Around the World

Landed in San Francisco on time completing my first global circumnavigation. Amazing!  A lifetime dream accomplished.  I have traveled around the world...and guess what...it really isn't that big!

We drove 19,480 km (11,905 miles) over the course of 131 days. It's only just now starting to sink in. I met some amazing people, saved one, made a few new friends, and got so more out of all of this than I could have imagined. 

It will take days (maybe weeks or months) for it all to sink in. I've got over 10,000 photos to remind me...wonder who will sit through that slide show-haha!

And the stories!  Ah, so many more posts to come...:-)

Homeward bound

I didn't sleep much last night-excited to be heading home. I was up early. I rechecked my bags one more time, made a couple more donations to the waste bin, and got a taxi to the airport.  At Ghingis Khan International Airport I waited for the departure desk to open-some thing's never change!  Haha!

I checked my bags all the way to San Francisco-yippee and settled into a comfy window seat to Beijing.  We took off late-some things never change-and landed with just enough time to go the security gauntlet and board my San Zfrsncisco flight. Another comfy window seat, and the teo next to it-OMG, ive got a bed for the twelve hour fligjt to the USA-Yippee!

Karakorum

Now just a sleepy village near the ruins of the ancient capitol, the location holds some interesting sites.

We visited the museum and the monastery, the first built in Mongolia. The collection was great and the architecture similar to others I've seen throughout the trip. The connection w

ith the Krygyi people was obvious and interesting.

We spent three hours wandering the site before heading north to Ogli Lake and our next get camp.  Along the way we stopped at a small museum displaying finds from the Turkic empire in the 6th century. Unfortunately everything except for a small introduction was in Mongolian and we had to make assumptions about what we were seeing. 

Another two hours and we were at the lake. Picturesque and peaceful, it would be a great rest and a chance for everyone to recover. We are now up to twelve with what appears to have been a pretty serious giardia infection. No fun!  It appears we had bad food or water at the hot springs. 

Heading East

A replacement bus arrived this morning to transport us for the rest of our tour. We departed at 9am to visit a local nomadic family. The visit was authentic and we had an opportunity to sample homemade curd, butter and vodka.  We returned to the ger camp to say goodbye to Archie. We throughly cleaned him up, sorted out all of the gear, and prepped him for his next adventure.  While we complete our itinerary, Jim will slowly drive him back to Ulaanbaatar where he will get new springs, a fan and replacement parts.  Overnight nine (half) of the group came down with nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. Must have been the mutton banquet last night. It was a pretty rough drive after lunch as we headed to Mongolia's earliest capital, Kharkhorin or otherwise known as Karakorum, and another ger camp-no more camping without Archie and the gear.  The drive was fast without Archie, and except for a few "puke" stops for the ill, we made it to the ger camp in record time.  Arriving early we had a chance to shower and kick back a bit before dinner. We'll have a late morning tomorrow as well before seeing the local sites.  My snoring has earned me a single room every night of this Mongolian adventure, pure luxury in an odd way. And...I'm ready to admit I have had enough traveling. I'm ready to come home. I'm tired, hungry for Mexican food, and i miss my Bobbie bunches!  It's been a blast...and after a few days of recouping, I'll be planning the next trip-haha!

Tsenkher Hot Springs

A late sleep in was followed by a truck lunch and blue skies. While Gino and Jim tried to replace the broken springs with our remaining spares, we soaked in the pools and wandered the wooded slopes of the valley.

Late in the day we were informed that "Archie" would not be able to continue the trip-parts not available, welding was not adequate, etc.  We went to bed knowing we had had our last bush camping experience and cooking team assignments. It would be smoother sailing from here on out. 

Add caption