2025 -- Beginning to Tackle Too Much Accumulated Stuff

CAUTION  -- VERY LONG POST 

The new year, 2026, is here and I realized I had not made a single blog post for 2025.  It was not that we had not done anything.  For some reason I had been so caught up in trying to get tasks accomplished that blog posts were neglected.  Before I totally forget what happened this year, here is a quick review of some of the 2025 highlights.

Weird Weather.  We had a lot of strange weather.  Nothing was absolutely terrible for us, but still somewhat unbelievable now looking back on it.  

We had snow in January,

The winter wonderland we woke up to on January 10, 2025.

 major wind in May,  

Some of the wind damage as seen on May 19, 2025.

 and record high temperatures with almost no rain (0.08 in) in December. 

Five record high temperature days near Christmas.  (https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/near-record-warmth-for-christmas-2025-across-north-texas/3960074/)

 

Decluttering decades of accumulated possessions.  This year will be remembered primarily for beginning to address the massive amounts of stuff that have accumulated over the years.  Our 50th wedding anniversary is in 2026 and we have been in our current house for almost 45 years.  That is a lot of time to accumulate things!  Without the incentive to get rid of items when moving, we have tended to hang onto many items "just in case".  Needless to say, we have accumulated way too much.  It is time to get rid of some of it.

The beginning.  We started with the low hanging fruit---unused clothes and other random things went to local charities.  Used Wii games and the console went to GameStop.

The attic. The grand shoveling really got rolling with emptying out most of the attic.  We had actually recycled lots of boxes and old magazines some years ago, but it was now time to finish the job.  Unfortunately, we are no longer capable of safely carrying items up and down the attic ladder.  Enter Paul and Gwen to the rescue!!

Paul and Gwen arrived for the long Memorial Day weekend.  Despite the heat and dirt, they essentially emptied the attic.  What a collection of stuff, most decades old, that we now had in the garage.  

  

Some of the many things from the attic.

Wine tasting like no other.  Paul and Gwen also helped us clean out the bar of decades old wine.  Needless to say, all of it was well past its prime and nearly all of it was undrinkable.  They decided much of it tasted like "effervescent asphalt".  The wine was terrible, but we had great fun and we all laughed really hard. 

Part of the wine collection cleared out from the bar.  The bottles from Beaulieu Vineyards probably were from a family trip to northern California in 1988, Gwen's first trip to the west coast.

  

Paul directing this unusual wine tasting.

 

We also got to hear about Paul and Gwen's most recent trips, including lots about Pompeii.   

Hearing about the Pompeii adventures

Finding new homes for all of this stuff.  After Paul and Gwen left we got busy attacking the mountain of items from the attic now in the garage. Some of the things had not survived the heat in the attic or attack by critters and were therefore discarded.  However,  many other things were in pretty good shape once they were cleaned.  A lot of the toddler toys went to charity.  The bigger items like bicycles were not practical for us to haul to the drop off site, so we put them along the alley behind the back fence for anyone who wanted them. A large number of the things disappeared (e.g. small charcoal grill, golf bag pull carts, chest cooler) before I could get a picture.  

A subset of the items put out in the alley for the "trash fairy" or whoever wanted it. 

Everything went very quickly except the baby bed used by the Frog and his brother when they were little.  It no longer met national safety standards.  We also later added the high chair (solid wood and much too big for us to cart around) which my brothers and I had used when we were growing up.  One of the neighbors was excited to get it for when his grand kids visited.  

Antique School House Bell.  Although not in the attic, I still had the hand bell that came from the one room school house that my mother and her brothers had attended.  I contacted the historical society where they grew up and asked if they were interested in receiving it.  Yes, they would be delighted to get it.  It is now part of their collection of school items from the first half of the 1900's.  

Hand bell from the one room school house my mother attended

Treasures stored in boxes in the attic.  Next up were the many random things which were stored in boxes in the attic.  This included Little People, Barbies and much more.  Everything needed sorting and cleaning, but they were mostly in very good shape.

eBay Adventures Begin.  After some initial investigation, it became clear that many of the toys, all of which were "vintage" because of their age, were in demand on eBay.  I knew absolutely nothing about selling on eBay, but jumped in with Little People.  These were unsorted in one gigantic collection.  After some online research I found a fantastic site for vintage Fisher-Price toys (https://thisoldtoy.com/).  Using that site I identified the various sets and what went into each.  As it turned out, Gwen loved her toys and had taken great care of them.  Every one of the Little People sets was complete and in great shape once they were cleaned.  Most of these sold almost immediately.  

Needless to say I was hooked.  Selling on eBay has now become a hobby, at least until I get rid of the excess stuff we have accumulated, which is still a lot.  

Sesame Street characters.  These are all the 1970's style--all plastic with smallish heads.

 

Farm set with mooing barn door.  Unlike many other farm sets offered on eBay, all of the animals still had their ears!  Great job, Gwen.

Daycare/pre-school

 Barbies.  Next up was the large collection of Barbies and Barbie clothes.  Like the Little People, these were mostly in one big collection.  Most of the dolls did not have clothes on and there were many more outfits than dolls.  The Barbies, and especially their hair, were pretty grimy.  The internet came to the rescue again both in terms of how to clean them and how to identify them.  It was a multi-week project, but I figured out which Barbies were which and what clothes and accessories had come with each one.  Not everything was still there, but a surprising amount was. 

Barbies with their original clothing.  Not shown is a large collection of additional outfits and a Barbie storage box.

Tyco truck set.  One of the more interesting challenges was a Tyco truck set.  At first we were not sure that anything still worked.  The trucks did not respond when placed on the powered track next to the controls, but we could see power was getting to the track with a volt-ohm meter.  Thanks to a wonderful website on these sets (https://tycous1trucking.com/), I found out how to clean the track (sandpaper for the rails, followed by Dawn soap and water) and how to check the gears in the interior of the trucks.  I had to replace the gears on one of the trucks, but the website had instructions as well as links to someone selling replacement gears generated with a 3D printer.  The result was a newly restored, fully functional set that sold on eBay in only a few days.  More importantly, I had a blast over a multi-week period working to restore it. 

 

Other toys.  This just scratches the surface of the many toys that I posted and eventually sold on eBay.  I am still amazed there is a market for old McDonald's Happy Meals toys or ViewMasters.  

Random McDonald's Happy Meal Toys from the 80's

ViewMaster and reels for Dukes of Hazard, ET, and Smurfette

In addition to attic items, there were many stuffed toys that had been stored inside.  There was very little demand for many of these, so most of those went to charity after cleaning.  The notable exception was anything associated with the Muppets.  Muppets items of all kinds remain in demand.

Vintage Kermit the Frog Dress Up Reporter Stuffed Doll

 

Much to my surprise, a vintage Dallas Cowboys stuffed toy turned out to be a much sought after (and hence moderately valuable) doll by a creator/artist that had produced similar dolls for multiple teams.   

Kamar Vintage 1980s Plush Dallas Cowboys Doll

 

By this time I had improved my studio for taking the pictures needed for the eBay postings. 

Studio for taking pictures

Selling Silver and all his associated accessories.  While cleaning and posting of the various toys continued, we began the work in earnest on our next major project to pare down accumulated possessions--selling Silver, our 2007 Lazy Daze RV.  

Although we had not put many miles on him (he still had less than 10,000 miles), we had many great adventures in Silver going to multiple locations in Texas and the southwest.  We had loved using him. 

Silver in Palo Duro Canyon, August 2007.  This was Silver's maiden voyage coming home after picking him up at the factory in California.  We had made multiple stops along the way.  He is hooked up to power and water here, but we stayed multiple nights in a no hook-up site at the Grand Canyon.  That wonderful roomy somewhat secluded site at GCNP was made possible by Silver's great boondocking capabilities.

 

Unfortunately traffic has gotten much worse and handling all of the various chores associated with running and maintaining an RV have become more than we wanted to continue doing.  

Unfortunately selling him was not straightforward.  Most RV dealers would have given us essentially nothing for an 18 year old RV.  In fact, according to their websites, it appeared most RV dealers would not even consider a rig that old.  That is probably understandable since most RVs fall apart long before they are 18 years old.  However this was a Lazy Daze, which was made to last.  We knew Lazy Daze still had a significant cult following, especially among former LD owners.  We therefore set out to get him presentable and ready to sell directly to a new owner rather than trying to go through a dealer.  That turned into a massive multi-part and many month project.  

First was unloading all of Silver's contents.  Silver was a self-contained home away from home.  Except for perishables and water, he was basically ready to go at anytime as soon as we loaded our clothes and camera equipment. We therefore had to unload and get rid of bedding, towels, dishes, pots and pans, kitchen utensils, toaster, Weber grill, all kinds of tools, compressor for pumping up the tires, laundry baskets, cleaning tools and supplies, etc. etc.  It does not sound like much, but it was many carloads.  I did not think to take a picture, but our dining room was completely full once we got things home.  Fortunately, with my newly acquired eBay experience, I listed many of these things on eBay and most sold very quickly.  

One of our two Travasak sleeping bags for RVs and boats.  Used Travasaks in good shape are highly sought after since the company had gone out of business.

 

Unbreakable Melamine dish set that lived in Silver.

  

The set of pans that packed down into a very small space.   

  

1/2 inch torque wrench that lived in one of Silver's service bays in case we needed to change a tire.  Fortunately we never did, at least not until after we sold this wrench (another one of the misadventures trying to get him ready to sell). 

Shipping challenges.  Shipping items to the buyers on eBay, both toys and Silver items, led to a whole set of separate adventures.  This was primarily to find appropriate shipping boxes.  Used Amazon boxes worked great for some items, but we did not have all sizes.  The US Post Office, our primary shipper, is not a good source of boxes.  Even UPS or Federal Express rarely had the boxes we needed and would have charged a large amount for custom-made boxes.  Many boxes are available online, but buying online usually would have required buying in quantity even when we only needed a single box.

There were exceptions.  We did find a 24"x18"x18" large moving box at Lowe's which was a perfect fit for the the two Travasaks.

We were at first not so lucky in finding other odd size boxes.  Eventually we stumbled upon Boxes4U (https://boxes4u.com/) in Plano.  They mostly sell in bulk, but have a thriving walk-in business where they will sell individual boxes.  It was a moderately long drive that I did not want to do often, but showing up with my long list of needed various size boxes was well worth the trip.

Even theoretically finding a box that would work did not make very heavy items practical to ship.  Federal Express easily handled the large box containing the Travasaks for a moderately reasonable rate since it was only 20 pounds.  However the Weber grill was much heavier.  Many many people contacted us about the grill but were turned off by the high shipping cost. We were finally able to sell it to someone as a pick-up item.  Problem solved. 

Silver dead in the water at the storage unit.  Emptying out Silver was a long process, but in many ways was the easy step.  He needed a variety of work done, much of it due to him having sat idol for a long time.  The truck battery had a trickle charger that got its power from the house batteries.  Unfortunately, even though the house batteries were plugged into an outlet at the storage unit, they were often not being charged.  We later learned the storage unit company may have been having trouble with their power. All of these problems meant the truck battery had become discharged and was totally dead when we tried to move Silver for his annual state inspection in August.  

Punch list of items to get Silver ready to sell.  Taking care of the truck battery started a long list of repairs and what became weekly and sometimes almost daily work on Silver over a multi-month period.

• New truck battery.  After jumping the truck battery, we limped to a local shop we knew worked on large vehicles.  We got both a new battery and his annual state inspection before his registration expired at the end of August.
• Initial cleaning.  We drove Silver to the do-it-yourself RV wash in Corinth to give him a bath.  He had been stored under cover, but a steady wind through the site had deposited lots of dirt.  The wash only helped a little  The roof was still black and the outside mirrors appeared to be permanently disfigured.  Maybe it would have to be good enough.
• New house batteries.  Since they had been discharged too long, the house batteries would no longer hold a charge.  Unlike the last time we got house batteries, BatteriesPlus would no longer install them.  They were too heavy for us to buy and install ourselves.  Fortunately, after a lot of searching online, we found an RV repair company, JBRV Mobile RV Repair in Ponder, who would install them at our storage unit. 
• Rebuilt electric generator--new carburetor and new fuel pump.  While working on various issues we discovered the electric generator would no longer start.  The RV repair person said he did not work on generators, but gave us the name of someone who did.  The generator repairman came to the storage unit and diagnosed the problem---old gas and long periods of disuse had gunked up the insides of the generator.  He sent me to the nearby O'Reilly Auto Parts for two bottles of  Sea Foam Engine Additive which we immediately added to the gasoline tank.  While that was going on he replaced the carburetor in the generator.  He also discovered that the fuel pump in the generator also needed to be replaced, which he ordered and returned a week later to install.  Once these repairs were made, he was adamant that we needed to run the generator at least 30-40 minutes every week until we completely used up all of the old gas.  
• New tires.  Silver's existing tires still had plenty of tread and looked nearly new, but were old enough to no longer be safe  That is particularly true for such a heavy vehicle.  In any case, having out of date tires would likely have been a deal breaker when trying to sell him.  We therefore took him across the street to Discount Tire and got six tires installed and a new spare.
• Flat tire.  Only a few days after they were installed we were getting ready to do something and discovered that one of Silver's new tires was completely flat.  We called CoachNet, our roadside assistance service for RVs.  We had subscribed to CoachNet since first getting Silver 18 years ago, but had never used them until now.  They sent someone out to the storage unit to change the tire.
• Back to Discount Tire.  Discount Tire checked out the flat tire and decided the valve stem cap had been over tightened, allowing it to leak.  Did not know that could happen but at least it was now holding air as the spare.
• New toilet seat.  While running the generator at least once a week, I worked through doing a deep cleaning of Silver's entire interior as well as some work on the outside.  Everything was going great until I went to put down the toilet seat after cleaning the toilet and the seat came off in my hands.  The plastic connectors that hold the seat to the body of the toilet had disintegrated.  Fortunately that was a relatively easy fix we could do ourselves after finding a new seat at Lowe's.
• Inspection and exterior cleaning.   It was now early November, usually the beginning of the worst time of year to sell an RV.  By this time we were getting frustrated with all of the remedial work needed and the time it was taking.  I was still concerned we might be missing something important which would cause a problem with closing a potential sale.  I did an online search and found multiple nearby certified RV inspectors.  We contracted with one of them.  After dropping Silver off at his house, he would do the "preparing to use" inspection which is less extensive, does not include a written report, and is therefore less expensive than a full "preparing to sell" inspection.  To inspect the outside and particularly the roof, he first needed to wash Silver.  Needless to say, he did a FANTASTIC job.  After a day and a half of work, multiple washings, multiple waxings, and special attention to restore the integrity of the mirrors and windows, he had Silver looking like new!

Silver cleaned up well and did not look like an 18 year old RV

• New propane, CO, and smoke detectors.  The inspector did discover that the various safety detectors were past their normal operating lifetime.  After getting those at the hardware store, we took them with us to pick up Silver and the inspector helped us install some of them.
• New toilet seal.  Also the toilet would no longer hold water and hence needed a new seal.  To replace Silver's style seal required removing the entire toilet, something beyond our capability.  I ordered the seal from Amazon and made an appointment with the JBRV to come out and replace it.  Their first available time slot was over a week out.  Little did we know then that we were fortunate to get it squeezed in as soon as we did. 

Plan for selling Silver.   It was now early November.  Silver was finally looking great and, with the exception of the new toilet seal which was scheduled for replacement, it seemed all of the punch list items which we were going to address were finished.  Our plan was then to finally post him for sale as follows. 

1. Post ads on two Lazy Daze Facebook pages (Lazy Daze Buyers & Sellers Page and Lazy Daze Premier Buyers and Sellers group) and the Lazy Daze Owners' Group webpage.  All of these had lots of Lazy Daze RVs for sale, many of which had been listed for months.  It did allow us to get Silver's info to people who already knew about Lazy Daze RVs.  It also gave us information on current asking prices. 
2. Given the time of year, we did not expect Silver to sell quickly.  We planned to list him on one of the national RV sales websites such as RV Trader (www.rvtrader.com) after the first of the year. 

Placing the ad.  I decided to put together my own webpage, 2007lazydaze.blogspot.com.   This meant the number of pictures would not be limited and I could also include a lot more things like the list of standard features on a 2007 Lazy Daze RV.

On the morning of November 11 I activated my website with Silver's info and posted info and links on the three Lazy Daze sites.  

I started getting texts just after we went to bed that night, but did not look at them in detail until the next morning.  After responding to the texts and talking on the phone to the interested party, she made an offer for Silver.  After multiple additional messages and calls back and forth, we accepted her offer and worked out when she would arrive the following week with her two dogs in a rental car to pick up Silver and drive him home to Florida.

That is exactly what happened.  She arrived on 11/19 (albeit only hours after the toilet seal was replaced) and liked what she saw.  The wire transfer was done the following morning.  We transferred the title and signed the bill of sale.  As of November 20, Silver now had a new owner.   She and her two dogs set off through the rain in Silver for a visit with friends at Lake Texoma before the drive back to Florida.

  

Mar, Silver's new owner

 

"Hey, Mom, let's go!"  The pups were ready for their trip back to Florida

It was a little sad to see Silver go, but we were amazed at how quickly he had sold once he was listed.  Even if this deal had fallen through, three other people called while the sale was pending to express their interest.  It was a lot of hard work getting to this point, but it had a very happy ending.

Christmas 2025.   The year was quickly coming to an end, but there was still one more major event.  Paul and Gwen arrived for Christmas.  As always it is wonderful to spend time with them.  It was fun to hear about their recent trips to Scotland and Germany.   

Christmas dinner 2025

 

A major part of their time here was spent planning for possible upcoming trips to Costa Rico and to Peru.  It was exciting to be with them and talk about these possible new adventures.  We look forward to hearing trip reports when they return, but that will be for future blogs.

No trip reports from us this year, but 2025 was still a very busy year.  Now on to 2026......

Africa Trip 2024 - Day 12, 41 Hours to Home and Lasting Memories

[This is post #21 of 21 posts about our 2024 trip to Africa. To go to the first post in the series CLICK HERE.   At the end of the last post there is also a Directory with links of all 21 posts.]

It was Saturday, September 21, our last day in Africa.  After breakfast at Maramboi Tented Lodge, we took off for Arusha. 

The plan was to check into a room at Arusha Coffee Lodge, the same place we stayed our first two nights, but this time only for a couple of hours.  That would give us a chance to get organized, get cleaned up, have lunch, then head to Kilimanjaro International Airport for our 5:55 pm flight to Doha.

Arusha Coffee Lodge

Royalty.  We arrived at the Coffee Lodge in mid-morning.  When we went to check in they told us HRH Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, (Prince Edward's wife) had stayed there the night before as part of her official royal visit to Tanzania.  I had to stop and think who the Duchess of Edinburgh was, but the people there were super excited.  Tanzania is an independent country, but I think a lot of people still feel a closeness to Britain from their days as a British territory.

Although she and her entourage would be leaving shortly, there would be a slight delay getting us checked in until they left.  We were staying, now for the second time, in the same place the royals stay while in town?!  We felt throughout this trip that everything had been first class and we had been treated royally.  Maybe that was closer to the truth than we realized.  

We were in the lounge on the far side of the reflecting pool when Sophie and her entourage left, so we did not see them.  However I had to smile to myself.  I could hear the staff serenading them with the same Jambo Bwana ("Hello Sir") song that the staff at Maramboi Tented Lodge had sung for us the night before.

Entrance to Kilimanjaro International Airport [https://planet-lodges.com/airport-guide-for-international-travelers/]

Chaos at the Airport--the Low Point of the Entire Trip.  Our epic adventure to Africa had been fantastic.  Almost everything met or exceeded our expectations.  However there was one major exception.  The absolute worst part of the trip was our return to Kilimanjaro International Airport.  It wasn't the slow moving lines or the myriad other hassles we have come to associate with airline travel these days.  The problems included being physically jostled around in a scrum of people trying to get through security.  The worst was the real fear of losing some of our belongings in the midst of the confusion.  What am I talking about?

Trip to the Airport.  Everything was going smoothly.  Fazal reappeared and picked us up at Arusha Coffee Lodge for the trip to the airport.  We knew it would take awhile since we had to go through the center of Arusha, but he dropped us off at the terminal in plenty of time.  That is when everything became crazy.  

Security check number 1.  Maybe it was unusually busy since it was Saturday afternoon, but the terminal was packed.  We had to stand in a long line just to get into the front door.  To enter the terminal we had to go through a security check and that was a major choke point.  Making it worse, the security personnel seemed inexperienced and had lost all control.  

All of our luggage, both carry-on and checked bags, needed to be scanned.  We had to take off our shoes--ok, that was to be expected.  Belts had to come off even though they contained no metal.  Not only did we go through the metal detector but we had to be patted down.  When they discovered the money pouches under our clothes (around our necks) they wanted to examine those.  Fortunately mine was only around my neck, but the Frog had put his arm through his.  He had to take his shirt off to get it off.  

This was all going on while we were being jostled and pushed by other people since there was no longer a well defined line.  The pushing became even worse after we got everything screened.  I was trying to get put back together and still keep track of all of our belongings.  I couldn't go far because the Frog was still dealing with security about something and had no ability to look after his things.  I tried to pull all of our things into one pile so I could keep track of everything, but there was not enough room.  People were going around and stepping over our things.  At this point it was a lot of stuff since we still had both our carry-on and checked baggage plus shoes, belts, cross body bags, the undergarment money pouches they had made us take off, etc.  Fortunately everyone around us were just hassled passengers like us.  If anyone had been trying to steal from us, it would have been really easy to do.

Next up, check-in with Qatar.  After that mess we made our way to the Qatar Airways check-in counter.  We gave them our checked bags and got our boarding passes.  They also gave us passes to the lounge.  That sounded promising, but we weren't there yet.

Security check number 2.  The Qatar person pointed us in the direction of our gate, but to get there we had to go through immigration so they could stamp our passport.  Then we had to go through yet  another security check.  Fortunately this was less chaotic than the first, but it still required going through the whole process again after a considerable time waiting in line.

After all of that we drug ourselves into the lounge and swore we would never return to Tanzania again.  Now that we are no longer so stressed out, we feel much less negative.  However, I am still very thankful we didn't have anything stolen in the free-for-all.  It could have been so much worse.

On to Doha.  We hung out in the lounge and decompressed.  Eventually we made our way to the gate and took off on time for the 5 hour flight to Doha.

Boarding gate with plane in the background [By Peter Makholm, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41072793]

Our flight was uneventful and I no longer remember many of the details other than Qatar service continues to be incredible.  Despite a slight detour around Yemen, presumably to avoid any problems with the Houthi rebels still very active at the time, we landed in Doha at 11 p.m., which was 30 minutes early.

5 hour flight from Arusha to Doha

Sightseeing in Doha--not this time.  Qatar Airways makes it very easy to visit Doha during long layovers at Hamad International with easy access to tours or during an overnight stay by offering very low hotel rates.  Since our layovers were at night, we would have needed to add at least another overnight stay to see the local sights.  I remember how interesting it was to visit the markets in the United Arab Emirates when I was there 24 years ago.  The main Doha marketplace, Souq Waqif, would have been fascinating especially if we got to see the Falcon Souq.  

However, standing on the tarmac at the foot of the stairway from our plane waiting for the bus, I was glad we were not going to try to explore Doha.  The temperature with the humidity, even at 11 p.m., made Houston at its worst seem like a garden spot.  It was only 91 F, but with a dew point of 77 F it felt like 105 F.  I guess it is all relative.  The all time record high in Doha was 122.7 F on July 14, 2010.  With a relative humidity of 23% that day, the Temperature Humidity Index was 141 F!  Surprisingly, at least to me, Doha is quite cool in the winter months, so there might be enjoyable times of the year to visit. 

Arriving at Hamad International.  After a long bus ride from the plane we entered the terminal.  Unlike our arrival from the US, we now had to go through screening before entering the central portion of the terminal.  Fortunately it was much easier than the fiasco at Kilimanjaro.  There was even a separate line for business class. 

Once through security we grabbed a cart and headed for the iconic Lamp Bear which was nearby.

A very tired Frog and Lamp Bear

Although it looks soft and cuddly, it is not.  It is a bronze sculpture.

Al Mourjan Business Lounge - The Garden.  We again hung out at the Al Mourjan Business Lounge - The Garden.  Our flight was not until 8:15 am, so we had lots of time to kill.  We mostly lounged and napped a bit.  We did grab some breakfast before heading out to find our gate.

One advantage of the slightly different time was a chance to see The Garden under sunlight before we had to leave.

Early morning view of The Garden as seen from the Al Mourjan Lounge

More screening--this time at the gate.  Being bored we left plenty early for our gate, which was a good thing.   We had to go through screening again, the fourth time on this trip while never having been outside of a secured area.

This time the screening was right at the gate but before entering the seating area.  It was quiet and organized, especially since we were so early, but the agents were extremely aggressive about wanting all electronics to go through the scanner outside of the pack or duffel we were carrying them in.  That meant even all camera bodies and all lenses. 

The agent asked me if I had any computers or iPads.  I said no, just a Kindle.  His immediate response was "Get it out."  I am not sure he knew what a Kindle was.  He seemed kind of surprised when I pulled it out and he saw how small it was.  

As he looked through my camera backpack he was curious about my 15+ year old Garmin gps.  He wanted to know what it was. When I told him it was a gps he looked at me kind of strangely and allowed it to stay in the pack, but with the flap open.

This whole process was not an especially big deal for me, but it was more cumbersome for the Frog, who had multiple camera bodies, multiple lenses, and lots of other gear.  At least there was a nice table at the end where we could pile everything as we did the repacking.

Finally--our flight to DFW.  We rode the bus out to the plane and finally took off on the last leg of this long journey home.  The plane left over half an hour late at just before 9 am on Sunday morning.  We arrived 15 hours later at 3:55 pm Sunday afternoon, 5 minutes early.

15 hour flight from Doha to DFW, 9 am Sunday to 4 pm Sunday

Our checked bags came up quickly. Customs was also really easy.  We used the Mobile Passport Control app to fill out the forms online with our phone while still on the plane.  When we got to the agents  MPC was the only kiosk, including Global Entry, that did not have a line.  We went flying through without incident.  

Home at last.  We quickly got the car loaded and headed for home.  There was little traffic on the road on a Sunday afternoon during a Cowboys game so we made great time.  We were home within an hour or so of when we had landed.

It had been 41 hours since we piled into the safari vehicle at Maramboi Tented Lodge and begun the trip homeward.  Our bodies were confused and had no idea what time it was, but we were home. 

Now Just Memories.  This is the final post for this grand epic adventure.  It truly was a once in a lifetime experience.  Fortunately we still have lots of great memories, helped by looking back through these blog posts.  Unless and until Google discontinues Blogger, this is my virtual coffee table book for the trip.  Listed below is a directory with links for each blog for the trip.   

Directory of Africa 2024 Blog Posts (click on title to go to post)

1.  Africa Trip 2024 - Some Highlights
2.  Africa Trip 2024 - The Adventure Begins
3.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 1, First Day in Arusha
4.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 2, Second Day in Arusha
5.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 3, Flight to North Serengeti NP
   
6.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 3 (con't), Mara River Crossing and More
7.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 4, Another River Crossing 
8.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 5, More Exploring the Mara River
   
9.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 5 (con't), On to the Central Serengeti
10.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 6, Breakfast with the Lions
11.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 6 (con't), Kopje Critters
12.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 6 (con't), Baboons and Cheetahs and Leopards, Oh My!
13.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 7, Big Cats:  Cheetah, the Marsh Lions, and Leopard (with lion)
14.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 7 (con't), Leopard Redux and a Bush Dinner
15.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 8, Parade of the Marsh Lion Pride
16.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 8,  Leaving Serengeti N. P. and on to Olduvai Gorge
17.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 8,  Ngorongoro Crater
18.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 9,  More Ngorongoro Crater
19.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 10, Lake Manyara
20.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 11, Tarangire N. P.
21.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 12,  41 Hours to Home and Lasting Memories
    

 

UPDATE  UPDATE UPDATE  12-27-2024  UPDATE  UPDATE UPDATE

Here are links to iNaturalist posts we made for this trip.  Although subject to change as the experts weigh in with identification corrections, stats as of 12-27-2024 are as follows:  237 total observations, 116 unique species.  

That includes 78 species of birds, 5 species of reptiles, 28 mammal species (including at least 10 different types of what I unofficially call antelopes), 2 insects, and 3 plants (just some unusually interesting ones). 

Here are links.  Click on individual pictures on the iNat page that comes up to see our actual iNaturalist post. Clicking on the species tab at the top of the iNat page that comes up will sort them by species, but the pictures will no longer be ours until you go deeper into each species category.

• All observations in order of observation.   https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2024-09-12&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&user_id=alchemist2000
• Birds:   https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2024-09-12&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&user_id=alchemist2000&iconic_taxa=Aves
• Mammals:  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2024-09-12&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&user_id=alchemist2000&iconic_taxa=Mammalia
• Reptiles:   https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2024-09-12&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&user_id=alchemist2000&iconic_taxa=Reptilia
• Insects:  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2024-09-12&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&user_id=alchemist2000&iconic_taxa=Insecta
• Plants:  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2024-09-12&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&user_id=alchemist2000&iconic_taxa=Plantae
  

 

UPDATE  UPDATE UPDATE  1-15-2025  UPDATE  UPDATE UPDATE

Our Review of the Trip.  Here is a link to our review of the trip with pictures, "Never Dreamed We Could be Up Close to So Many Animals!", now posted on the Africa Dream Safari website.  It was just posted on 1-14-2024.  We still feel so fortunate that we stumbled upon Africa Dream Safaris as a tour company.  They really made a huge difference in making this trip so great.

Future Trips?  Maybe a return trip during the wet season??  I don't know what new adventures might be on the horizon, but until then we will continue to think of  cute kitties, baby zebra, endless numbers of wildebeest, silly giraffes, the lovable little tommies, elephants, leopards, cheetahs, African sunsets and so much more. 

Africa Trip 2024 - Day 11, Tarangire N. P.

[This is post #20 of 21 posts about our 2024 trip to Africa. To go to the first post in the series CLICK HERE.   At the end of the last post there is also a Directory with links of all 21 posts.]

It was Friday, September 20, Day 11 of our grand Africa adventure.  Since our flight was to depart late afternoon on Saturday out of Kilimanjaro International Airport, we would be leaving for Arusha first thing Saturday morning.  That meant today would be our last safari day.

After breakfast and then choosing our box lunch buffet style, we were off.  We were headed for nearby Tarangire National Park.

Tarangire is known for its high density of elephants that gather along the Tarangire River during the dry season, so we hoped to see elephants.  Like every other day on this trip, we saw what we hoped to see and a whole lot more.

Elephants along the Tarangire River

At 1,100 square miles, Tarangire NP is very large.  We only drove through a small portion of the northern part of the park. 

Tarangire NP.  Our Day 11 track is blue.

 

Even before we got to the park there was notable wildlife including parrots in a roadside tree.  I know it is just a bird, but it seems special to see wild parrots.

Red-bellied Parrot

Termite mounds.  One of the first things we learned when arriving at Tarangire NP is that it is known for its termite mounds.  While Fazal went inside to handle paperwork, we checked out the termite mound in the parking lot.

Termite mound in the Tarangire NP parking lot of the Main Gate (Tarangire Gate) with the Frog for scale

 

African termites are incredible.  They practice rudimentary agriculture.  Yes, really!  They grow fungus, their source of food, by gathering wood and leaves which they feed to the fungus.  The fungus can only grow in the conditions (a constant 31 C) within the mound.

The mounds are an architectural marvel.  Th termites construct them from clay, saliva, and excrement.  They mix in other soil types, as needed, to get a strong structure. Not only are the mounds huge and as hard as concrete, but they have a complicated internal structure.  There is an internal chimney which takes air in from lower levels.  The fungi are grown in a below ground nest.  The fungi produce heat in the nest which rises towards the closed chimney. The heat is exchanged via the chimney and its smaller tunnels that lead to the surface. Carbon dioxide and oxygen are exchanged near the surface of the nest and workers may open or block individual tunnels to regulate temperature. 

There may be as many as a million termites in a single mound, divided among workers, soldiers, nurse larvae, and a single queen.  While the workers only live a few months, the queen can live for 20 years or more.  By the way, termites are not related to ants.  They are more like cockroaches.

Digging of tunnels to build the mounds opens up the soil and use of the otherwise indigestible plant material produces nitrogen, phosphorus and other ingredients for improved growth of surrounding plants.  

Abandoned mounds are home to many small animals.  The mounds are also apparently a place to hang out if you happen to be a baboon.

Baboon on a termite mound near park entrance

More baboons

Giraffes.  We were barely in the park when we started seeing lots of giraffes.

 

Two little giraffes and some adults

As seen in the following video, they are extremely graceful and seem to float along when they walk.  They have the walking style similar to a camel where both left legs move together, then both right legs.

 

It was interesting to watch them eat.  Although many of the trees and bushes have significant thorns as a defense mechanism against the giraffes eating the leaves, the giraffes use their flexible tongue to work between the thorns.

Giraffe munching on leaves

The giraffe works around the thorns to get the leaves in the following video.

Like we had seen on the hippos in the Mara River, there were oxpeckers going after the bugs on the backs of many of the giraffes.

Yellow-billed oxpeckers hitching a ride on these two young giraffes

The video shows how fast the birds move.

Baobab Trees.  Tarangire NP is also known for its iconic baobab trees.  The trunks are enormous, 33-46 feet in diameter.  The trees can live for more than 1500 years.  The oldest known baobab tree lived to nearly 2500 years.

Baobab trees are important for their many potential uses.  Their often hollow trunks can be shelter for animals or humans. The bark stores significant amounts of water during the dry season.  Even elephants will eat the bark for water if no other source is available. The pulp from the fruit, often called monkey bread, is edible as we discovered when we visited the Arusha Central Market earlier in our trip.

Baobab tree

Due to their unique shape, they are sometimes called an upside down tree.  The whole time we were there I kept thinking about the trees in Wizard of Oz every time I looked at them.

Elephants.  It was not long before we started to see lots of elephants.  Most were hanging around eating, which is what elephants do most of the time.  The average adult elephant eats about 300 pounds of food a day.

Scratching his ear?

However sometimes things happen.  For example, in the video below the elephants for some unknown reason became annoyed by the approaching ostriches.  Not surprisingly, the ostriches turned around and moved away.

There were many groups of elephants.  We watched the group below cross the road in front of us.

On their way to the field across the road

 

Everything was going smoothly and the entire group crossed the road until the last elephant, the bigger one of the two in the following pictures, decided to pick a fight.  He is a male in musth, a state of heightened aggression and sexual activity.  As part of that, he had a sticky secretion running down his cheeks.  

We did not know how serious the fighting between these two males might become, but it went on for quite sometime.  Given their smallish tusks, they may have not been too old.

Below is a video of part of the confrontation between the two males.  The smaller one submitted and walked away, but the larger one went after him again.  Interestingly, the larger group seen near the end of the video seems to be ignoring them.

More Animals.  As we drove around we saw a variety of animals scattered about.  There were quite a few buffalo.  As always they seemed to think they were in a stare down with us.

Buffalo and cattle egrets

We  kept running into zebra.

Lots of brown fur still on this little one

There were lots more giraffe.

 

Serengeti without the Crowds.  Tarangire NP is part of the larger Tarangire Ecosystem.  According to Wiki, the Tarangire Ecosystem hosts the second-largest population of migratory ungulates in East Africa and the largest population of elephants in northern Tanzania.  

During the dry season, the animals congregate around the Tarangire River.  We did not see any wildebeest, but we saw lots of elephants and zebra. Although predators must certainly be around, we saw no lions and only fleetingly saw one leopard.  One site referred to Tarangire NP as "Serengeti without the crowds".  It might be totally devoid of animals during the wet season, but we certainly saw a lot during this short dry season visit. 

More Zebra.  As we were moving towards the exit we encountered even more zebra.

Lots of zebra as we were preparing to leave

 

It seemed to us on multiple occasions that zebra are on alert and more skittish than many of the other animals.  That seemed to be the case here when something suddenly spooked the herd.

Spooked by something

We were not sure what scared them, but it may have been these two having a disagreement.

Coming of the Rains?  Just as we were leaving we saw a baobab tree that was starting to leaf out.  It was the only one with leaves we saw all day.  According to myth, baobab trees can predict the weather.  Leaves start to appear when rain is imminent.  Many locals throughout our visit were talking about the coming of the rains.  We thought it was wishful thinking on their part after many months of the dry season, but maybe according to this tree they are right.  Maybe the rains are coming.

Baobab tree leafing out--predicting the coming of the rains?

Back to Camp.  We returned to camp and spent the remaining time getting things ready to leave in the morning.  We wanted to make sure everything was packed appropriately for getting on our flight the next day.  Since this camp was larger with more amenities than most, we were even able to buy a bag in their gift shop to use as a different carry-on.  Our previous arrangement was too heavy for me to lug around comfortably during our layover in Doha.

As we made our way to the pool area for happy hour we encountered this little guy outside our room.

Vervet monkey on the path hanging around outside our room

I don't know how many rooms there were at Maramboi Tented Lodge, but it seemed a lot bigger than previous camps based on the much larger size of the dining area.

Dining area at Maramboi Tented Lodge.  Due to the high lake level, the area to the left of the railing was all under water while we were there.  [https://twctanzania.com/tarangire/maramboi-tented-lodge/]

We enjoyed some downtime at happy hour, including talking again to a couple from Indiana.  We had kept bumping into them over the past week since they were also on safari with Africa Dream Safaris and seemed to be stopping at many of the same places.

Sunset over Lake Manyara during happy hour at Maramboi Tented Lodge

It seemed like it was going to rain, so we started the walk back from the pool and retreated to the covered lounge area adjacent to the dining area.  

Sure enough there was a brief shower.  Although all of our meals at the camp had been outside, we expected that to mean they would move dining inside.

Dining area at Maramboi Tented Lodge after dark [https://twctanzania.com/tarangire/maramboi-tented-lodge/]

Wrong.  Dinner location was not moved.  The rain had stopped so dinner proceeded outdoors as planned.  Hakuna matata.

Our reserved table during the soup course was still quite damp from the brief shower

Surprise!  It was another great meal.  We were winding down after another long day when we were met with one more surprise, a serenade from the staff.

We had heard the song they were singing multiple times on the trip.  Known as the Jambo Bwana ("Hello Sir") song, it was apparently actually written for tourists in the early 1980's but has become wildly popular.  The lyrics change depending upon location (Kenya, Tanzania, Kilimanjaro, etc.) but are roughly as outlined here.

That seemed like a wonderful way to end this epic nearly two week adventure to Africa.  We were now definitely ready to settle in for the night in preparation for our departure in the morning.

But wait, there is more.  As I was preparing to take a shower the Frog, who was reading on the bed, pointed to the curtains near the front door and said, "Is that dark spot a tear or something on the curtain?"  I went to look. No, not a tear...a bat.

Picture from earlier in the day showing the area near the front door.

We called the front desk, thinking they would come immediately.  Not.

The bat stayed put for quite sometime, then flew to the side curtains.  I was in the back trying to get more appropriately dressed when it lit on the mosquito netting around the bed.  Then, as best the Frog could tell, it dropped down and was possibly under the bed.

By this time it had been at least a half hour and we called the front desk again.  Finally someone showed up. We looked under the bed with a flashlight but didn't see anything.  

Our fear was being trapped inside the mosquito netting overnight with the bat.  The camp guy took the bed completely apart and turned everything upside down. Still nothing.  

Probably unbeknownst to us the bat had retreated to the very high peaked (and thatched) ceiling.  There was nothing else to do but put everything back together and get ready for bed.  Tonight the mosquito netting would also be bat netting.

Our room with mosquito netting for the bed, as seen earlier in the day. A bit of the steep thatched ceiling is just visible.

I guess there was some symmetry to these night time animal mishaps. Our first safari night the buffalo disabled the electricity.  Tonight the bat, who may have been more concerned than we were, caused us to tear the room apart.  In the grand scale of things, neither one of these was a major problem.  Hakuna matata.