Why the blog?

For most of our married lives, we've been hiking and exploring together around the globe.  The thing is, for the first fifteen or so years -- it was all just part of the job.  As married army officers, the idea of hiking and camping on vacation sounded like a real busman's holiday.  After all, in military parlance leave (the term for vacation time) seemed to suggest we were leaving some part of our everyday lives behind.  And although we had played with segments of the Appalachian Trail and day hiked in the Rockies, it really wasn't until 1999 that we took our first true trekking holiday.  That spring we flew from Seoul Korea (where we were living) to Katmandu, Nepal where we backpacked into the Langtang National Park, then took a smoke-inspired diversion (there were fires in the Langtang) across the high-altitude lake chain of the Gosainkund with little more than a guide book, a GPS, an idea and some hugely heavy packs.  Complete novices, we tackled the altitude without a clue of the dangers (or symptoms), shared a GI bug that left us weak, fell in love with the people and the country of Nepal -- and fell in love with the trekking vacation.

Since that trek we've tramped on the South Island in New Zealand (and learned why the Kiwis race to the mountain huts at the end of each day), summited Mount Kilimanjaro, explored the ruins of Choquequirao in Peru, completed the remote, high altitude Snowman Trek in Bhutan, circumnavigated the Torres de Paine in Patagonia and traveled the Haute Route across the Alps from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland.  Along the way we've recorded our trips in photos and journals.  This blog is our first experiment with an electronic journal to give others a glimpse into our adventures.  It is meant to be both informative and entertaining.  For that reason, we've decided to present our two+ week walk across England in all it's real time glory.  It's kind of a TeamBoltz off the hook look at the ups and downs (literally and figuratively) of walking long distances through the best and worst of times with one's life partner.

And to the groomsman in our wedding party who prophesized "It'll never last,"  -- it's amazing what thousands of miles together on the trails can do for a relationship . . .

Over the next couple of days we'll share some information about our training for the Coast-to-Coast walk, give a peek into our packing list (informed by over-heavy packs in Nepal 16 years ago; and Donna's experience of wearing one pair of hiking pants for a month in Bhutan (no laundering, of course)) and generally refine our blogging skills posting related information.  If you want to follow the blog and get updates, just add your desired email address to the "Follow by Email" line below.  The walking will go live on 27 June 2015.