The Journey Begins With Lots of Hugs

Here's Jack saying good bye at the station. I took a picture of Jack, Leslie and Mark waving goodbye from inside the train- it's now my screen saver for the rest of my trip.

Here's the group who saw me off at the Amtrak station on Sunday morning. It's now Tuesday night in San Carlos City and I will have my first nights sleep in a bed since I left. (though I have to admit I slept pretty well in my Business Class seat with my noise canceling earphones and my blindfold in place) Philippine Air really treats their Business Class travelers like royalty.

The train left Fresno Amtrak station at noon and pulled into Emeryville at 4:05 pm. Two Davita FAs Stephanie and Teji met me at the station to hand off a bottle of solution the team in the Phillipines had texted me a request for. Not only did they take time out of their Sunday to go to the clinic and get what I needed, they refused to let me take a cab to SFO . Thanks Steph and Teji for taking such good care of me.

Speaking of well taken care of, we are being tretaed like royalty here. We are staying right in the government compound across from the Capital Building in a resort that is strictly for guests of the Governor. I have to be careful what I say because any comment I make can be construed as a request and three staff members will jump to attention to meet whatever they percieve my need to be. That said, no amount of service can do much about the plumbling situation. More to follow on that.

So far, every meal has been some form of fish. Tonight our first course was Fish Belly soup and yes it had a big old fish belly right in the middle.

I'm getting pretty sleepy - I'll post more as I get adjusted to the time.