Greg, Charlotte, and I went to Kibaya yesterday and returned today after a very successful trip. (Leslie and Henry stayed at Msalato because the college talent show was last night and Leslie was obligated to attend. Henry wanted to stay home and read instead of sitting in the car.)

The trip didn’t start off very well, though. We had a spectacular blowout about 20 km after we turned off the paved road. A rock cut up the side of the tire and dented the rim. Within about 20 yards I could tell that there was a problem because the tire was making a loud noise. I pulled over within 100 yards, and the tire was absolutely shredded. I’ve seen tires like that at the side of the road, but never had one do it myself. To make matters worse, the last time those particular lug nuts were put on, it was with a pneumatic wrench and they were too tight to get off with the little lug wrench that came with the car. After about an hour, a minibus came by and a big guy helped me get the nuts off. I drove very slowly the remaining 70 km in fear of having another flat/blowout with no remaining spare tire. Fortunately, there was a guy in Kibaya that was able to replace the tire with a decent used tire, so we had a spare for the return trip.

The whole reason for the trip was to help the Kiteto Christian College with their computers. When they came to our house on Wednesday night, they had 2 of 9 computers working. Following my directions, Emily was able to get 2 more working, but was stuck on the other 5. So, I went to look in person. Fortunately, we were able to get them all working by this morning. We also had a great time having dinner with them last night, going to church at the Cathedral this morning, and having lunch with them and a German family who are long-term missionaries in Kibaya. Overall, it was a great trip. 100% success on the computers and also on making new friends.