More news from Lincoln

We arrived this afternoon to our new location which is located in Kandahar Afghanistan. It is about 90 miles southwest of where we were at and around 3500 feet above sea level. It is barren, dry and sandy. You can see the mountains in the distance. I just tried to log onto my blog spot and received a message that blog spots were restricted sites so i will have to figure something out or I will become very frustrated. Our single person rooms are non existent as we are now four people to a room, I guess we will get used to being in the same room it's just that the privacy is a thing of the past. Our work areas currently don't have any phones so I will just give you a call when I get a chance and as soon as possible.

Our trip here was uneventful and went like this. On Saturday morning we all loaded up with our gear in hummers for the 90 mile drive which they claim takes around 10 hours as you have to travel slow and the roads are bad. We had traveled around 30 miles when we came across a bridge that was totally washed out so the entire convoy turned around and headed back to Sharana. All and all we were on the road close to six hours with nothing to show for it but a few pictures. So, Sunday morning we started to push harder for airlift which we felt should have been the method of our travel option from the start. Anyway, Sunday evening at 10:30 we were informed that an aircraft was being assigned to come and pick up the four of us and all of our gear. Our gear included a large assortment of tools as we were basically moving our entire operation from Sharana to Kandahar. So, at 2:00 pm we loaded up and fly the short 90 miles to Kandahar. Now for you inexperienced types, flying 90 miles would seem like a short hop and jump but not in a war zone. We weaved back and forth and up and down and so on until I was just plain sick. I was so glad to touch down after our short flight of 90 minutes for a simple 90 miles. I don't know what to think of the Base yet. It is hot, dusty, crowded, dusty, hot, crowded and finally it has a smell to it of septic tanks......yep and dust, hot and crowded, and you guessed it, stinky. I have actually gagged a couple of time. We have been told that the smell is only due to the winds direction so I reserve the right to hold judgment until the wind changes direction.

Anyway, I guess we have a lot of work to do which in all of our opinion will include a revamp of the sewage lagoons so that they don't stink even if the wind changes direction. Tomorrow will be our first day on the job and in the office. We will start by working on getting phones and computers and see where that takes us. I will be in touch as soon as I can. But for the time being I'm is pretty good spirits and healthy and hope all of you are also.

Love Lincoln