Saturday, July 8, 2023; Day 9 and Sunday, July 9, 2023; Home

After another night of decent sleep, we turn on the light at 4:45am. It’s a cozy 50F in the tent. Our coffee should arrive in 15 minutes, and then breakfast will begin 15 minutes after that.

Breakfast was quick — porridge and eggs, and we’ve run out of coffee powder. The dining tent was almost too dim to see, with just one solar-charged light in the middle, so I went back to my duffel and grabbed the LED light strip we’ve been using for the tent. Unrolling it, I get both cheers and teasing “REI, you waited until the last day for this?!?”

There was a light drizzle as we began the hike, so I finally got the chance to use my day pack cover. I’d misplaced my headlamp somewhere in my duffel, so I just wrapped myself in the 6-foot LED strip and walked with that and my small red flashlight. In twenty minutes or so, the sun had come up enough to see the trail, but I kept the LED on for fun and because there was no longer any need to conserve battery power.

Alas, the drizzle continued for the morning and the trail, while not super steep, was a muddy, mucky mess. We slipped and slid and there were several falls, but none of them serious. The mud was deep at points and my boots were coated.

The porters and assistants in the back sang for half an hour or so, and then the Doc played Taylor Swift’s last few albums on her phone for an hour or so. The juxtaposition amused me.

After around 3.5 miles, we reached an access road and made much better time, despite turning down a lift from a passing truck. We finished our 6.1 miles, arriving at the Mweka gate at 930a.

A small crew was offering boot washes for $2 a pair and I happily accepted. After getting the muck off my boots, I told them not to bother with my rain pants as I’d be taking them off momentarily. We all want into a surprisingly clean office building to sign their logbook before leaving the mountain.

We all piled into our pair of Land Rovers for a short drive to a little “mall” with long open-air tables set for lunch, giant paintings on the walls, sculptures in the courtyard, a bar, and a large souvenir shop.

I bought a shirt, a fridge magnet for my parents, and a small canvas painting. The painting was obscenely overpriced (I didn’t ask, and they charged $120 for it. Apparently anyone with a clue knows to negotiate) but I was fine with paying it. Because they were willing to take my Mastercard, my minimal remaining cash supply wasn’t impacted.

After making my purchases, Jason and I bought bottled sodas (a bargain at $1 apiece) and returned to the team’s table for lunch. Several of our crew were hitting the Kilimanjaro Lagers, noting that despite the weak 4.5% ABV, empty stomachs and 9 days without alcohol meant they hit pretty hard.

Matt quietly bought a round for the 21 porters who’d come with us, a relative bargain at $42.

We had a quick lunch of beef in gravy over rice, and salad before a short ceremony where Respicius presented us with our official “mountaineering” certificates from the Tanzanian government. Respicius had a few lines to say about each of us, citing for me my pre-trek mention that I’d only ever spent 3 days outside, but saying that I’d turned out to be “strong” after all. Aww.

After the ceremony, we packed up, reunited with our duffels, and leave behind backpacks. The bags got somewhat lighter after donating my gaiters, yak tracks, my nearly-unworn “heavy-not-heavy” coat, and nice-but-unnecessary fleece-lined snow pants. I accidentally left my muddied rain pants somewhere (probably on the Land Rover). I was bummed because they turned out to be great, but it’s unlikely that I’ll have any use for them in the next few years anyway.

Most of our group headed back to the Planet Lodge hotel to stay in “dayrooms” — this time, Jason and I were in Room #19 at the back (last time we had #25 in the front).

Upon arrival, I dropped my gear in our room and headed to the hotel bar while Jason took the first shower. I’d hoped that some others from our group might show up, but enjoyed a popcorn, two Serengeti Lagers and one Kili Lager without anyone else appearing. Ah well.

I was happy to be back, but also already nostalgic… Would I ever again have cause to wear these most excellent boots?

I got back to the room pleasantly buzzed. Jason wasn’t feeling well (chills) so he laid down while I took one of the longest showers of my life. My wash cloth got filthy.

After showering, I started to repack my bags for the flight, shedding unneeded trash and such while Jason tried to sleep. He feared that he’d contracted something dire (Typhoid or something) while I half-heartedly tried to console him that it seemed unlikely. A quick COVID test turned up negative.

I started writing in my journal, finishing up around 5:20. Our shuttle is scheduled to take us over to the airport at 7pm.

We have a bit of trouble getting in to the airport (we hadn’t printed boarding passes) but eventually convinced the guard that we really did have an outbound flight.

Check-in and exit immigration was tedious and slow. Jason had a few rocks he’d collected in his carryon and they took them away at security. My rocks (small black volcanic bits) were checked and arrived at home safely.

When we arrived at our gate, it was much like every other airport in the world, with a lot of standing around. While we waited, I bought the boys some TZ soccer jerseys and yet another refrigerator magnet.

When our flight was finally called, we had to walk ~120 yards out to our plane, parked on the tarmac. We had a short 52 minute flight south to the Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania, before changing direction to fly north to Amsterdam.

The Amsterdam flight was 8.5 hours and was entirely forgettable. Annoyingly, they never brought headphones for the entertainment system, so I just watched Suburgatory on my iPad. I must have slept a bit somewhere in there, though I don’t remember doing so.

We arrived at Amsterdam at 7:30a and found Jason some Ibuprofen. We grabbed coffee and apple cakes at one of the eateries.

That killed a good hour or two, but since boarding for our flight back to DC wasn’t until 12:30p, we had a lot of time to sit around on our phones (decent wifi, thankfully!) and walk laps around the terminal to look at shops. Ultimately, I decide not to buy the boys chocolate with my spare Euros– it’s expensive, mostly available in the US nowadays, and the kids won’t need extra junk after what I’m sure their grandfather has been letting them graze on for these last two weeks.

Our plane ends up being branded “Mount Kilimanjaro.” Neat.

I write in my journal as I settle in for what’s slated to be a 7.5 hour flight back to DC. Since we’re going to be racing the sun, our clocks will only move about 2 hours on the trip. After baggage claim and customs, we will probably get out of Dulles before 5pm. I expect to be super-tired by then, but who knows…

My legs are now pretty sore in new places (e.g. the front of my thighs) and my nose is incredibly chapped. I have a bunch of tiny cuts on my fingers, and some roughness on the insole side of my feet. But overall, I’m returning to the US remarkably unscathed after this adventure.

I watched a bunch of movies (Sin City, Shotgun Wedding) and TV as we crossed the Atlantic. With just under 2 hours to go, we are informed that we’ll need to land in Philadelphia to refuel due to bad weather around Dulles. An hour’s ground delay in Philadelphia annoys me. We finally touchdown at Dulles at 19:12.

I warn myself that customs and baggage claim are likely to take ages, but my Global Entry card gets me in pretty quick, and without one Jason is only 15 minutes behind. Dad picks us up and we stop at a tasty restaurant on the way back for a long-awaited burger.

I get home, hug the kids, and we all go to bed. I figure I’ll end up sleeping most of the day Monday, but instead wake up somewhere around 8. By 10, I’m out shopping for shoes, as I’ve got a week’s vacation left in Maryland, and as much as I love my boots, I’m not going to wear them for a while.

💗 Thanks so much for reading!! 💗

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