Unpleasant discoveries at 38,000 feel

       A sudden  change here.   I am forced to suspend  my chronicles  about Botswana . The reason?  I am in Zimbabwe.  And I don't  have access to my photos.   I do have my new notepad, though, so I will try to keep current with present adventures.
       I am travelling with MBG, who has been a friend for over 30 years.  She and I have the distinction  of being the first two women to have law practices in Rhinelander (in case you're  wondering , I'm  NUMBER ONE!)
       You'd think that in that much time, you'd know  a person, wouldn't  you ?   So imagine  my  distress  when, more than halfway  into our two  day journey , the  conversation  turns, as it does so frequently  this time of year, to football, and I learn the horrible news:  I am  travelling  with  a Viking  fan.
       Sure, I knew she grew up in Minnesota, but she's  lived in Wisconsin, as I  said,for more than 30 years!  I had just ASSUMED she was indifferent to football in general, but no!  She is a bona fide Viking fan.
     For the first time, I have  doubts  about the wisdom of this trip.
       I must admit, however, that so far--apart from this  shocker--it's  been  going ok.  We left the house shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday, starting off with an  unremarkable  drive  to Elgin.  Kurt and Wendy welcomed us warmly and even served up a wonderful home-cooked supper.  Then Kurt whisked us off to O'Hare, where we were efficiently processed and launched off by Air Emirates.  A "mere" 14 hours later, two very weary travellers found themselves at Dubai International  Airport .   Disappointingly enough, it looked the same as just about any airport  in any prosperous  country.  Every imaginable luxury store and every franchise  known to mankind, but no soul.  Well, except for as intriguing  a display of hookahs as you've ever seen since 1973.
       Feeling much like Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, we valiantly trouped around the vast terminal before finally locating our hotel and retiring for what surely seemed like a well-deserved rest and to await  our wake-up  call to catch the 9-hour-long continuation of our trip to Harare.