27 DEC 98

On the evening of the 15th, Gary and I took leave of our hotel in Kathmandu. They presented us each with a silk scarf around our necks and a small Bhuddist blessing. Then we took an overnight bus to the Indian border. The next morning we took a rickshaw across the border to catch our new bus. Our rickshaw driver did not stop at either Nepalese or Indian customs and we had to go back and get our passports stamped.

After an all day bus ride, we arrived in Baranas (the city formerly known as Varanasi). Baranas is one of the seven holiest Hindu cities. We spent a few days looking at temples and also went down to the Ganga (the river formerly known as Ganges). They have two areas on the river bank where they cremate people on open fires. Even though they do not burn children, snake bite victims or small pox victims, the demand is so high that burnings take place 24 hours a day. We took a boat ride on the river at sunrise to see all the faithful Hindu pilgrims bathing in the holy waters. We also saw a few Gangatic Dolphin swimming in the very dirty looking river. One evening, we went to a small concert and listened to some traditional Indian music.

After an overnight train journey across the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, we arrived in another one Holy City. In Hardwar we watched some more pilgrims bath in the Ganga River and looked at a few more temples. Gary was also diagnosed with Ameobic Dysentary and started taking some pills.

On Gary's birthday, the 22nd of December, we parted company. He headed off for some tabla (Indian drum) lessons and I went in search of the desert. I went west through the state of Punjab. This is the main area for Seiks, the men with big turbans and beards. Then I went south to the state of Rajistan. Rajistan is a desert state with many camels and old palaces. I spent a few days in Bikaner looking at temples and forts.

Along the way, Gary and I learned that we were too late to see the Dali Lama in Baranas and too early for skiing in Auli.

Now I am in Jaisalmer. I leave on a four day camel safari through the desert tomorrow.

Many people find travel in India very difficult and I can see why. A simple walk down the street usually turns into a meet and greet session with the local population. Most shopkeepers yell "Hello" as you walk by and so do many children and pedestrians. Sometimes it is just a quick hello and a handshake and then I am on my way. Most people know enough English to ask my name and country. Quite a few can continue our conversation to the point of asking if I am married and what my opinion of Bill Clinton is. At some point most of them make their request for money, pens, or my business. I enjoy talking to people, but the fact that about 95% of conversations end with some sort of request from me does get a little bit old.

There are some great people and places in India, but you need a bit of a thick hide to be able to enjoy it fully. Also, the cities are very crowded and very polluted. I am looking forward to riding a camel through the desert for a few days and getting away out of the cities.

I am planning to see a few more cities in Rajistan and then head south to the state of Gujarat. I will work my way down the west coast of India until I run out of time and head back up to Nepal. I hope to return there by mid-February.

13 Dec 98

I just finished a very enjoyable few days learning to kayak. On the 9th, Gary and I went out to the Seti River and met Dan and Richard. Along with Min, Suko, and Anil (our guides) we headed down the river. We spent three nights camping alongside the river next to the jungle. We also spent the better part of four days getting thrashed about in the river. I learned quite a bit and would like a chance to practice a bit more sometime.

On the first day we learned a few basics and went through some small rapids. The second day I learned to roll the kayak in flat water and ended up swimming after wrecking in a few rapids. The third day I nearly perfected my kayak rolling technique and survived most of the rapids without an emergency ejection from my upsidedown kayak. On one memorable rapid, I ended up upside down and tried to roll back over. That did not work. Then I felt a big bump. I thought it was my guide coming to rescue me. My guide would bump the side of my boat with his so that I could grab his boat and turn myself over. After a moment I realized that the hard bump I had felt was not on the side of my boat, but was on the back of my head. At this point I decided that I was being pounded by rocks, and not being rescued. At that point I decided I would be better off swimming the rest of the rapid with my head above water, so I got out of the kayak and enjoyed my swim.

On the final day, I amazed my guides and myself by rolling my kayak upright after being overturned in some rapids. On the next rapid, I was again over turned and able to right myself without any help. None of the other people in my class were able to roll very well and apparently very few people learn how to do it in the first few days. I think because I open my eyes underwater I was able to be more comfortable sitting in a kayak and blowing bubbles. All four of us ended up swimming through the next two rapids. I tried to roll back over, but the waves were just too big and I got nowhere. I told my guide that I could roll easily in flat water, but found it much more difficult in rough water. On the next rapid he told to practice rolling again. So, with great trust in his judgment of the depth of the water in the rapid, I rolled my self upside down as we entered the rapid. I rolled back upright and, at his urging, rolled again in the rapid. This went well, so I tried a third roll. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get my head above water again, I ended up pulling out and swimming.

Now Gary and I are in Kathmandu again. Tomorrow we head down to India. Our first stop will be Varanasi. It is a holy city for Hindus and we will spend a few days seeing the sights. Then we will try to find this skiing place he heard about in the Indian Himalayas.

Some more observations from my trek -

Language - On several occasions I was surprised to be addressed in Spanish by Nepalese people. It turns out that the words for 'what' (que) and 'goodbye' (hasta) are the same in both languages. They also have quite a few other words in common, but with different meanings. Both Spanish and Nepali have no 'V' sound and use 'B' instead. Also, they don't have many words that start with an 'S' sound. They both use the 'Es' sound, so Steve becomes Esteve.

Porters - In warm weather they wear no shoes or flip-flops. In cold weather they usually have some tennis shoes. The trail is littered with broken flip-flops.

6 DEC 98

Hello from Katmandu. I have just returned from a very enjoyable five week walk through eastern Nepal and will now bore you with the details.

Day 0 - Gary and I went to the bus station for our five o'clock bus. We had to buy three seats, one for each of us and one for our bags. The seat barely fit the two of us so our bags ended up in the aisle. We were near the front of the bus so people tripped over our bags all day, but no one seemed to mind. After a while a chicken found the floor beneath me comfortable and rested there for most of the day. Later, a woman with no seat got tired of holding her baby and plopped him down on Gary's lap.

In the late afternoon we arrived in Jiri, the end of the road, and found a place to stay. We got a nice double room for about five cents each.

Day 1 - Jiri is at about 6,000 feet above sea level. We spent the morning climbing to nearly 8,000 feet and then went down to a little under 6,000 feet before climbing back up to nearly 10,000 feet to spend the night. The last bit of the climb was very tiring and I had to take many rest breaks. I quickly discovered that walking in Nepal involves a lot of up and down. It seems that the river valleys all run north south, while the trail we were on ran east west. The Nepalese don't grow much facial hair and my beard proved to be quite popular. I pulled a couple of hairs out and chased the children around the schoolyard for a few minutes before continuing.

Day 2 - After spending the night on the cold mountain pass, we headed down the valley to about 5,000 feet. At this point we were below our starting point. After lunch we started climbing again. At a little over 8,000 feet we spent the night in Sete.

Day 3 - We spent the morning climbing to about 11,500 feet. There was a nice little place to eat at the top of the Lamjura pass. I had my first, and best, bowl of Sherpa Stew. It had potatoes, vegetables, and dumplings in it. Sherpa Stew is made of whatever ingredients were available at the time and is always different. After lunch, we walked through a foggy forest and came to the prayer flags at the high point of the pass. Then we started down the other side. Along the way a little girl fell on the path and hurt her leg. I tried to help her lift her basket, but it was too heavy for me to lift. She did not want us to help her get to the nearby lodge, so we ended up having to leave her there. Eventually, I got to Junbesi, at about 8,500 feet, and spent the night.

Day 4 - From Junbesi, we crossed the river and started up the next hill. After a while, we came around the hill and had our first few of Mt. Everest and a few of her neighbors. Then, after a descent to the river, we climbed up the next ridge. From there it was a several hour descent to Nuntala. I ended up in the middle of a small group of porters for about half-an-hour. I decided that their language sounded like Italian with a little bit of Chinese thrown in.

I arrived in Nuntala well before four and still had a lot of energy left. I ended up playing with the kids. First we climbed a wall and the little ones told me that their names were Tenzing Norgay Sherpa. He was one of the first two people to climb Mt. Everest. Then I lined all the kids up on the wall and gave them a lecture. I was doing well, even if they did not understand me, until a man on a horse came by. He was still training the horse. When the horse came by the kids all ran after it until it left town. I joined them. When the horse returned it threw the rider and he seemed a bit upset. After a while, he got the horse under control again and hopped back on. The horse immediately threw him again and his shoe went flying away. This time he saw the humor and the whole town laughed with him. Later, I declined his offer to ride the horse.

The kids and I went to play in the schoolyard for a while and then, when they got out of control, I ran into the lodge to escape. They would not follow me in there and I had a nice peaceful dinner while they ran up and down the street making noise.

Day 5 - From Nuntala we went down the hill until we were at 5,000 feet again. After a break by the river, we started up the next hill. We arrived at Bupsa early and decided to push on. We were skirting up and around a ridge and a fog rolled in. It proved to be a long walk to the next town and we both got very hungry. We each ended up buying a Snicker bar for well over a dollar. I arrived at the Beehive Lodge in Puiyan well after five. The owner had two daughters and I kept them riled up and noisy until nine. This did not go over too well since most trekkers are in bed by seven. It was Halloween, but no trick-or-treaters ever came to lodge. I don't know why.

Day 6 - Three Americans who had been on the same pace as us for the last few days told me that I was a nice guy, as long as there were no kids around. From Puiyan we were now headed north, towards the mountains and away from the foothills that we had been in so far. After lunch we joined the trail from the airport and the trek changed dramatically. Up to this point we had seen a few people going the other direction each day and about 15 or so going in our direction. After the airport, we saw hundreds of people.

The lodges got much fancier and we ended up paying nearly a dollar for our room that night in Phakding. Also, the people got much older. Many retired Japanese, Americans and Germans fly into Lukla and do only a four or five day walk into the mountains.

At around seven that night a few of us decided to stay up until at least eight. We got a deck of cards, but nobody could think of a game. We ended up inventing the game as we went along. The British people were good at making up silly rules, but the German woman was slow to catch on. Near eight, she asked if this was an English game and said it was very confusing.

I was kept up much of the night by the rat that sounded like it was eating the bottom of the leg of my bed.

Day 7 - For the first hour we had to push through large crowds of porters, yaks and large, slow groups of tourists. Eventually we left them behind and entered the Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park. Up until this point we had been walking through villages and fields. Now we were in a park and the villages thinned out. After a nice walk along the river, we came to a flimsy bridge. The bridge, one of many of this type along the trek, was a suspension bridge with a wooden floor. Wherever the wood had rotted away, large rocks were placed to prevent the yaks (and people?) from poking through.

After a very difficult climb, we came to Namche Bazaar. At well over 11,000 feet it is the gateway to the mountains for all of the trekkers. As a major tourist center, it contained gear shops, bakeries, many lodges, a high altitude sauna, a visitor center, an airport, a hotel with pressurized rooms, a pool hall, a disco, and many trinket shops.

We found a lodge and settled in. Our neighbors turned out to be a Buddhist Lama and a few disciples. They burned incense and played their trumpets and drums very loudly. Luckily, after several straight hours, they stopped for the night.

Day 8 - Namche had been our goal for the first week. Here we took our first acclimatization day. When going into high altitude places it is important to go slowly and allow your body time to adjust. We climbed up the ridge behind town and went to a viewpoint. We sat on the ground and looked at the mountains for a while. Then we went back down to Namche and ate lunch. Then, I made the biggest mistake of the whole trip. I took a shower.

They boiled up the water, put it in the bucket and carried it out to the shed. The water came out of a real shower nozzle and was warm enough, but other than that it was rough. The shed let in the cold breeze and the concrete floor drained my body heat through my feet. Despite the trickle of hot water, I was soon shivering. I went back to my room, put on all my clothes and got in my sleeping bag to recover. I lost my voice for a little while and got a fever and a small cold. I vowed not to shower again until the outside air temperature was more hospitable.

Day 9 - I left about ten pounds of worthless junk that I had been carrying in Namche and had a much easier time walking. We went up to the monastery in Tengpoche and saw the monks practicing for the upcoming festival. We continued on to Devuche to spend the night.

Day 10 - We continued our climb up to Dingboche. We got there early and I was pleased to discover that they had a large selection of books and were willing to trade them. We took an afternoon stroll up the ridge and then settled around the yak-dung fire in the evening.

Day 11 - Here we took our second acclimatization day. We were now near 14,000 feet and our bodies needed another chance to adjust. We took a day hike up a very steep hill to well over 16,000 feet. We sat there and acclimated while looking at the view for a while and then went back down to Dingboche for the night.

Day 12 - Gary had come up here to climb the 21,000+ foot Island Peak. He headed off to his climb and I went up to Lobuje. I spent the coldest night of the whole trek here, at around 16,000 feet. My water bottle froze next to me and I spent much of the night shivering. I realized that my aging synthetic sleeping bag might not be up to the task of really, really cold nights. For the next week, which I would spend at an altitude well above Colorado, I slept in all of my clothes every night.

Day 13 - I took a nice two-hour stroll up the moraine and over the glacier to Gorak Shep. I had a long lunch and around noon I started up Kala Pattar. Kala Pattar is a hill that tops out at a little over 18,000 feet above sea level. It is a good viewpoint to look at Everest, Everest Base Camp, Pumori, Lhotse, many other mountains, and over into Tibet. I spent an hour and a half sitting up there and looking at the views. Then I went back down to Lobuje for the night.

There was a British military climbing expedition in the lodge. They had been trying to climb Pumori, but after a few avalanches took out their base camp they decided to come off the mountain. They were a great group of guys and had many good stories to tell.

A Spanish woman lost feeling in the left half of her face and her arm. Dr. Hugh, from the British group, went out and got her a Gamow Bag. They put her in it and inflated it to the air pressure of around 11,000 feet. After an hour, she was feeling better and at nine p.m. she headed down the mountain to the doctors at Pheriche. Dr. Hugh then went on to tell us about the 13 deaths in three weeks he had come into contact with up there. Almost all of them were from altitude sickness. Mostly it is twenty-something year olds who go too high too fast and don't properly acclimatize. They ignore the warning signs, push on, and die.

The British expedition was, in part, sponsored by Mars Candy and they passed out Mars bars before heading out to their tents for the night.

Day 14 - I slept late and then read a book while I waited for Mei, a Chinese woman I was going to walk with for a few days. She spent the previous night up at Gorak Shep so I had to wait for her to come down. Then, after lunch, we walked down the valley a little ways and then headed over the ridge. We walked for a few hours and spent the night in Dzongla.

Day 15 - We continued up the mountain to the Cho La pass at around 18,000 feet. We had some great views and then had to walk across a glacier for a little ways. After a rest near the prayer flags, we headed down into the next valley. There were no villages up this high, but there was a guy with a blanket spread out and candy and tea for sale. He had a little radio and sat in the middle of nowhere waiting for some business. By late afternoon we had followed the valley down to the town of Tauna.

Day 16 - We had a bit of a slow start because we only had a two hour walk ahead of us to Gokyo, down at 15,500 feet. We had to cross a very large glacier after about twenty minutes. Half way across we sat down and stayed for over two hours. It was too amazing to continue. The glacier was pretty flat and covered with rocks and boulders and lakes. We sat next to a frozen lake with steep sides. As the sun heated up the lake, the covering of ice broke up. Also the rocks embedded in the walls broke loose and fell onto the ice or into the lake. The sounds were incredible. It was the best concert I have ever heard. The little and big rock falls and the creaking of the ice had us mesmerized for hours.

Eventually, we continued on to Gokyo and had lunch. In the middle of the afternoon we headed up Gokyo Ri, a small hill with more excellent mountain views. We climbed up to around 17,500 feet and watched the sunset on Everest. Then we went back down to our lodge, the Gokyo Resort. They even had a glass enclosed lounge room and pizza. It was very expensive. A double room cost nearly three dollars. It is a very popular place and was quite crowded.

Day 17 - Mei had to head back down the valley and I took a walk up the valley. Gokyo is on the third lake in a series and I took two hours to walk up to the fifth glacial lake. I went to Scoundrel's View. It is called this because it is one of the best views of Everest, and all you have to do is climb the moraine (pile of rocks next to a glacier). It is easy to get to and one of the best viewpoints. Then I skirted around the fifth lake and climbed the hill behind it. I sat up on the mountain for a few hours and then went back down to Gokyo.

This area above Gokyo was the most impressive of the whole trip and I wish I had had a tent. I would love to have spent a week up there climbing up every hill and valley.

That night I met Tom. Tom is a retired Army Ranger mountaineering specialist medic. About six months after he retired he got itchy feet and started walking. Now, almost seven years later, he has walked most of the way around the world, including 18 months across Russia, four months through China, and across Laos, Cambodia, and the Nulibor Plain in Australia. He had planned to walk around the world in six years, but is having too much fun to hurry.

Day 18 - Tom had just crossed the Renjo Pass the day before and when he saw the number of people in Gokyo he was appalled. He decided to head back across the pass. I had been questioning him about the pass the night before and he invited me along for the day. Another American, Erik, joined us and we headed over the pass. It was a tiring climb up to the nearly 18,000 foot pass, but the view from the top was great. We looked down the valley, across the blue lake, over the glacier, over a mountain and right at Everest. At the top of the pass we met one of the only other trekkers we would see the whole day.

Going down into the next valley was difficult because the path was steep and rocky. At the bottom we skirted a lake and headed down a long sloping valley. We passed a bunch of yaks and continued on to a small stone house. Shepards live in the house in the summer, but now it is empty. We moved in and slept on the floor.

This day was a bit like an adventure because we saw almost nobody and did not sleep in a lodge.

Day 19 - After breakfast we continued down the valley and came to the main trading route between Tibet and this part of Nepal. At times the trail was wide enough for a car, if one could have been flown up here. It was a hard decision to turn down the valley and deeper into Nepal. We were only a day away from the Tibetan border. There were a few Tibetans on the trail leading there yaks back to Tibet.

We got to the town of Thami for a late lunch. Many Nepali Sherpas who lead expeditions up mountains use the money they earn to open lodges in Thami. It was one of the nicest towns on the whole trek and the first town in a long time that was not there solely for the trekkers.

I was supposed to meet Gary back in Namche that night so, in the late afternoon I headed down the valley some more. Tom and Erik went up to the monastery to spend the night. I had a nice walk through many villages. I was now down below 12,000 feet and the thicker atmosphere and easy downhill grade made me feel very strong. For the first time the whole trip I was able to walk up the small hills briskly, without losing my breath.

I got back to Namche and was so pumped up from the last three days that it was half an hour before I could even sit down.

Day 20 - Gary had had an excellent climb, but now had a bit of a cold. We decided to have a rest day. We went to the pizza place and I ate a couple of pizzas and chocolate cake and a bit more food. Then we went down to where the Tibetens were camped and looked at the stuff they were selling. They did not speak any English, but they were very friendly.

Day 21 - The second phase of our walk was now over. We had walked to Namche. Then we had walked above Namche. Now it was time to walk back out. There is a big hill leading down from Namche and in the 45 minutes it took to get down I passed many of my rest stops from two weeks earlier. I was amazed that some of them were only a few minutes apart on the descent, but thirty minutes apart on the climb.

We stopped for some soup at the park entrance and my friend Mike showed up. I had not seen him since I left Kathmandu. Our meeting in Namche never happened and now he was on his way down to the airport in Lukla. Later, I ate some steamed potato dumplings for lunch. I walked with Meghan, another Trek America guide, for about an hour or two. In Phakding we took a break and I asked her if she felt alright. Then I ran into the toilet and lost a lot of liquid out my backside and a little out my head. It was my first case of food poisoning for the trip.

It was a very long couple of hours to our night stop and I thought many times of hiring a porter to carry my pack, which was again way too heavy with the junk I had left in Namche. I got to the lodge, sat down and then ran outside to loose a lot of liquid out my front and a little out my back. I went to sleep early, without dinner.

Day 22 - I did not have much breakfast and felt a bit weak. Also, it was our first day of rain. I put on my rain gear and off we went. By about one we got back to the Beehive Lodge in Puiyan and decided to call it a day. I ate a big lunch and was over my food poisoning. I read a book until the girls got home from school and then riled them up until their parents yelled at them. That night was a big meteor shower that we had been anticipating for the whole trip. All we saw were clouds.

Day 23 - It was still raining. We walked all morning and in Bupsa had lunch. We again decided to stop for the day.

Day 24 - We had walked into the Solo Khumbu region from the west and were planning to walk out to the east. Bupsa was the place where we left the track we had come in on and headed east. We went up the ridge and ran into three trekkers who told us how great the trail ahead was. We noticed one big difference right away. The road from Jiri to Namche is a major highway. Porters are carrying in beer, water, soda, food, toilet paper, mattresses, and nearly every thing else that is used by the locals and tourists. Now we were off the main highway and saw almost no one else. We walked to the town of Sebuche and spent the night as the only tourists in town.

At one point we heard a couple of booms off in the distance. We found out later that it was a plane crash.

Day 25 - We went down the river, at about 6,000 feet, and then continued up to Najidingma, at about 9,000 feet. We met six trekkers going the other way and four going our way. We stayed in a house built of bamboo mats and some sort of ferret like animal ran through the ceiling all night.

Day 26 - We went over a little 10,000 foot pass and went down to Bung. We were now in the Makalu-Barun Conservation Area and saw many improvments. They had very nice cement water faucets outside. The entrance fee was obviously doing the locals some good. I paid the $15 for my park pass and signed the book. I was the 396th trekker to pass through Bung this year.

Day 27 - We trekked down through the millet fields to a river and then up to Gudel. Gary, the two Australians we were with (Shiela and Steve) and I all agreed that this was one of the most beautiful sections of the whole trek. We all wanted to move there. We continued up the valley to Sanam and had the first bit of yogurt in several weeks. At one point we passed a school and the three teachers came out to ask for money. I gave about $1.50 and am now a benefactor of the school. I even got to sign a book. Then I went in and taught class for a few minutes before it was time to walk some more.

Day 28 - Sheila and Gary were a bit sick from the previous nights dinner. We passed a group of trekkers headed the other way and then got up to the 11,000 foot pass. Now, except for the last day, we were done walking up. Even though it would take three days to get to the river, we were headed down into the Arun Valley. We walked down to Jaubari and spent the night in our most primitave lodge yet. Lodges have one big room with a row of benches around the edge. Up until this point we had slept in seperate private rooms or dormatories at high altitudes. Now the benches were our beds. Normally the family sleeps there, but since we were paying about four cents each, we got to sleep up there. There was room left over for the children, but the adults got the floor. After everyone was in bed, one of the girls let off a really loud fart. Gary and I pretended to be asleep, but everyone else laughed alot.

Day 29 - We continued following the river in a side valley down towards the Arun Valley. We were now in Nepal's most fertile area and there was a lot of agriculture. People were selling oranges and tangerines on the side of the trail. It was nice to snack on some fruit as I walked. We also stopped for a swim in the river.

At the end of the day I came around a bend and realized I was in a jungle. The village of Gothe Bazzar consisted of fewer than ten houses, but the houses were all on stilts and made of bamboo. The children all ran around mostly naked and we slept outside on a sort of porch. The place looked like something you would expect to see in Vietnam or Thailand. I ate the first banana of my adult life here. It was very good.

Day 30 - After a few hours walk I realized that I had food poisoning again. I threw up a bunch and then stumbelled through the next few hours. By late afternoon all the bad stuff was out and I felt better. I ran into a police man from Namche and we walked together for a while. Then I met the lodge owners kid from the next village coming home from school. This was not the first time that I helped a kid practice his english and then learned that his family's lodge is the only one in the next town. So, I got to play with Nabin all evening. In Balawa Besi I had a good time talking to Nabin's family. We also met one other trekker going the other way.

Day 31 - We finally got to see the mighty Arun River. The little stream that we had started next two a few days earlier had grown and grown until it flowed into the Arun. We crossed the Arun on a big bridge after paying the two cent toll. Then we followed the river for a while and then went up a small ridge. At the top we came to a plataeu that was four miles long and perfectly flat. For the first time in a month I was able to walk for more than five minutes with out going up or down. The locals were so excited about the plataeu that they have brought in bicycles. We spent the night in Tulmingtar. Tulmingtar has an airport so we saw about ten other trekkers there. Sheila and I went to the airport to watch the plane land. They sounded a siren to scare away the livestock and let people know that a plane was coming. A large trail bisects the runway and it would be easy to get caught out. Some other people were obviously there for the first time and ran away scared when the plane started up its engines.

Then there was an earthquake. Sheila and I were sitting on the edge of a building and we felt it shake. But, it was a pretty mild one and no damage was done.

Day 32 - Sheila and Gary were not feeling too well again so we opted for another rest day. We walked about an hour down to a tributary of the Arun and spent a few hours sitting on the beach and swimming in the water. Then we went back to Tulmingtar.

As we waited for dinner, a woman near us started crying. Then a big group of men came by. They were carrying two bodies wrapped in plastic and hung from poles like game animals. They dumped the bodies on the side of the trail and came into our restaurant for some tea. After a while they picked up the bodies and headed off to the big town up the hill. Apparently, the night before, some robbers broke into an old man's house and took about $30,000. The old man killed one with his knife and then was shot.

Day 33 - We went back down to the Arun and continued down stream for the rest of the day. The temperature was finally perfect for hiking, if you enjoy hot jungles like I do. The others were complaining about the heat, but it felt good to walk in shorts and drip sweat. We were now well under 700 feet above sea level. Very few trekkers use this trail and there were no tourist lodges along the way. We spent this night in a small lodge that caters to porters going up and down the valley. Gary walks faster than me and I was not able to catch up to him this day. Actually he kept walking faster than me and I never saw him again until Kathmandu.

Day 34 - Sheila, Steve, and I continued south along the river to Mangmaya. They had a little place that sold sweets, so we spent the night. I asked for the toilet and they said "River Toilet". I went down there but it was like a mine field. I guess the river has not risen to clean the banks recently. A couple of Dutch trekkers caught up to us and the five of us spent the night in another porter lodge. I spent the afternoon reading a book by the river.

Day 35 - The end of our trek was a little over 5,000 feet above us. All we had to do was walk up one last hill. By about two p.m. we were four miles from the end. They were building a road there and we saw the first car since Jiri. Sheila got the Colonel in charge of building the road to give us a ride the rest of the way. We spent the night in Hile.

The walking was over and all that was left was to get back to Kathmandu.

The next day we sat on the roof of the bus for the three hour journey to the next biggest town. Sheila and Steve don't like to take overnight buses in Asia because the drivers often fall asleep, so we bought bus tickets to take us half way back to Kathmandu. From Dahnkuta we rode the bus until a little before seven p.m. Then we got off a small town. For dinner we ate some small birds, sauteed in garlic. They were very tasty. We slept in a room that looked liked a converted garage and slapped mosquitoes all night while bed bugs bit us. On the 2nd of December we finished our bus ride back to the capital. After all those weeks being able to see views one hundred miles away, it was nice to be able to see the air only a few feet away. Also, for the first time in over a month, I was able to sit on a toilet instead of squat. The angles seemed all wrong, but it worked in the end.

25 OCT 98

I have spent the last week hanging out in Kathmandu and figuring out what to do next. Every day my plans change as I find out new information. But, at last, I have come up with a plan.

Tomorrow, Gary and I will take a local bus to Jiri. The bus ride takes about 12 hours to go 190 kilometers. It cost us each about three dollars, but that includes the extra seat we had to get for our backpacks.

Jiri is the end of the road and from there we will walk. We will take a little over a week to get up to the Everest area. My friends Mike and Tim, along with two other people, will meet us in Namche Bazar. From there we will take about two weeks to walk around the high mountains in the Mt. Everest area. Then Gary and I will keep walking southeast for another two weeks until we get to Hile. From there we will catch a bus back to Kathmandu.

We should get back here around my birthday. I will check for mail at the American Express office (hint, hint). On the ninth of December we will start a four day kayak course on one of the nearby rivers.

It will probably be getting pretty cold in this mountain kingdom by then. For today at least, the plan is to go around India until March or so and then come back up here to Nepal. I will then take a walk around the Annapurna region before heading home.

The Internet costs about five cents per minute here, which is pretty good. It is also very fast.

On Friday I ate lunch at a little place across the street. The waiter's 15 year old brother-in-law had no school that day and was hanging out at the restaurant. Segun became my guide for the afternoon. We went up to the Monkey Temple and he explained a bit of it to me. We also took a bunch of local buses around the area. I was able to ask him all sorts of questions about life in Nepal and I learned a lot.

I think my diet will change considerably tomorrow. I expect to be eating little more than rice and beans for the next five weeks. This will be a big change from my time here in Kathmandu. I usually eat yogurt and granola with bananas and oranges in the morning. For lunch and dinner I have been choosing from one of the many Italian, Korean, Japanese, Indian, Thai, Tibeten, Nepali, and American places in the tourist district.

I don't think I will be able to update this for about six weeks, but it should be a pretty exciting update when I do.

23 OCT 98

In Singapore, I took a walk around the city and looked at the sights. I went to the National Museum and learned a little bit about the history of the City/State. I also went to the Chinese Gardens, but they were not very impressive.

On Saturday, I went to dinner at Joanne and Ho's house. They are a Singaporean couple who came on one of my Trek America trips last year. They cooked a very nice meal for me at their place and then we went to Little India. It was the Hindu new year, so we checked out a temple and wandered with the crowds.

The next day I flew to India. On the plane, almost every man had a beard, and for a change, mine was the shortest. I had my choice of twenty movies and some computer games on my personal entertainment center. After the flight, I went to a dormitory near the airport. A bed cost a little over a dollar. I got my first four bed bug bites of the trip.

On Monday, I flew into Nepal. I met Gary at the airport and the two of us found a very nice room in Kathmandu for six dollars per day. Gary is a pretty interesting person. He rode his bike to India from London last year.

We have spent the last few days seeing the sights. The first day we went up to the Monkey Temple and had our first taste of Nepalese culture. Two days ago, we found my friends from Australia. With Michael and Rachael, we watched a few cremations on the open funeral pyres by the river. Then we went to a Tibetan temple and walked around it with the monks. I also had my picture taken with a big snake around my neck.

Yesterday, the four of us took a local bus out to a nearby town. It cost about five cents each and lasted an hour. In Bhaktapur we wandered around the narrow, winding streets and looked at temples. We also watched the women winnowing the rice. The bus ride back to Khatmandu was very exciting. The bus was jam packed and when we got to the end of the line about fifty people were waiting for us to get off so they could get on. A women handed me her three kids through the bus window so they could save a seat for her. Then we tried to get off. The ticket taker was checking tickets as we got off and he was also keeping the crowd from rushing onto the bus before we all got off. Eventually, he blinked and the crowed rushed past him. The bus was filled to overflowing and half of the people were still trying to get off. We were swept deeper back into the bus and then had to plow our way back towards the door. We eventually squeezed out, but it sure was fun.

Mike and Rach went back to Oz today. I am going to use today to catch up on some paperwork and read a book in the center of town.

The last few days have been the festival of Depwali, the Hindu New Year. Every night the kids set off fireworks. It is a festival of lights. All of the buildings are draped in electric lights and the roads are lined with candles. It is very pretty, but loud. I think their firecrackers are more like dynamite than the stuff I play with in the States.

The roads are very crowded with people, cars, motorcycles and rickshaws. When a vehicle approaches pedestrians, it honks its horn. This happens about once every second. Nepalese drivers use their horns more than they blink. The streets are very noisy.

Thamal, the tourist area, is set up very well for us. On a typical block there are a few hotels, a few Internet places, a few trinket shops, a few places to eat, a few camping supply shops and a few book stores.

I am spending nearly ten dollars a day on food and lodging, but I hope to bring that down once I leave the capital and start walking.

16 OCT 98

I hung out in Boston for the rest of the week and then went down to New Jersey. I played a game called 'Pitch and Putt' on a shrunken golf course with Uncle Jim and Cousin Josh. I also visited with Aunt Anne and Cousin Nancy. Then I vegetated on their couch for a few days before heading down to Florida.

I spent almost two weeks at my mother's. Mostly I slept and read books. Occasionally I moved boxes and furniture and painted a room. I also saw my grandparents and cousins Dori and Uri. I also tried to rearrange my web page, so now it is a little messed up. I hope to fix it someday.

On Wednesday afternoon I flew to Los Angeles. I went to the hotel I stay at when I am working and visited with the tour leaders who were hanging around. I also arranged my meeting with Mike, a fellow tour leader, in Nepal.

After a few hours in the hotel, I returned to the airport and got on a big plane for a long flight. Thirteen hours after take off we got to Taiwan. There was a typhoon. We tried landing twice, but the wind shear was too strong. We ended up going to Hong Kong instead, it was only another hour further.

I think that the Hong Kong airport is the nicest one I have ever seen. It is huge and it is clean. It is also very quiet. I could hear the dishes clattering in a restaurant three floors above me.

After a few hours, I got on another plane and came over here to Singapore. I used my usual method to find a place to sleep. I took a bus to the section of the city that has many cheap places to stay. When I got off the bus there was a man from one of the hostels there, ready to take me to my new home. I have a dirty, hard bed in a room with three sets of bunk beds. But, it is my first bed since I stopped working. No more couches or floors for me, I am going in style from now on. The bed is a little expensive, but I guess six dollars it not too bad.

I went to some street stalls for lunch. I ate a nice noodle soup and washed it down with sugar cane juice. Now I am ready to go explore the city. Bye.

23 SEP 98

In San Antonio, after my last update, I met Storm. Storm is a strange woman who talks to spirit people and can see several realities. I spent a few hours with her and learned just how weird some people can be.

That night I took two of my passengers out to a real urban cowboy bar. Everybody had cowboy hats and did all sorts of western dancing on the huge dance floor. The bar even had a rodeo. After a group prayer for the airplane crash victims and the United States of America, we watched bull riding and barrel racing.

The next day we headed over to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and watched the thousands of bats fly out for their nightly feed. The next morning we headed back up to the Cavern and walked around.

After two days of driving and a stop at the Four Corners Monument, we arrived at Monument Valley. We went on a horseback ride with the Navajo Indians. We slept under the stars in the middle of a good sized canyon and they sang while we danced around the fire. The next morning we galloped around the valley some more before driving to the Grand Canyon.

I started one of my favorite Grand Canyon hikes a little before sunrise the next day. I walked about four miles down into the canyon. Then I took a small trail that parallels the Colorado River along the plateau 1000 feet above the bottom. For these middle four miles of the hike, I have never seen another hiker. In the middle of this deserted section, there is a small river that, in the past I was able to sit in and enjoy the afternoon. This time, however, the water level was too low so I was only able to soak my feet while I read my book. I really like this place because it is a little deserted oasis in the middle of a pretty harsh desert. After lunch, a little reading, and a nap, I hiked up the normal crowded trail back to the rim.

My muscles were sore from two days of horseback riding and a good 13 mile hike, so it was off to Lake Powell. We jumped off of the cliffs and swam a bit before heading over to the Paria Canyon Guest Ranch. There was about eight other Trek groups there and so, naturally, there was a big party.

After a slow start the next morning, we went on a small hike up to some mushroom shaped rocks. It had been raining a lot so we took off our shoes and hiked in the river and in the mud. It felt good on our feet. I think, in southern Utah, you can stop the van and start walking anywhere and you will see amazing things. It rained the rest of the day, so instead of renting a boat and cruising Lake Powell, we went bowling.

That night was another party, so the next day was another slow start. We had lunch at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park and played in the pink sand for a little while. It was good, but off-road vehicles were allowed to play there also. It was strange to roll down a sand dune while watching for traffic.

We continued on to Zion National Park to discover that the week of rain we had been camping in had washed out the road to the main part of the park. This meant that we got to hike in a seldom visited portion of the Park that I was curious about anyway. We hiked along a stream bed for a few hours until the canyon got too small to continue up. Hiking small canyons is one of my favorite hikes, so I enjoyed it a lot.

On Monday morning, we drove along Lake Mead and in Boulder, Nevada, a few of the passengers went skydiving. That evening we pigged out at the Rio Buffet in Las Vegas and then cruised the strip in a Limo. It was a pretty good birthday for the now 54 year old Jean.

On our free day in Las Vegas Jean and I went to the Startrek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. We spent four hours and it was not enough. They have a museum of the future which details the future history of Startrek. We looked at phasers, costumes, and relics of the future. They also at a timeline that detailed the future as explained in the four Startrek series and eight movies. This was followed by a shuttle craft simulator ride that was easily the best simulator ride I have ever heard of.

After the ride, we shopped in Garak's store and then had dessert in Quark's Bar. Jean drank a Warp Core Breach and then had one of the most impressive drinks I have ever seen. She ordered a James Tea Kirk. It was pale blue, had gummi worms in it and was easily 1.5 liters. Everyone at the bar took pictures of it. Jean and I had our picture taken with her drink and one of the Ferengi when he came around to check on his bar. Then a big Klingon woman told me to go back to the bar and not leave until I was unable to leave.

I didn't drink too much, but Jean - oh boy. After two hours of sipping two big drinks without getting up - she was in a state. I had to offer her considerable help during our walk to the van the pick up the others and head out on the town for the evening. Jean and I both decided that we would like to live in the Startrek Experience.

On Wednesday, we drove to Los Angeles, toured Hollywood and finished the trip with a Thai dinner. With six mostly fun people and several excellent chefs, this was a great final trip for the year.

I spent the next three days cleaning all of my equipment and the van before returning it all to Trek. By Saturday night I was finished and it was time to retire again.

I have worked for 15 of the last 16 months, and all nine months of this year so far. That is more than anyone should ever have to work. I plan on taking about eight months to recover. This year I have driven around 40,000 miles in five countries from Belize to Alaska, the entire North American Pacific coast and over to the Atlantic coast as well.

Sunday morning I flew to Boston and my luggage arrived Tuesday night. The flight from Los Angeles to Denver was incredible. In under two hours I flew the same route I drive in ten days with Trek. We left L.A. at sunrise so the shadows on the ground were perfect the whole flight. We went over Las Vegas, Red Rocks State Park, The Valley of Fire, Lake Mead, Zion National Park, Coral Pink Sand Dunes SP, Grand Canyon NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument, Boulder Mountain, Lake Powell, Arches and Canyonlands NP, the Rocky Mountains, around Pikes Peak, over the Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado and over many other towns and places I have been in the last few years. I sure got Trek's money's worth out of that flight.

In Denver I got to look at the new airport. It was nice, but Atlanta had the same trains between terminals over ten years ago. The voice of the train was nicer in Denver, though. When I got to Boston I took the train out to my father's place.

When I got off of the train I walked down a new street in a strange city with a heavy backpack on my back. This was the most comfortable I have felt since I left Australia almost a year and a half ago. Walking with a pack on my back in a new place with no particularly pressing schedule may be my definition of happiness.

Cousins Susan, Alan, Liana, and Bailey were visiting my dad, Elizabeth and Emily so we all went out to eat. On Monday, Milo (my brother) came down from his summer home in Maine to visit for the week. This week my dad, my brother and I are just hanging out and visiting old friends.

21 SEP 97

I seem to get Internet access all the time now. Last week we went on a great mountain bike ride in Moab. Then it got cloudy, so the moonlight hike was cancelled. The next day we did the same six mile hike to the Needles in Canyonlands that I did a few weeks ago. This group is a bit more hardy, so we added a five mile loop to the middle of the hike and explored Chesler Park. There were some great canyons to squeeze through and it is still one of my favorite hikes, only more so. Then we went on a few short hikes in Arches and then drove the scenic way to Mexican Hat. We went to Slim and Cody's cowboy camp for some more horseback riding, roping, dancing, drinking, shooting, and swimming in the river and mud. Then down to Monument Valley, The Four Corners Monument and up to Mesa Verde. The next day, after a lot of rain, we explored the ancient Puebloan ruins and then drove up to Ouray. Today we did a very nice and very muddy bike ride down the valley and then I went over and saw my cousin Susan. Soon we will go have dinner and then go soak in the nice hot springs.

The latest word from the head office is that I get a week off after this trip ends. I plan to spend the week in Telluride hiking, visiting, and reading a lot of books. Then I should get a ten day trip from Denver to Los Angeles. Then - ???

16 SEP 97

Since my last update - I have rafted the Royal Gorge and been knocked out of the raft, played on the Great Sand Dunes, hiked in ice cold water to a waterfall, visited Mesa Verde, camped between a muddy river and a cliff in Utah at a Cowboy camp, swam in the muddy river, shot a rifle, ridden a horse, mountain biked in Moab, Utah, hiked to the Needles and bounced around in a jeep in Canyonlands N.P., hiked to Delicate Arch for sunrise, visited my cousins in Telluride, camped in the mountains next to a lake and watched the moon set, soaked in some nice hot springs near Ouray, saw a movie in Steamboat Springs (Conspiracy Theory - I liked it, hiked up and slid down a glacier in Rocky Mountain National Park, watched Elk graze, bugle, and mate, went on a tour of the Coors Brewing Company and hung out in Downtown Denver.

Then the two week trip ended and I started the same trip again with new passengers the next day. This time we are going counter-clockwise (anti-clockwise for you foreigners). We hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park and then soaked in some nice hot springs near Steamboat Springs. Then we drove over to Moab, Utah and I took the Shafer trail into Canyonlands National Park. We bounced up the dirt road for a few hours and then ate dinner while the sun set at Grand Viewpoint. Today we took some short photo-hikes in Arches National Park, and later we mountain bike, and maybe a moonlight hike in Arches.

As you can probably tell, I am enjoying my month in Colorado. In early October I should return to California and hopefully will be able to work through the winter for Trek - someplace warm.

4 SEP 98

After my last update we went over to the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The roof is falling down, but they played baseball in the rain anyway. The game is just as boring as I remember it, so I had to make it more exciting by cheering for the visiting Colorado Rockies and being silly.

The next day we went to New York and, thankfully, the trip was over.

For the next couple of days I did a little shopping, hung out with Fiona, worked in the New Jersey office and had my van repaired after it broke. After a 5000+ mile trip and a few days in the office I was more tired than I had ever been in my life.

Then I started my current trip. My passengers range in age from 15 through 54, and there are only six of them. They have the best attitude about travel and are incredibly appreciative of my efforts. So far, this has been the dream trip I needed after my last group. After a few good nights sleep my appetite returned and I am having fun again.

We spent a few hours in Philadelphia and then headed down to Washington D.C. For the next couple of days we went to museums, ate ice cream and Ethiopian food, went to Arlington and spent some time in Georgetown.

Then we drove through Virginia and looked at the Shenandoah National Park. In Tennessee we went white water rafting on the Ocoee River. It was much better than I remember it and we all had a good time. After a night stop at Noccolulla Falls in Alabama we went down to New Orleans.

We had a good night out on the town despite all of the sand bags. Hurricane Earl was expected so the night life was a bit slow. Earl missed us, as did Hurricane Bonnie last week, so we went on a swamp tour with Mr. Denny. We saw spiders, an alligator, birds and plants.

Yesterday we drove for eleven hours to get to San Antonio. It is very hot here and everybody is a bit tired, so we are having an easy day in the city and will go back to camp early for a swim.

My e-mail is not working, so I will have to write everybody some time later. Downtown San Antonio, America's 10th largest city, does not even have an e-mail cafe. I am at the library, but only get 30 minutes so time is up - bye.

20 Aug 98

On Sunday, August 2nd, twelve passengers and I left Seattle and spent the day in Vancouver. I had a few free hours so I went and watched the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Parade. There were many interesting floats, participants, and spectators. I learned that there is a gay campground near Vancouver that is not listed in the notes I get from Trek America. I wonder how a group would react to camping there.

The next day we drove to the Buffalo Ranch near Wells Grey Provincial Park and looked at a big waterfall. On Tuesday we zipped over to Jasper and saw a few waterfalls on the way. Jasper was disgustingly over crowded and only a preview of Banff. We swam in the town pool and I worked on my diving ability a little more. We also took a nice hike up to an area I had been to in early June. The snow was all melted, so we had to walk down instead of slide down.

On Thursday, we took a five hour guided hike up the Athabasca Glacier and learned a great deal. The next day we went white water rafting on the Kicking Horse River. After a few more water falls we went over to Lake Louise and I finally got to see it on a clear sunny day. It looks just like the post cards.

Then we went down to Banff and used that as a base for two days of hot pools, helicopter flights, hikes and shopping. This is the busy season and I had trouble driving through town and not hitting anybody. The good part, though, is that many of my tour leader friends were also around. Since we left Banff, we have not seen a single other Trek group.

The next day we drove for 520 miles and slept in a couple of rented trailers. The next day we drove for 420 miles and looked at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Museum. The next day we drove 460 miles and looked at Kakabeka Falls. The next day we went to Old Fort William. After looking at the reconstruction and re-enactment of Frontier Canadian life, we drove 350 miles. That was over 1800 miles in four days. I had a lot of un-used energy left over by the time we got to Wawa, so I hung from the roof and stayed up late.

In Wawa we were supposed to go canoeing, but the lightning made us change our minds. I went puddle stomping instead and eventually a few passengers joined me for a rainy water gun fight. At two in the afternoon we decided to move on and drove for the rest of the afternoon.

We spent the night in Blind River. I was all ready to go to bed early and then the neighbor struck up a conversation. I ended up talking to her until one thirty in the morning. I did not get enough sleep again, but I did learn a lot about being a sixteen year old party girl.

We hoped to catch a one pm ferry, but when we got to South Baymouth, the holiday traffic had already filled the Georgian Bay Ferry. We took the six o clock ferry and arrived at Niagara Falls at one thirty in the morning.

At Niagara, we rode the Maid of the Mist boat and got pretty wet. After lunch, we went to Toronto. My friends Mark and Ingrid live in Toronto. Angela was also visiting Mark and Ingrid and so the four of us hung out for the evening. I met the three of them on the ten week trip I took in Africa a few years ago. They are putting together a newsletter for all twenty people on that trip so we can all get updated on each others lives. They are also trying to plan a re-union. That would be great.

So, the next day, after another late night, we hung out in Toronto for the day and I went to the camping store. The Canadian currency is so weak right now that camping gear, and most other things, are incredibly cheap to someone thinking in US dollars. I bought some fleece pants and a water bottle, for my upcoming Asian trip.

After Toronto, we went to Kingston. I fell asleep at nine thirty in the evening and caught up on some sleep. Ottowa, the capital of Canada was on the agenda for the next day. I checked out the Supreme Court, ate lunch at an Egyptian place, read about President Clinton's sex life, and did some paperwork.

After Ottowa we went to Quebec and ate Pizza. The next day, for the first time in well over a week, I did not drive at least four hours in one day. This concluded a nine day and over 3000 mile portion of the trip.

For the free day in Quebec, I wandered around the town with Fiona, one of my passengers. We walked along the walls of the city and watched one of my fellow country men make a big scene in a restaurant over the poor quality food he received. Mostly we just talked and waited for the city day to end. That night all thirteen of us went out on the town.

I put on the nicest clothes I have and we went to the cool part of town. There I received one of the best compliments of all time. I went up to the door of a club to see if we could come in and dance. The door man told me something in French and I was confused. Then he translated himself for me. He told me that it was a dance club, but it was classy and I could not enter. Here I am wearing my Sunday best and still being looked down upon by a quasi-French snob. I had a smile on my face for the rest of the evening. We went across the street to a bar with pool tables and did bar things until one or so.

This morning we came over here to Montreal and are hanging out in town until we go see a baseball game.

This trip is three weeks long and covers well over 5000 miles. Also, people had different expectations of the trip and the group has never really gelled properly. They are pretty nice people, but this has been a bit of a rough trip for me, trying to please all their different wishes and still drive what seemed like all day, every day. Oh well, such is life.

I never realized how French, French-Canada really is. In Quebec, 96 percent of the people speak French as their first language. Also, all of the street signs and writing is in French in the whole province.

No more for today, time to go watch Baseball.

1 AUG 98

After my last update in Anchorage, we went out to dinner and then hung out in Chilkoot Charlie's bar. The motto is "We cheat the other guy and pass the savings on to you." It was a tremendous bar and I think most of the twenty-something Alaskans were there.

The next day we drove a lot. The day after we also drove quite a bit and went back into Canada. We split up in Haines Junction and all did our own thing in the Kluane National Park for the day. That night was our final night of camping.

The next day we drove back into Alaska. We got on to the ferry in Skagway. The M/V Columbia was our home for the next four nights as we cruised down the Inside Passage along the Alaska Marine Highway. The boat made stops in Sitka and Ketchikan for us to do a little sightseeing.

The boat ride was an excellent way to end the trip. It was the recovery vacation that everybody always needs after a hard three weeks of camping. We napped during the day, played cards, read books, hung out in the bar, and generally relaxed for three days. We slept on deck chairs on the deck and ran to the side of the boat whenever the captain announced the presence of orka whales.

On Friday, we went to the Boeing airplane factory and then went to Seattle for the day. We had a nice dinner near Pioneer Square and thus ended a great trip.

I forgot to mention one of the highlights of the trip. At Moose Meadows, in Canada, the mosquitoes were very bad. When I got into the van to go to bed, there were several hundred mosquitoes waiting for me. I rolled up a company brochure and spent about one hour killing the bugs. There were little bug bodies smashed all over the windows, floor, ceiling, seats, and every other surface in the van. I finally got too tired and went to sleep. In the morning I finished slapping mosquitoes and made sure the doors were never left open the next day.

After the Klondike trip, I had eight days before my next trip, by far the longest turnaround between trips I have ever had. I worked for three days and goofed off for the rest of the week. One day a bunch of us went to Mt. Ranier and did a long hike. I was sore for days.

Mostly I have been hanging out with other tour leaders. My friends have been coming and going all week and last night there were ten tour leaders hanging out at the hotel. I felt like I was back in college this week. I slept late and hung out with friends all evening. It has been a good week.

Tonight I meet my thirteen new passengers and tomorrow we start our three week trip to New York through Canada. Right now, the plan is to spend four days in New York and then do a three week trip to Los Angeles along the southern U.S.

I should finish working on the 20th of September and fly to India on the 14th of October, after a brief visit with my mother and with my father.

16 JUL 98

Hello from Anchorage, the biggest city in Alaska. I am having a great time up here in the Northland, even though I have not seen a star or a dark night in a very long time.

After we left Vancouver, we went rafting with Herbie on the Thompson River. As always, he gave us a good wet ride and we all had fun. The next day we drove north and prepared to celebrate Canada Day. Unfortunately, Burns Lake, British Columbia was not prepared to celebrate Canada Day. Instead, we walked along the train tracks (a first for most of my passengers) and put pennies (Canadian pennies) under the train wheels. Now we all have flat pennies.

For the second of July, we drove to Hyder, Alaska. They are only accessible from Canada and use Canadian money, telephones, and schools. They don't even have a border crossing, you just drive off of the paved road and land in the USA. There are about 90 residents in Hyder and as you would imagine about a town at the end of the road, it attracts some interesting people.

We drove out to bear creek, but were too early. In late July the bears stand all up and down the creek and eat salmon. We just saw mosquitoes instead. The next day we drove up to look at the Salmon Glacier. It is the third biggest Glacier in Alaska and is very impressive.

At Moose Meadows we camped and looked at the meese. We also took some canoes on an all day paddle and saw beavers, meese, eagles and a little bit of rain.

Then we went north even more to the Yukon Territory of Canada. We stopped at the signpost forest at Watson Lake and then went to Whitehorse. Whitehorse it the capital of the territory and home to about 22,000 of the territory's 34,000 people. In Whitehorse we went on a horseback ride above the treeline. We spent many hours crashing through brush and enjoying the scenery.

From Whitehorse we headed up to Dawson City. Dawson is an old gold rush town on the Yukon river. We went to the Gaslight Follies (a silly show about the history of the area), played on some old gold digging dredges and enjoyed the town of 2000 people.

From Dawson, we took the long, unpaved Top of the World Highway to Alaska. (We will take the long, paved Alaska Highway back to Canada in a few days.) At the border, a U.S. customs agent gave us some really cute caribou stamps for our passports. Then we passed through Chicken, Alaska and stayed in a nice lodge on a lake in the middle of nowhere.

From there we blazed west on the unpaved Denali Highway. We were lucky enough to see Mt. McKinley (the highest point in North America) along the way. The next day we hiked in Denali National Park and looked for wildlife. That night we went to a local Bluegrass festival and got to see a bit of real Alaskan culture. It was nice to see people camped all over the hills around town. I didn't even feel out of place for a change, almost all of the men had long hair and a beard.

Last Sunday was the World Cup Finals, so while my group looked for more bears in the park, I watched France demolish the overconfident Brazilian side. Then I drove to the end of the road and took a nap for the rest of the day in an effort to catch up on some sleep.

On Monday, we drove to Talkeetna and took our plane flight. It was truly amazing. The weather was perfect and we flew through the mountains and looked at Mt. McKinley from the air. The plane had skis, so we landed on a glacier and played in the snow. I am told that the Mountain is visible about 30% of the time and the fact that we saw it perfectly clear on two out of four days is truly something special. Many people come and go from the area without ever having seen the mountain.

That night we drove down to Seward and my friend Gillian was there with four of her travelling buddies. I hung out with them for a few hours, then went back to camp and ran into a former Trek leader and caught up with him for a while.

The next day we (Me, my group and Gillian) took an eight and one half hour cruise into the Kenai Fjords National Park. We had a salmon lunch on Fox Island, saw Orca whales, Humpback whales, sea lions, puffins, other birds and dolphins. We also watched the giant Holgate Glacier. It reaches all the way to the water and pieces of it break off and splash into the water and it is all very exciting. After Gillian left, we went back to camp and waited for the drizzle to stop, it never really did.

Today we went to look at the icebergs that fall of of Portage Glacier and then came up here to Anchorage.

Most of my current passengers have been on previous treks before and every thing has been going pretty smoothly. They are a nice group of people and we have been having fun.

Up in Dawson the sun rose at about three am. Then it set at around 11 pm. This was followed by about two hours of dusk, which led into about two hours of dawn, followed immediately by sunrise. This gave us about twenty hours of daylight and four hours of bright twilight.

In the beginning I felt silly going to bed before it was dark, even if it was one in the morning. Now I realize that if I want to sleep, I have to invoke a sunset by tying my t-shirt over my eyes. Apparently, the extra sunlight causes my body to produce more melanin and this reduces my physical need for sleep. I think this may be true because I have been feeling okay while getting what would be way too little sleep down south.

Goodbye for now from the Northland.

29 JUN 98

I forgot to mention something exciting from the last time I was in Banff. One evening, when we returned to camp, there was a large bird of prey on our picnic table. He left a small dropping on the table and luckily, thanks to some previous passengers, I had a book for identifying birds by their droppings. It is a joke book, but nobody knew that. They all thought I had a bird dropping identification book, complete with pictures, measurements, and descriptions.

Then, the best part of the whole bird experience, we looked under the picnic table and there was a dead squirrel. It had been ripped open and there were easily identifiable organs littering the area. It was gross. Before I had a chance to clean it up, another squirrel came and stole the dead one, just dragged it away. I guess for a decent burial.

After I left here last week, I went to the Gaslight District and took a chess lesson from the guy on the street. For the first time in my life, I have a strategy when I play chess. I can't wait to play someone else and try it.

Last Wednesday, I drove back to Seattle and the trip ended. My friend Gillian, who was a passenger on one of my trips back in November, was in town for a few days. We went to the cool beach area in West Seattle to hang out. It was great to see her again. She brought me a CD from England that I had asked for. Now I can listen to my new music, a mix of rap and classical. Unfortunately, I had to work on Thursday and then she left on Friday.

Saturday night, Sue and I went to an Alpine Luau. Her old boss had a party at his house and I ate very well. It was a nice big suburban home with lots of families running around. They roasted a pig on a spit and had coconut-shrimp. It was probably one of the best feeds I have had all year.

Sunday I watched a little World Cup Soccer on TV and prepared for my next trip.

For years I have been expecting to meet somebody I know by random chance while I travel. It finally happened. One of my passengers on this trip, Trev, was my tent mate for ten weeks when I travelled through East Africa in 95/96. It was quite a shock and we have spent most of today catching up.

We finally have nice weather up here, so all my new passengers are enjoying a bike ride in the park. Tomorrow we leave Vancouver and start heading north. We don't stop until we get to Alaska. My current trip is called 'The Klondike'. We will take 22 days to drive up to and around Alaska. Then we will take the four day inside passage boat trip back to Seattle. It should be a lot of fun, although I don't expect to find very much Internet access to tell everyone about it.

23 JUN 98

Hello from the cheap Internet place in Vancouver. I am waiting for the rain to stop.

After my last update, I went to the bar at noon and watched Brazil beat Morocco in the World Cup of Soccer.

The next day we drove up the Icefields Parkway and looked at some not so blue lakes and played on a glacier. I brought the garbage bags this time so we could slide down the toe of the glacier. I was racing Takuya down the snow and I was winning, but he his so competitive that he had to get up and run down. Naturally, when he got to the bottom he could not stop and tripped and fell onto the rocks. He cut his hands a little bit and announced that he had won.

Takuya, a passenger from Japan has been a lot of fun this trip. He told us he is the greatest chess player and early in the game he said "Come on Baby" to me. He speaks very little english, but we have been having a lot of fun together.

In Jasper it was raining, so nobody wanted to hike. I knew how boring Jasper was, so I gave them the morning free to shop and then took them for a walk in the drizzle up a canyon in the afternoon. Then we played in the pool and I worked on my one and a half flip. The lifeguard said my flips looked pretty good.

The next day we drove and looked at some waterfalls and then had a really nice night with no rain. The following morning we left for our overnight canoe trip. We had perfect weather and even did a small hike up to a viewpoint. I spent the afternoon floating in a canoe and reading a book. It was very relaxing. That night, since my van was across the lake, I slept outside again.

The next morning we canoed out of there and drove up to a campground that was very secluded. We had to drive three miles up a mountain on a dirt road to get there. We were the only ones around and it was very nice.

Yesterday, we went rafting on the Thompson river with a guy named Herbie. He has been taking Trek groups on his motorized raft for 17 years and gave us a good ride.

Today we are hanging out in Vancouver. I helped Takuya buy his train and bus tickets, so he took me out for Sushi to say thanks. I have learned a bunch of new Japanese words this trip, thanks to him.

I bought a few new CD's today, so I am going to go listen to them now. Bye.

16 JUN 98

Hello from Banff, Alberta, Canada.

After my last update, the weather finally cleared up enough for seven of my passengers to skydive. As they were supposed to, they enjoyed it completely. After the skydive we went out for dinner and dancing in Vancouver.

The next day we came back to Seattle and finished the trip. They were one of the nicest groups ever. They bought a box of thank you cards and each filled out a whole card for me. One of them also made a small painting of me in my Drizabone riding coat, by blue wool hat, my sandals, and my bag of trial mix.

Then, to top it all off, the four crazy British women gave me a little package with small mementos of the whole trip and some hair nets. They called themselves the "Flying Foxettes" and they were "inFOXicated" with me and the trip. It was nice to be with a group that was so appreciative.

Hanging out in the hotel, after the trip, was one of my favorite people in the whole world. My friend Suzie was in Seattle for a few days before she headed up to Alaska with her boyfriend to lead tours for another company. We ate Japanese food one night and Indian the next. Seattle is great for Asian foods.

The next day, John, my former roommate from college showed up. He and his new wife were in town for a day. I enjoyed meeting Cathy and look forward to meeting their son when he pops out in September.

There were also a few other tour leaders I like in Seattle, so I barely had time to do my work in the office between all of my visiting friends.

I did manage to plan a trip, so I picked up a new group last Thursday and started the same two week trip over again. We drove through the cloudy North Cascades National Park, camped by a lake, crossed into Canada, went wine tasting, camped by a lake, walked around a lake, camped by a river, walked to a waterfall, and camped in the woods.

Yesterday, we went to Lake Louise and hiked for about ten miles up to some glaciers. They had a tea house near the top and we ate hot soup and bread before hiking down. Today is free day in Banff and I will watch some World Cup soccer later. It is very hard to follow soccer in France while camping in the middle of the Rockies.

Did I say it rained on my last trip here? Actually we a little rain most days, but it was never really bad. This trip we have had a light rain every day, all day since we got to Canada. We had to hike in the rain yesterday and my group is hiking in the rain right now.

One other thing I really like about Canada - There are tons of young backpackers hitch-hiking around the country. It is nice to see that.

5 JUN 98

I am at the Internet Cafe in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They only charge six Canadian dollars for an hour of computer use. After the exchange rate, they are practically giving away computer time. I had a chance to answer all my old e-mails and even surf the net a bit.

I was informed by my group that I was mistaken in my last update. Up until my last update, we actually had not had a single day without rain.

After we left Jasper we went to Maligne Lake. It is a very nice lake, but of course, it was raining and we were not very enthusiastic. Then we went to see two water falls. Even in the rain, they looked nice. We also drove by the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. Mt. Robson was covered in clouds and we didn't see a thing. That night we stayed at the Buffalo ranch and saw American Bison.

The next day we saw some very large and impressive waterfalls in Wells Gray Provincial Park. We also saw a Mama Bear eating roughage to clear out its butt plug after the long winter and her cub. After lunch we loaded up a small fleet of canoes and headed out onto Clearwater Lake. Wells Gray PP has only one long dirt road into it, and after we paddled away from the end of the road we saw very few people.

We paddled for about three hours and then set up camp on the side of the river. It was one of those perfect spots. A lake with water so clean you could drink it, surrounded by pine tree covered hills, with snow capped peaks in the background.

Some of us went out for a paddle again, and naturally, some canoes were overturned and a few people went swimming. After we warmed up, we had a bar-b-que and my passengers drank the nine bottles of wine they had purchased in Okanagan. Luckily, we actually did not have a single drop of rain this day.

We went for a mid-night paddle on the lake and then I took my sleeping bag for a hike until I found a nice place to sleep. I slept so well that I did not get back to camp until 10am the next morning. Breakfast was over and the canoes were already loaded. All I had to do was hop in and start paddling.

After our wilderness adventure we headed over here to Vancouver, in the rain. We took a little tour of the city yesterday and today is a free day for all of us. I have been trying to take six of them skydiving, but it has been rainy and cloudy. I hope this is the last trip I ever do with eight British people. They brought the weather from London.

I have learned a lot about Canada in the last two weeks. It turns out that they are, technically speaking, not the 51st state of America. They have a much larger British influence than I had previously thought. They are also as ignorant about America as we are about them. That leads me to believe that it is a separate country.

In Jasper, the sun set after nine pm, but it did not get dark until well after 11pm. Also, to make matters worse, the sun rose at around 4 am, but it got light well before that. They have less than 5 hours of darkness every night, and it is not even the solstice yet. I generally need eight hour of sleep each night, in the dark. I have been having a hard time getting enough sleep. I usually wake up when it gets light and cover my head with the sleeping bag.

At least it is easy to get to camp before sunset every day.

It is amazing how high the north star, Polaris is. I got used to seeing it on the horizon in Mexico. It it well over 50 degrees over the horizon now. I can't wait to see it from Alaska next month.

While I was in Mexico last winter, I read a really bad Clive Cussler book. From the book I learned that the Southern Cross constellation is about 30 degrees away from true south. That means that it can be seen from as far north as northern Mexico. Amazingly it was true, I could see the Southern Cross from the beaches of Mexico.

Well, that is all that is on my mind for now.