe of God's creation under the sea. We are blessed to experience the wonder and majesty of His creative imagination and we're privileged to see it with our own eyes up close and personal. WOW!