You're Going Where?

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Since it's the end of July, I wanted to publish a quick update with the goings-on of the past few weeks.

After Jackson, Philippe and I spent a few days back in Boulder preparing for him to leave. Coordinating with his other climbing partner (Brad McMillon), running a million small errands, packing... all the while, enjoying the excellent company of old and new friends in Boulder.

When I dropped Philippe at the airport on the 7th, I just kept heading east... driving all of the way to Omaha, Nebraska to see my family - especially my 87 year-old grandmother. Splitting my time between my dad's house and the retirement community, I played a lot of cribbage, gin, and rummy-cube, watched a lot of Price Is Right, and fixed a few computers. I think Cameron Diaz made a movie about crashing in on some relatives in Florida, living in a senior home. After my time here, finding comedy in a scene like that is like shooting fish in a barrel.

On Thursday, I board my own flight to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

1. I did hear from Philippe when he was in Bishkek, but haven't heard anything yet about their climbing.
2. Brad arrived safely, but a day later than Philippe expected (which sounds silly, but it is hard to keep adding days to your itinerary - it just doesn't make sense).
3. We are working on some alternative plans to the part of our trip that we planned to be in northern Pakistan. I know we still both want to go, but we want to be safe and avoid brewing civil wars, if at all possible.
4. We have had a ton of assistance from the Alpine Fund. Garth and Arianna.

We'll write again when it's possible... love to you all!

Rachel

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