a call to blog

so i am back. back from tiger leaping gorge to be specific. it was...epic. there aren't really words to articulate the experience. that being the case, i'll mastercard the experience...

-Trip duration: 110 hours
-Total travel time (in trains, buses, and vans): 48 hours
-Total time hiking through TLG: 9 hours
-Total time spent in gorge: 23 hours
-Pictures taken in Gorge: 185
-Average time elapsed between pictures: ~3 minutes (540 minutes/185)
-Elevation reached: 2670 m
-Elevation of surrounding mountains: 5396 m +
-Girls met that looked and acted exactly like my sister Betsy: 1
-Hours spent on a sleeper bus practically spooning (I don't fit laying straight) with some random Chinese man and a Welsh guy I had just met: 10
-Kisses on the cheek from Mama Naxi (the hyperactive Naxi minority woman that ran the hostel in Lijiang): 2
-Crappy Kung Fu movies forced to watch while in transit: at least 5
-Birthday messages received (it overlapped with the trip): ~35 (thank you friends)
-Times almost slipping and falling off the path into oblivion: 1 (the second slip would have just been a long rolling fiasco)
-Soles of shoe demolished: 1
-Villages trekked through on high trail: 3
-Sunrises witnessed over the previously mentioned mountains: 1
-Beautiful sunsets: 2
-Close calls in missing transit links: 0 (PTL)
-Hours spent contemplating life: lots
-Hours spent with friends in Kunming: 6.5
-Length of time playing Settlers of Catan b4 I was a huge fan: 30 minutes
-Blisters on feet: 4
-Cuts on hand: just 3
-Bends in the 900 m ascent to the high trail summit: 28, maybe 30
-Other hikers seen on the trail on day one: 1
-Analogies crafted on how my hiking in amazing places fits my spiritual life: 1 composed of about 10 supporting points.
-Overall experience: Priceless

Yeah. That's my trip. It was nice. I am hoping to squeeze in some more traveling at the beginning of May too. I really did enjoy going by myself. You meet so many interesting people, have great conversations, and you have a lot of time to work on moving towards solitude anchored in the Father's love. Maybe I will loosely share my analogy soon.

Cheers.