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A short way into the flight, they brought us beef with noodles and cabbage, plus some cheese and grapes, a salad, and custard, but I didn't eat much since I had just had a much better meal, and was still full from the Carnivore. I had a cognac afterward, and slept briefly, awaking to watch most of the flight film, The Associate, a good movie with Whoopie Goldberg, followed by a really stupid movie called Space Jam featuring Michael Jordan and Loony Toons characters, which was too painful to watch. But I didn't want to sleep much now, because it was not time to sleep at home, and I needed to get back on schedule. Breakfast was served as we approached Amsterdam, where we arrived at 5:30, somewhat early.
My next flight, to Detroit, was not until 10:45. I ate my orange cream cookies and spent most of my remaining guilders (from my last trip through) on a cup of coffee. There was a long line at security when I went to the gate at 9:45, so I waited for it to clear before entering. They asked the usual questions about who packed my bags and whether they had been in my possession. Again, they were fussy about hand-checking the film, bothering to check that I actually had some 1600 speed film. The effect of X-rays is cumulative, so I wouldn't trust the slower film in X-rays at all of the airports I'd been through on this trip. It was foggy in Amsterdam this morning, and visibility was very limited, delaying departures. We left more than an hour late, at about noon.
I slept on the plane until after take-off. We received a lunch of beef goulash (or turkey), a salad, and dessert. I slept on and off, watching the movies, first a Sinbad movie called First Kid (possibly a Disney film), then a movie about a girl and her geese, called Long Flight Home, or something. We got to Detroit a half hour late, at around 2 PM. Another man coming from Tanzania worried about missing his connection. Immigration went fast. The lady read the list of countries I'd been to, and seemed surprised was traveling alone on vacation to such places. She asked if I did it often, and I said yes. She said that maybe this is the best way to go. My bags were slow to come, but customs took no time.
I took a bus to the domestic terminal and changed a $50 traveller's check, since my cash was almost gone. I had been missing ice cream in the heat of Africa, having it only in Kampala and Nairobi, and some of that had been an icy Italian style. The airport only had frozen yoghurt, a poor substitute for ice cream, but it would do for now. I got a cappucino yoghurt waffle cone. The airport was sunny and warm, so the youghurt was welcome. My flight to Knoxville was at 4:55, so I had a couple hours to wait. I fell asleep a few times. The flight to Knoxville was delayed, but not as much as a flight to Texas a few gates down, where they announced one discovery of a mechanical or safety problem after another.
We were served peanuts and a drink on the short flight to Knoxville. The landscape around Knoxville was green and beautiful in the setting sun, with the Smokies appearing as little wrinkles to the south. It was around 7:00 when my baggage came down the chute, and I found a taxi to take me home. There was a Canoe and Hiking Club meeting going on now at UT. I had thought maybe I would make it, since I was eager to tell everyone about Africa, but the flight was too late. I showered, and then went downtown to see if anyone had gone to Sam and Andy's, where people met to hang out after club meetings (they called this the "Drinking and Lying Club"). But Sam and Andy's had become less popular this year, and no one was there, so I went to Stefano's for a pizza, another thing I'd been missing in Africa. Stefano's has a really good Chicago-style whole wheat crust pizza, which I like with Canadian bacon on top. I had trouble staying awake to finish my pizza, and fell asleep as soon as I got home.
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