Jim Campbell 1953-2008

Yesterday morning Alli’s Father Jim passed away. He had been sick for years now and went painlessly surrounded by his family. He will definitely be missed by all who knew him.

Yaks, Planes, and Automobiles

Hello everyone. Well as many of you know Alli and I are now in America. Unfortunatley Alli's Father Jim is very sick and we were called home. Jim is on his third liver now and has been plenty sick before so we are of course hoping for the best. He became sick while in Alabama during Christmas and remains in the hospital in Huntsville as they are unable to move him back to Chicago. So that is where we are now. The Peace Corps has been great in this emergency, Alli's family called the Office of Special Services last tuesday and we were on the next flight back to America. Muren to Ulaanbaatar to Beijing to Chicago to Nashville to Huntsville. It was a long trip 21 total hours in the plane, so just three hours short of what it would have been to take a Meeker from Muren to Ulaanbaatar. Those things really put everything in perspective. So thursday morning it was -35 in Mongolia and it was 70 when we landed in Nashville over a 100 degree swing! Oh and apparently we smelled real bad, Josh (Alli's brother) picked us up at the airport and he confirmed it, luckily not like "wow those kids smell" but more like "wow those kids smell like a fire".
Beijing you all will be interested to know is easily the most polluted place I have ever been, seen or heard about. It was a cloudless day and it looked like it was overcast, I am not exagerating one iota. However, as we were flying into Beijing we did get to see the Great Wall, it just snaked across the ridge of a mountain line underneath us. One of those moments you know that you will remember for the rest of your life. So keep Jim in your heart and we will keep you posted. Love Mike and Alli from beautiful beautiful America