Several of the orphans-no-more have asked to go back to The Shire to see the place, dream, have a picnic... We haven't brought them very often because we are too many to all fit in the 4x4 as the roads are too bad for the van right now.
Yesterday, we decided that Johnny would take the youngest children in the car, and I would take the older ones on foot, on a bus, then on foot again up to The Shire. It would be an adventure, and I like embracing a challenge.
On our way from the house to the highway where we would catch a vehicle going in the right direction, we saw a lovely vervet monkey! The walk was only a few kilometers, but finding a car going far enough on a Sunday was difficult. We kept walking... Finally, we all boarded a public van that wanted to charge us double the price per person! We negotiated and protested until they agreed to the normal price.
We asked them to drop us at the foot path that goes up the mountain. Since I wasn't certain where the path was, I didn't realize they dropped us off over a kilometer from the right place. So we had to walk to the path, then UP the path. Once we got to the railroad, we lost the path! So we ended up walking on cow trails and getting lost. We came out of the woods on the right road but about a half of a kilometer away from The Shire. By then, we were pretty tired.
We had sour dough bread sandwiches for lunch, drank all the water we brought. The kids had a blast stomping in the mud for the hut. I learned a lot about the building and even taught the guys a few things. I got my hands dirty building walls... So much fun.
When it was time to leave, I went down on foot with the older kids as Johnny drove the rest home in the Pajero.
Just as I was reaching the highway, Johnny called saying the Pajero overheated, and he was stuck on the highway with the little kids and no water to put in the radiator.
Just as he was talking my phone battery died. I had no way of communicating with Johnny to help him out. He was stranded, and I was equally stranded since I was on foot with 6 kids.
We waited ages on the side of the highway for a vehicle to pick us up so we could get to Nakuru. The one that stopped was a huge bus with standing room only. We piled in, and I convinced the driver to stop at the first sign of our car on the side of the highway (since I couldn't see out of the windows because the bus was so crowded).
We stopped, but keep in mind, all public vehicles are in a mad rush to pick passengers for more cash... the driver didn't have patience as we sorted out piling in the other children from Johnny's lot. The bus started moving just as the last daughter of mine stepped on to the bus with the door still open! I was expecting to get some money from Johnny to pay the fare, but they pulled out so quickly. I was 50 shillings short, but the tout didn't mind. All eleven of us were hanging on to the poles trying not to fall over with each aggressive stop. It was a difficult 40 minutes to our stop as passengers kept getting off and on while most of my family was standing in the aisle!
We got off the bus too soon, and had to walk quite a distance with ALL the kids in tow. That's a lot of kids to manage, but after a long climb (40 minutes) UP hill to our house, we finally made it home... Keep in mind, this adventure was sandwiched among loads of cooking, prepping of a picnic for 17 people, and a fantastic supper of home made pizzas and potatoes, etc... It was just a busy adventurous day indeed.
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