The Illinois Agricultural Leadership group departed the hotel for the last time early Thursday morning.  After two weeks, everyone was eager to reunite with family at home.  Our plane departed Hong Kong shortly after 9:00 am Thursday morning.  Time literally stood still as the 14-hour flight raced from morning back to night and back to morning arriving in Chicago at the same time we left Hong Kong, 9:00 am Thursday. 

Upon arrival in Chicago, we proceeded through our last series of declarations and boarder checks to reenter the USA.  Since our group had visited several farms in China and Vietnam, we got to see first hand how our boarder control is helping to keep foreign diseases like hoof and mouth from entering the US.  Since we always wore plastic shoe covers and walked through decontamination mats on each farm we visited, most of us passed through without much inconvenience.  However, some of the livestock producers in our class took advantage of the USDA’s service to have their shoes washed and decontaminated. 

The biggest challenge we faced was how to transport our luggage home.  Somehow, many of us returned with far more than we took along with us two weeks ago.  Souvenirs, news clothes, and new luggage accumulated throughout our trip as we practiced our negation skills, took advantage of the US dollars purchasing power, and did our part to improve the GDP of China and Vietnam.

As this journey comes to a close, we would like to once again thank the many sponsors who helped make this trip possible.

Archer Daniels Midland Co.
Cargill Investments (China), Ltd.
Caterpillar China
CoBank
DuPont China Limited
HSBC
Liaoning Province Foreign Affairs Office
Maersk Hong Kong Ltd.
Pharmacia
Pinggu County, China
Renessen, LLC
USV Limited