Poli has asked that I mention that 'poli, poli' means 'slowly, slowly' in Swahili....something we learned while hiking to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, done a few years ago. Repeating this phrase many times enabled us to accept our limitations regarding speed and to make it to the 19,000'+ peak in spite of being one of the last that morning to do so.

We have almost finished visiting friends and family as we travel across country and have not managed to do much training as we Amtrak and drive to different destinations. Still, we are excited to begin what promises to be a life-changing experience...should we give it the full opportunity by sticking with our plans.

Just for some minor boring statistics, I'm currently fluctuating around 225-230 lbs where, in my distant college years I was 165 during the winter and bulked up to 185 while hauling hay. Those numbers stayed fairly consistent until I passed 40 years and slowly crept up to my current size....adding 8-10" to my waist. This, along with my own non-objective feelings about stamina will be the only measure I expect will indicate whether the elusive 'fountain' is anywhere to be found. Hopefully any small smount of wisdom I've accumulated through the years will not be lost along the way as well. Poli has declined to provide any numbers for your perusal.

Thanks for joining us.