Honduras Day 8 - The Long Trip Home with No Delays

The morning was early, and a typical day getting bags ready for the bus, with the only difference being this time having 50 people leaving all at the same time, instead of 20 or so.   It was a sad goodbye to my daughter Maddyn, but she joined us for one last "family" photo.   We did have two buses, but with one of the buses slam full of luggage, then other one became slam full of people.   I finally grabbed a pic with Donny right before we left.  

About 45 minutes outside of Campamento, we made our normal stop at the Mennonite bakery stop, and this time had a little extra time, so we stopped and ate at the buffet, getting me an omelette and Sam some pancakes and plantains.  Davis stayed out near the bathroom just in case, while Belle never eats anything for breakfast.   I did get a bag of coffee here, and it was fantastic.   

The rest of the three hour bus ride was uneventful, with a sad goodbye to the Wasner family that left us in a small vehicle heading towards the Tegucigalpa airport for a flight over to Roatan.   Our crew kept on to Palmerola.   At the airport, the immigration line went fast, and then the TSA line went well other than Belle having to be frisked, but all clear.   We had some hot sandwiches and french fries at the airport which was a treat.   And I grabbed an Aloe Vera drink that is really good, but I also found out that it was good to help stimulate the bowels.   Well, as any Junkin would know, bowels in our family need no stimulation AT ALL.   So when we landed in Miami, and I could not wait to get off the plane, so I ran back to the plane bathroom to let the aloe super stimulate and tried not to pay attention to Belle and Sam snickering at me.   I did get a funny video of Belle's head bouncing all over during the landing in Miami as she had fallen asleep.   

We had about a 5 hour layover in Miami, so there was a little fun riding the skyway, me marking aloe vera off my list for the remainder of my life, and a slow transition of our group down to D60 gate...This is the gate that is not a gate, but a gateway to all the lettered portals, such as D60A or D60E or D60C.   It is the end of Miami...where only the smaller plans get into...where you are walking outside to get to your little plane.   We affectionately refer to this area as the buttcrack of Miami.   But it is down in this area that we shared laughs of the trip, and shared laughs of previous trips.   We talked about when Dave Long looked up at a guy on the TV down in this area, and said "Well that is one of the ugliest people I have ever seen", and we all just died laughing, and Kendall referred to it as "Elders after Dark" conversations.   

Later that evening, Vinsant asked me about my pullover that was a red cross pullover.   I told him had gotten it for giving blood, and then he asked me about how long I had been giving blood.   I told him about 15 years now.   No hesitation, he seriously looked at me and slightly at Denise and said "Yeah, I think that is about when this uptick in Autism began".   Ugh...I am sure Kendall would have added this to the "Elders after Dark" conversations.   

And finally at 10:58 Miami time, we departed for Birmingham.   Arriving right at Midnight, we all gathered together one last time to pick up all of our bags, NONE lost.   And we said our goodbyes and headed towards the car.   We were driving the Baileys home, so we had one last stop.   As we rolled to their neighborhood, I could feel it...I was ready for my bed.   Then to their driveway, I pulled up into their driveway, and hear a LOUD SCRAPING NOISE that I knew right away was my bicycle hitch.   Davis immediately starts telling me everything I did wrong, while I think that maybe I should back down, and when I did I accidentally put it in neutral, so we LOUD SCRAPING NOISE back into the road, where I was like...whoops, I can't believe I did that, so I put it back in drive and LOUD SCRAPING NOISE back in driveway, finally stopping and saying "How bout yall just get out here".   Perhaps delirious, or just perhaps it was that funny, but I think Belle and Davis and Sam did not stop laughing at me until we arrived back at our home.   I don't care...I am tired...we unloaded in a dream, and I felt my pillow for the first time in a week, and fell to sleep immediately.   

And a few final memories..."you can't play on your phone when you suck at cards"...quote heard at Daycare.   

Scott Vinsant alone in the boys room and pulling down pants to apply some cream they had bought for his bruising, only to look behind and see Cash walk in on him during this application to see Scott "mucho naked".   The funny thing was that later that night, we could not find Cash...so we all thought he may be in a corner somewhere in the fetal position traumatized of what he had seen.   Andrew Rawls then said "yeah, he saw like some Stage 4 geriatric balls"...hahaha, and there was the second of the geriatric jokes.

Me and Belle and Sam sitting on some seats at the Miami airport when we smell the most nasty smells ever...Sam done had something die inside him.   Belle and I laughed but told him that is wrong, and he better do some crop dusting next time, far from us.   And we laughed later when we saw Sam on the other side of the airport from us, and we knew what was happening.   We even saw people slowing passing out of their seats.   

Blanca gave me a little key chain this year, and Yeni gave me a tshirt and two key chains (Ruby took the stitch one).   I felt bad because the tshirt is too small, and I could not wear it that evening, but maybe belle or ruby will like it.   

And there are many more stories as I look at these pictures below, but I am done.   Hopefully the memories will still be there and the pics will help me remember, but if not, it was a good trip, and I will just wonder why the billboard out the window was so funny.