I have talked with Richard and Gaye about the experience in Nepal with the concern that all of the activity will be really stressful. Traveling so far to get there, dealing with the extreme time zone shift, and getting into the country of Nepal will definitely be a shock to the system, no way to avoid that. It’s going to be a bit of work keeping track of documents, equipment, and people too. We have a pretty good feeling that we’re logistically prepared though (except for the fact that I still have no passport). Gaye assures me that once we get up above Lukla and the jitters wear off we’ll set out on a very conservative pace. We’ll have two young teenagers with us, so we plan to hold way back on the daily pace. We’ll get a little routine going, and we’ll soon find that we only have a little light physical exertion, and that mentally we’ll be free to let the stress clear out that we brought with us.

Keatix tells of a more surreal experience where he trekked into a much more remote region and had what I think was a little more eerie. You know the sound or the feeling you have when you are in a place that you know is far from anything and is deathly still? You can hear your own breath and heart beating. I hope where I’m going is not quite that “peaceful” because the voices in my head are a little too much to deal with if I don’t have a little noise. So now my concern is that things will be too laid back. People have been telling me that after your mini hikes during the day you hang out at your camp and just chill (yes, both kinds). Never fear; I will be on the clock writing up content for this site. What a relief.