Well after a long 50 year wait I am finally on my way.
The smell of the morning sunrise was wonderful today. Not so much because I wasn't waiting to leave for work or that the coffee was especially well brewed but rather the idea that in a few hours I would be climbing aboard the first leg of my many hours to come flying en route to Africa.
The baggage in the corner was barely packed again for the final time. I'd said that 20 times already but kept thinking I really needed to cut down the weight and was now finally under the limit for the tuffpak. Well under the limit. Less than the first 15 times I'd cut out just one more item. In the end I had given in and made the decision to do without by paying the extra fees and taking another bag. I wasn't going to do without this time. This time I was going for the extra this and that and if it sat there waiting in the African sun to never be touched so be it. I was NOT going to say "I wish", not this trip, not this hunt. Next time I'll do without. Not this time even if I had to pay the baggage guy and the cabbie and the guys that had to carry it for me that little extra to remove the grimace from their faces. This time I was going to have it with me.
I had been up for a couple of hours by the time my alarm went off today. I had been practicing getting up at 4 am so that I wouldn't be a groggy mess on that first morning of hunting in the bush. I had decided that my brain also needed to be practiced at thinking and getting ready while I was still at home so that it would be as ready to hunt as my spirit was once I was in Africa to do what I have dreamed of all my life. Of course my heart and soul had already been hunting all of my life ever since the day I shot my first rabbit at the end of the lemon orchard back when there were still orchards in Southern California. I had made a great 50 yard shot right in that rabbits backside and ended up having to finish it off with a stick because my uncle, my hunting mentor had said quite often- "only one shot per rabbit. Make it a good one".
I am carrying the limit of ammo with me to Africa because I doubt anything there is willing to die at the end of a stick which hasn't been shot from a bow.
I have only one fear in me as I wait for the shuttle and it is not of being bitten, stung, gored or trampled. It isn't one of shooting the smallest or the the youngest or the wrong one even. The idea of being stomped by a buff I owe money to isn't even there although I greatly appreciate Ruarks' reference. No, my great fear is that I will be sitting here again too soon. I will not enjoy the time there long enough or well enough or with the kind of passion I have read about and heard about and seen in the eyes of the men I have known who have been there and are now back here waiting to go back there again.
It the kind of fear I will only have once I am sure because I already know I will be back.
Early this morning I spoke with my father who could only wish me well and didn't really care that he wasn't going because in a way he is. I have promised to send lots of photos and to bring him back the memories he won't have for himself but which he has earned as much as I will. We spoke of business as we always do and of my children and his recovery and we talked about the lighthearted things people speak of when they fear they will never see each other again. Not on this side of the journey anyway. It made cry then and I am crying now as I tell you about it but I need to say it now when I can in case I cannot and while I can I will preach this piece of prayer at you. Do whatever it takes to spend time together. You won't have it to spend later on.
My son and I went shooting yesterday. We hadn't been together for a while now. He made the trip up from Vegas and shooting together was what we did. I am sending him home with a bruised shoulder from the Rigby but I think he will enjoy that for a while and whenever he tells his friends about shooting with the old man.
My daughter and I have been talking a lot about going shooting together when I get back. We won't because she makes me look bad everytime and is always kind enough to tell everyone around I really taught her well all those many, many, too many years ago. I still have her little .22 waiting for her to do the same with someone in the future. My wife is really tired of waiting but I can for a little longer anyway.
So why this long winded post? I don't know. It is just how I am feeling now. The edge is building in me again while I review everything I still need to do and say and am thinking of all the preparations I wish I had made. After 3 years of planning actively and 50 years of waiting you'd think I would be set. Somehow though I am feeling very unprepared and very small as I think of that old, old land over there just waiting for another dreamer on the way to Africa.

Best of luck to you Frank - May the great hunting Goddess smile widdely upon you during your hunt.
Go give `em hell...
Brian

Good luck Frank.

I just got back from my first trip. I know what you're going through.

Frank,

Best of luck. My only advise is to try and relax and let the safari run its course. You'll be happy at the end.

Good hunting,

Mark

Good Hunting Frank

best of luck to you, don't let it be long before you return

Enjoy every minute of your African experience.

All the best Frank, enjoy EVERY fleeting second. It goes by fast! jorge

Good luck and good hunting.

Best of luck and enjoy!

Were is Frank going and with whom?.. and is DG on the menu? I must have missed it if he told us... but I was out of circulation for a bit lately.

Happy for you Frank! Much hunting luck, enjoy your journey.

Go get 'em Frank! Enjoy your hunt!

I hope it goes well for you. There are few experiences like it. Very few. I wish my father had been alive to share mine with me.