Starting out this morning on a new adventure with six carefully chosen cadets and Becky.  We'll be leaving the house at 0800 this morning after an evening of repacking, double-checking, pizza, and setting expectations for the trip.  Before we take off, I wanted to thank the Academy's international programs office (DFIP) and especially Mr Brian Brandow for all of their help and support setting this up as well as Lesley and Phoebe from Imaginative Traveler (a part of Tailor Made Travel) of the UK.  They've all worked with me over the last nine months to put together what we hope will be a very good, educational, fun, and adventurous trip.  The focus of this trip is to take our six cadets--none of whom have ever traveled to the developing world--and get them acquainted with a growing, important, and vibrant part of our planet.

We leave from Denver airport today and head first to Dakar, Senegal via New York's JFK, arriving (Delta-willing) on Sunday morning.  The next 19 days will be spent visiting locations in Senegal, The Gambia, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, and Ghana.  We'll see some old friends along the way, take a few thousand photos, buy some souvenirs, make some new friends, stay healthy (hopefully), and eat and drink some new things as well.  Our goal will be to stay healthy and happy!

I'll try to update this blog and start adding photos ASAP!  https://goo.gl/maps/RpoMnp2c6KN2