THESE ARE THE TIMES . . .

. . . that try men's (and women's) souls.

And how they do, boy-howdy.

So we have made our way down through the Western Desert and Luxor, and are now in Aswan. Here's a little recap from there to here.

• I have upgraded from regular camp to hotel room twice and gotten a massive bed bug attack on the left-hand side of my face once.
• I have endured twice-daily comments about the unacceptable size/weight of my one bag, even though others have numerous bags that in total are even bigger/heavier.
• I have had numerous CAs at zero camp sites, but in every major city and at some major monuments.
• I have cooked one breakfast and one dinner for twelve people, including a mashed potato/"mystery meat" combo that looked horrible, tasted wonderful and gave everyone garlic breath for days.
• I have had more hot showers than cold and only had to break out four "full body wipes."
• My use of Kleenex has far outweighed my use of TP.
• I have eaten massive amounts of delicious hummus and tahini and pita bread and schwarma and kofta and kebabs. I have drunk my share of fair but expensive Egyptian wine and Stella beer. I have discovered that Egyptian potato chips come in weird flavors, none of which is the ever-popular overlanding favorite of "Sour Cream & Onion."
• I have purchased & shared all kinds of truck treats every day. This is an action that is reciprocated by only two other people. Most keep their truck treats to themselves or bitch about the portion of bulk food that is covered by the kitty or that came with the truck.
• I have shivered like crazy in the tent and on the truck. I have bought a hideous red fleece blanket and a large camel hair blanket to compensate and ignored the further comments about my further baggage.
• I have watched our still-nameless truck become lost in the desert and stuck in the sand, thus requiring large amounts of sand-matting to get us back to the pavement.
• I have ridden an independent camel in a small camel herd in the Western Desert and held the reins of a caleche (horse-drawn carriage) in Luxor.
• I have swum in the sulfury brown hot springs of the Dakhla Oasis.
• I have smoked apple tobacco on a sheesa (aka hookah or water pipe) while overlooking the Luxor Temple.
• I have seen monuments both amazing and humbling. It's really quite overwhelming.
• The Egyptians have been overwhelmingly friendly, gracious and pleasant. I haven't experienced any of the hassles I'd heard about.

We are in Aswan for four nights. Flying to Abu Sembel to see the monuments EARLY tomorrow morning. Going to do a Felucca trip, hit the souks and see all the many museums & temples & ruins here. We then take the 17-hour Lake Nasser ferry to Sudan, followed by TEN DAYS of isolated bush camping and trailblazing through the Sudan Desert to Kharthoum. Still not quite sure what I make of it all . . . what doesn't kill us makes us stronger:-)

Miss you all!!!!