Woodsy's Arrival In Bonita, California -- 8-28-96

Dear Friends at Glenridge School,

You'll be glad to know that I arrived safe and sound in San Diego, California today. I'm glad it was a fast trip from Clayton to San Diego, because I was stuffed into a little FedEx envelope all the way. But the FedEx man who carried me from the airport to Mr. and Mrs. Rogers' house was very nice. He helped make that part of the trip go fast. I took a good picture of him when I arrived which I will send to you.

Mr. and Mrs. Rogers' are the nice people I'll be traveling with when I fly to Australia on Saturday. I was excited to meet Mr. Rogers because I have seen him on television. But I found out this is not the same Mr. Rogers. Oh, well... this Mr. Rogers is a nice man anyway.

I got some good pictures here with some of the people at the Rogers' house. I'll send those pictures, too.

Mr. Rogers says that my airplane ticket and my passport are all ready to go. I'm so excited that I can hardly stand it. The airplane ride to Australia will be so much fun... even if it is over 4,000 miles of ocean. We will fly from Los Angeles, California to Sydney, Australia. The trip will take almost 14 hours. We leave on SATURDAY at 1:00 PM and get to Sydney at 8:35 PM on SUNDAY night. This is really funny, since it seems to take more than a day to get there. But a funny thing happens out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean: we cross the International Date Line. When that happens, it pops into the next day. One minute it's Saturday. Then the next minute it's Sunday. It's almost like we lose a whole day. Isn't that the strangest thing?

Mr. Rogers says that when we get to Sydney we'll drive to Canberra, the capital of Australia, and meet Ms. Sandra Wills and Ms. Huston. They'll make sure I find a new home at a nice school some place there in Australia... at least for awhile.

I'm already having fun... even though I miss so many of my good friends there in Clayton, Missouri. I hope I'll be able to come back and see you all again some day.

But until then, don't worry about me.

I'll write again soon. And when I get settled, I'll send you some nice pictures which will show you some of the wonderful adventures I'm already having.

I love you.

Woodsy Your Travel Buddy