On to Mombasa

6:22 AM - Ring-ring, ring-ring . . . "this is Horizon Bus. Sorry, the bus is having mechanical difficulty. We cannot go to Mombasa today."

Now what?

Tom to the rescue. You can always rely on Tom, the proprietor of the guest house, to come up with a solution to any problem. Within 20 minutes, he had found 3 bus companies claiming to have open seats to Mombasa, all leaving within an 8 AM to 10 AM window. Breakfast would be at 7AM.

After a final pack of the two suitcases I was leaving behind and a quick scan of the room, I raced down to breakfast. Rush hour was surprisingly uncomplicated, and we were soon on a street filled with the booking offices for many of the bus companies serving Nairobi. Tom maneuvered his truck into a tight space between 2 busses that we're facing each other, argued with the bus drivers about his right to be there and the availability of seats (two of the busses were full and ready to leave).

10 minutes later I was settling into the seat across the aisle from the driver, with plenty of room to stretch and set my backpack and other carry-ons. I was delighted to have gotten a seat, but not sure I was ready for such a close view of city to city traffic. Kenyan bus drivers in general, and drivers for this line in particular, have a reputation for total disregard for safety or posted speed limits. Accidents are frequent and sometimes deadly.

Ou driver was the exception. He drove carefully, took no unnecessary chances, and was considerate of the other vehicles on the road. I'm not sure how fast he was driving, though - the speedometer needle never moved past zero.

The road to Mombasa is one lane in each direction, and drivers drive on the left side of the road. Pedestrians (and sometimes goats) are common along the highway, and rarely move over for traffic, although I did see one man throw himself onto the grass when he realized a truck trying to merge from the left was not going to make it off the berm in time. ).

It was so good to catch up with Stephanie and her close-knit family. Steph had attended the Mombasa training last year. She is in charge of a small special-needs classroom housed at Mombasa Academy. Her mom, Diane, opened her own special needs school last Fall. Rounding out the family are Dad, a project engineer for Bamburi Cement, and brothers George (nearly 18) and Bruce (15). Diane had gotten an iPad for her birthday in April, and she was eager to get her iTunes account set up and to start finding apps that might be helpful.