July 25th

Dear Friends – It’s 5:30AM in Japan and I’m up and wide-awake.  I was lying in bed, unable to get any more sleep so I decided to just get up.  After sitting on the plane in an upright position for eleven hours, it was good to be able to lie down on a bed last night.  International travel is really weird – it’s like entering a “time tunnel.”  We entered the tunnel at LAX and came out of it in Tokyo.  When we exit, everything’s different – all the people look like me (black hair, brown eyes and short), they speak a different language, and the time has changed.  I went to bed on Tuesday night, got up and went to the airport.  I got off the plane, went to the hotel and slept one night, and now it’s Friday morning.  It’s 5:30AM Friday in Japan, but it’s 1:30PM on Thursday in L.A.  Each passing minute this makes less and less sense to me.  We need to have one universal time zone – so that wherever you are in the world, or in the universe, you know what day and time it is and everyone agrees with you.  (I know I’m rambling right now, but not much has happened since I wrote the last report last night.)  We will take a shuttle from the hotel back to Narita Airport, get on the first of two trains we will ride today, and head off to our destination of Chino.  That’s another thing – why are we going to the airport to get on a train? Life is just like being in the “Twilight Zone” with international travel.  I expect Rod Serling to walk through the door any minute.  My reports will starting making more sense once we get to Chino today and I have plenty of news to report back to you.  God bless you all.   Don