Just a quick note to let you know that we're back on U.S. soil as of 1:35 pm Thursday Denver time!

 

It was an uneventful trip other than for a few anxious minutes in Detroit.  We knew we had an 85-minute layover before catching our noon flight, which was going to be tight given that we had to clear customs.  As we went through the lines at the Customs Inspection Station, three of us got a particularly aggressive inspector who had a real problem believing that anyone would go to Afghanistan voluntarily to do humanitarian aid work.

 

So he sent us off to the Agricultural Inspection where they went through every piece of luggage we had right down to the stitching looking for a more plausible explanation -- even analyzing the soil stuck to the soles of Pat's shoes!  They eventually released the three of us at 11:55 and we raced for the gate, arriving just after 12:00.  Fortunately, and unbeknown to any of us, Northwest had cancelled our original flight and scheduled another one for 12:14, on which we had newly assigned seats.

 

So we had a whopping 12 minutes to spare... piece of cake!

 

Anyway... lots more stories to tell... look for us at Flatirons and stand back -- it'll be hard to get us to shut up!

 

Thank you again for your prayers and unending support over the last couple weeks... you have no idea how much it means to us.  God bless you until we chat again...

 

--Bob