Wow. That was a tough one.  Rumor mill says that each day will get progressively harder and longer.  Lovely.  At least my body and mind is getting the message and each day we will just have to dig deeper and deeper.

First off – thank you, everyone, for the emails and blog comments!! Definite fuel for my tank.  I’m feeding on your words before I even eat, unpack and settle in.  And disclaimer: emails and blog comments are read quickly on one master excel sheet that contains messages for everyone in camp.  Then to the road warrior keyboard that requires hammering the keys to get a letter.  So apologies for typos and limited time and heaps and heaps of words I only wish I could capture on my 15 minutes at the cyber tent. So happy to read all of your word…. Family and work! You guys rock.

23 miles today with the kicker being the slot canyons with much climbing beside the river and then walking right through the raging waters….. to the Valley of Death.  Which I think should be renamed to thru Valley of someone’s death….. well, at least not mine.

Llamas running beside me yelling ‘what a slow poke’

A gaggle of bleating sheep, yelling goats and llamas crossing were seen today.  Thank you rob and Ella for providing me with a big laugh reminiscent of YouTube clips of goats screaming.  Google it if you’ve never seen it.  Its worth the laugh.

Highlights: 

* Flying down sand dunes. My kid time in la of running down hills came in really handy today, especially trekking through so much damn sand!

* There was also a long tunnel giving relief from the heat and sun. 

* Frozen feet in the raging rivers to 100 degrees in the open idesert.

Time to go.  Another challenge tomorrow.

Xoxoxo