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No. 1 Dreams Come True
Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them. – John Updike July 15, 2013 I am on a plane, and when I land I will be in Africa. The events that have transpired...
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No. 2 She’s Coming in Twelve-Thirty Flight
The morning of July 13, the day I left Washington, I felt nauseated, overwhelmed and paralyzed with fear. What had I been thinking planning to go on this trip alone, and with so little time to plan and...
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No. 3 Bumping Roads
Even though it was only 7:30 pm, it was dark when my flight, KLM 569, landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) on July 15. It did not occur to me that I wouldn’t see the mountain from a...
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No. 4 Impatiens Kilimanjari
July 16, we woke very early and easily. It felt like Christmas morning and we were filled with anticipation. A lot had to be done before departing for Mt. Kilimanjaro National Park. I took what I knew...
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No. 5 Ngaje Ngai, “The House of God”
In the morning it was dark and cold. We were wakened at 6:00 am by a porter who shook our tent and told us to get up. There would be no sleeping in on Kilimanjaro. Typically I use my iPhone’s alarm...
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No. 6 Jambo Mama
The morning of July 18, 2013, the guides allowed us to sleep an extra hour, but I awoke on my own. As I faded into consciousness I remembered it was my 40th birthday. There is something about birthdays...
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No. 7 Barranco to Barafu
It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves – Sir Edmund Hillary When hastily planning my trip to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, it was my general understanding that the hike would entail...
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No. 8 The Roof of Africa
Trying to fall asleep at 8:00 p.m. anywhere is difficult, but in subzero temperatures at 15,000 feet, knowing we had at most three hours of rest ahead of us before waking and climbing for seven hours,...
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