It’s really interesting how our minds can launch into worrisome thoughts so quickly and weave such a complex tapestry of “what if” scenarios related to one’s health. Within minutes of hearing the doctor’s concerns about my heart, I was remembering the stories of Enso House guests who only 18 months prior to admittance had been […]

Going on a long trip like this was a good motivation to get a physical exam and deal with scheduling that long overdue appointment for a colonoscopy. So I had the physical, scheduled the appointment and purchased the “prep” medication — 10 ounces of magnesium citrate and 4 liters of polyethelene glycol solution. To drink […]

Well, it took us TWO trips to San Francisco to get our visas for China, but fortunately on our way to Arizona to attend Allison’s graduation, we were able to pass through San Francisco both on the way down and on the way back. The Chinese Consulate requires that one submit one’s passport in person […]

Well, now we face the test: How much can we reduce our luggage for this trip? Given that we will be carrying it around for 18 weeks, the less we have the better. Generally, this is a difficult area for me. I have a kind of Boy Scout “Be Prepared for any Eventuality” mentality and […]

Due a fortunate set of circumstances, a 42 lb bag of our cold weather gear has been delivered to Kathmandu. What a relief! Our sleeping bags, boots, warm coats, gloves, and hats, etc will be ready to pick up there when we need them. Our friend Sarita decided to make a trip back to Nepal […]

Well, putting on the hiking boots and getting out into the woods is the best way to find out how the body will respond to the challenges of trekking. So Cynthia and I set out on a day hike to Mt. Si, near North Bend, just off I-90, about 45 minutes outside of Seattle. This […]

It’s 2:00am and I just woke up to take a pee. Then I started thinking about the process I have just yesterday set in motion — a trip to the remote NW region of Nepal and a trek into Tibet to Mt Kailash. It suddenly took on a feeling of reality when our son Julian […]

Here we are in the AT&T store purchasing a memory card that we can use in our digital camera for taking pictures and then inserting it in our Blackberry to upload photos to this blog. This is the first photo taken with our Panasonic Lumix camera that we successfully uploaded from the Blackberry Bold 9000. […]

During our travels, I’ll be using a Blackberry Bold 9000 to post journal entries and photos to this blog, abidingnowhere.blogspot.com For details, see Blogging with a Blackberry on our Resources site. Sure is handy having this bluetooth external keyboard (Freedom External Keyboard) so that I can touch type the way I am accustomed, rather than […]

It’s time for us to return to Asia. We want to spend time in China, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand, so we’ve set aside four months and bought round trip tickets to Shanghai, leaving July 16 and returning November 19. It’s been 25 years since we visited Beijing with our four-month old son Julian in […]