I LIVE IN A NICE NEIGHBORHOOD.

I began preparing for the first of two consequential 2016 trips this morning. I used ‘big’ for the 2015 adventure—time to expand my vocabulary—’consequential,’ meaning trips lasting over two weeks.

The reason I am preparing for May 2016 is because I did not feel immediately perfect upon getting up at 7am and because it made me tired to walk 1 1/2 hours. This is the last slow weekend before writing classes start and I have a little time to envision next summer in Greenland and other points north. In fact I have information from one tour company that says things like ‘hike to the Tasersuatsiaq lake and climb up a mountain 400 metres high’ and ‘…we will start the Inlandis tongue hiking. An impressive trek using crampons where we will explore its crevasses, drains, caves, and seracs….’ OR NOT. I’m quite certain the latter is out of my range but I need to get to the lake and across the ‘flower field’ and out to the Viking farm…so I must start now.

My plan is to be able to walk five hours a day easily and climb one hour at how ever high the gym machine will take me by the time of this new adventure.

And food and sleep. Even though I did very well on this last trip by having my nice UNM doc find and kill the infection I had and eating little…still I would like to be stretch my fine blubber dining until after 5pm if necessary. Things to work on.

The plan for next summer is to follow the Vikings from Norway to Iceland to Greenland back to Denmark on to Ireland and Scotland. Bob the Saga reader and Viking expert is our cultural guide, Teresa the geo-tech engineer our geological guide and me the Nordic Noir reader and blogger the guide to that seemingly useless but actually very necessary stuff.

In Albuquerque it’s just early fall. I already had early fall days in Russia…Wish I could just follow this season around the world. Still it’s hard not to be almost too nostalgic in autumn isn’t it?