This is a long - and overdue - post. Caveat Lector.

Apart from some specific meetings and basic infrastructure tasks, Moses and I had only a general sense of agenda. Because we've both traveled to other countries and cultures, we share not only a basic curiosity about how things and people work, but also a deep respect for the knowledge that can only come from immersive experience.

So as we drove around punching items off our to-do list, we held an ongoing conversation about personal goals, principles, and lifestyles. We both realized that focusing exclusively on the Flying Thing project masked a greater commonality: a desire to use our creativity to innovate for the greater good.

But we also returned again and again to a recognition of a common failure: the lack of sustainment or adoption of our ideas, prototypes, and solutions.

We had these conversations mostly while driving. My most sobering lesson so far has been in the sheer difficulty of movement in and around Nairobi. To add to this difficulty is the geographical separation of the markets and companies that provide the various components and services common to our technical solutions (see the annotated Google Map provided by Moses):

Traveling to each of these locations eats up a considerable amount of time and fuel in the stop-and-go traffic which is the norm within Nairobi. And with the unpredictability of fuel supply (we've pulled into a different station almost once a day that claimed they were out) the logistics of rapid and adaptive innovation are thrown into the harsh light of local reality.

We've still made great connections and discoveries. Bill Kirk of Orbit Chemicals was exceptionally helpful and engaging. He discussed the various ways in which forms can be built, shapes can be cut and molded, and some pros and cons of each. He expressed his willingness to engage us on custom work to our requirements.

Robert of Henkel Chemicals took precious minutes out of his day and walked us through the various sizes of fiberglass and coatings, and options for construction and purchase. And the various small shop owners specializing in electronic parts were very patient with some of our unusual requests (i.e., antennas for cell data modems).

The result of our discussions, explorations, and insights led us back to several fundamentals:

• Our most important contribution is helping others innovate to meet their own needs.
• Our second most important contribution is providing solutions (at various levels of maturity along a product/service spectrum) to those willing to adopt innovation within their organizations and lives.
• Sustainable and ongoing innovation requires understand and adapting to our personal realities and of the reality of the environment in which we operate.

To achieve these fundamentals given our current resources and restrictions, we recognize that we have to establish and sustain a physically local and legal presence.

Thus is born KenyaBit, a Nairobi-based company that will be owned by Moses, Metanomy, and BitWorld (my non-profit that works in the data analytics space). We even have a clever slogan: "Innovate a bit".

Establishing a formal entity provides us with a brand that transcends our personalities and captures our most important work - helping others innovate in their own lives.

It also helps us meet our second goal: providing products and services to those willing to adopt innovation but without the ability to do so wholesale. This requires that we have a more stable infrastructure for the ongoing work of innovation (distinct and credible web presence, legal contracts, financial flows, equipment purchase and import) but also help us pursue revenue and partnering agreements with other institutions as well as provide low-cost services to individuals.

As our focus has shifted from project specifics to establishing a foundation to support ongoing innovation, we have still taken the time to explore a bit of Kenya and have some fun. Moses has graciously allowed me to visit his home in Githinguri (north west of Nairobi), a quiet and astonishingly beautiful countryside of green hills and valleys covered with various agricultural plots (coffee, tea, and other vegetables).

Moses took me down the hill behind his house to show me where his Flying Thing first took flight. We brought along the Bilxler, and in my attempt to "show him how its done", I promptly fly it into his neighbor's trees, where it got stuck approximately 50 meters up. Fortunately (for a small fee), the plane was rescued by some local workers who took an amazing risk (but showed their own very clever ingenuity) in scaling smooth, barkless trees to a fatal height.

We then visited Nairobi National Park and I saw my first taste of savanna. We were both surprised at the small numbers of game present (admittedly, we were forced by Park rules to keep to the roads). And we were also delighted at how extensive Safaricom's 3G coverage penetrated into the park.

Later we visited Hell's Gate National Park, driving up along the rim of the Great Rift Valley before descending and passing along the souther side of Lake Naivasha. This Park seemed much more intimate and expansive at the same time, and we drove within meters of wart hogs, giraffes, baboons, and an uncountable number of species of birds. Again, we noticed how 3G penetrated almost all areas of the Park. Sadly, however, we have to report that the Bixler met its final end in a remote and empty part of the park. It has served us well.

Our plans for the coming week are ambitious. At the large scale, we will meet with a local law firm to map out the requirements, cost, and timeline for establishing KenyaBit as a legal entity. We will travel to Mombasa, and on the return trip explore Tsavo (East and West). And, time permitting, we will go to the famous Maasai Mara.

At the small scale, we will construct a prototype body of a powered glider using corrogated plastic (recycled from an old sales poster). Moses and I have been impressed as we have seen examples from around the world of hobbyists achieveing impressive flight and video transmission ranges using this approach. And the ability to conserve engine energy by using rising thermals is something we think might be applicable to the open savanna of Tsavo where the majority of Kenyan elephants range.

While the many little tasks and accomplishments have been nice (and the frustrations and tactical failures numerous), there is an overall, deep sense of contentment. We have a deeper sense of how to continue to make a difference, a sober recognition of the challenges we face (personally and within the larger socio-economic systems we live in) and a core resolve to go forward and make progress.

Only one week, and already we feel we have met our most important goal.