Finally, Mare and I hit the road again…after six months in Phoenix taking care of business, we are ready for six months of adventure travel! Getting our final series of Japanese Encephalitis, and Rabies vaccinations, not to mention Typhoid and Yellow Fever shots, we be bullet proof, baby.

Packing backpacks for six months of traveling through a myriad of climates is an artful challenge. Once we tie on the tent, and pack the single-burner stove that can burn diesel fuel, we will take-off. First, we drive the southern route across the US with Jack the dog, stopping and camping as much as time permits. I look forward to eating my way through New Orleans. Mare wants the fresh oysters, and Jack hopes for a swim in the Gulf. Jack will then stay with my parents, while Mare and I fly from Pittsburgh to Iceland.

Camping in Iceland is an easy and inexpensive way to enjoy that beautiful country, which claims the best tasting water in the world. Anthony Bourdain tasted the worse meal of his life there…fermented shark. We must try that dish, as well as the gin, while soaking in hot pools and gazing at glaciers and geysers.

After eight days in Iceland, we fly to St. Petersburg to begin the Russian adventure. From Moscow we take the Trans-Siberian railway to the largest freshwater lake on earth…Lake Baykal, which could hold all five North American Great Lakes combined. There, we will camp in the Siberian Forest for several weeks, working our way from north to south, until entering into Mongolia in time for the Naadam Festival.

While the whole country of Mongolia celebrates for three days with wrestling, archery, and horse racing games, we will watch, and munch on mutton pancakes while sipping vodka. Then we will explore Mongolia, from the barren grasslands in the north to the Gobi Desert in the south.

By then we will be ready for a flight to the beaches and forests of Sri Lanka, where we will mosey our way north, with the monkeys and elephants, through India, and finally, into Nepal…KKKKKKKatmando! (If we ever get out of here)

Come follow our travels…we are never totally sure where we’ll end up. The best parts often come along with the unexpected.

Let’s GO! 

Ron Mitchell