New Book

So in the beginning of this trip I decided to write a new book about the experience.  We have been joking that the title will be "Climbing Kilimanjaro with Amy" - but Ben wants to be in the title too....so maybe "Chasing the mist to the top with Ben"....anyway -- here is a bit of a summary of each day and chapter titles of lessons learned from our experience.
Day 1:
Challenge- because of the rain we could not drive to the trail head and started 2 miles further away from our start point -- we hiked 8 miles this day after a 5 hour drive to get there...I under estimated the hike distances each day -- it was longer - Apparently I'm bad at conversions!
Joy - so cool to be camping in the rain forest.  We arrived at dark so it was a bit mysterious hearing all the monkeys and birds making noises and not really knowing what all was around us.
Day 2:
Challenge & Joy- another 8 mile day with new terrain at every turn. Hiking with poles became second nature and we began to get in a pattern of hiking.
Day 3 :
Challenge - we almost gave up on this day.  It rained and we all got soaked and Hannah never really recovered - her rain coat was really a wind breaker and her ski coat was also not waterproof - a rash bag saved her the rest of the trip but with no body fat -- she was cold and wet for 8 days.  Hannah also fell this day - she tumbled on rocks about 10 feet and hit a number of body parts including the back of her head with a large lump.  She recovered and we all continued at a slower pace.
Joy - Thank God that Hannah was not more hurt and thank Him also for our dinning tent. WOW -- we loved that tent.  We would all sit around a table and eat and play cards and try to stay warm while it poured outside.
Day 4:
Challenge - Altitude sickness sets in and most of us feel horrible.  Body fat is important quality to have right now -- as we are burning about 4000 calories a day and not eating enough at all - the guides keep pushing food and we are not compliant.....headaches and stomach aches and gut cramps take over.
Joy - wow is it beautiful.  This was a lighter hiking day and we had a chance to really enjoy the scenery.  We also started playing the movie game while hiking which saved Ben and all of our attitudes.
Day 5:
Challenge & Joy- The Wall - so this was one of the most dangerous times of the trip we climbed with our hands and feet over a rock face that had several places that could have been disastrous.  I just kept praying and trying hard not to think about what could happen -- Thank God for Raj taking care of Dillon -- that 60 year old man is a saint. We all loved this climb -- but it was a bit scary.
Day 6:
Challenge - this is summit day and we get to 16,000 feet where we are above the rain and clouds and the sun is intense -- breathing is a challenge and we are all fighting altitude sickness
Joy - WOW -- it is beautiful and so fun to be this high.  The whole experience is something else -- just camping in this atmosphere and hanging out in anticipation of the summit.
SUMMIT
Challenge - so so so cold and so difficult to function.  Our musccles didn't work and our minds were fuzzy and we were moving slower than molases.  |I can d anything for 6 hours| kept running through my head and I knew we would eventually get to the top if we just kept going.
Joy - THE TOP -- THE VIEWS - BEING THERE WITH ALL THE KIDS - SUCCESS...
Day 7:
Challenge - boy is it difficult to descend another 10,000 feet after having just climbed over 3,000 to summit.  Our legs were toast -- we pushed and pushed to get to the campsite -- but we were hiking for a total of 15 hours with only 2 hours break after our summit.
Joy - We made it to the further campsite that we were trying to get to and we stayed with Dillon the whole time.  Raj brought him down from the summit the first few hours and then we all decided to stay together after that -- it was a journey -- a long and slow one.
Day 8:
Challenge - pushing to get down -- plus I personally started having gut issues and needed to stop every hour to leave my DNA in the rainforest.
Joy - celebrating at the bottom with the guides and porters and enjoying the success of our time together.

LESSONS LEARNED -
Body fat counts -- store up when you are about to take on a big challene like this
Equipment counts -- duh
Climb with the right people --THEY MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE - We would not have made it
without Ryan and Amy Paterson
It is not about the destination -- it is the journey along the way -- getting there is only 5% of the equation
If you never take the challenge -- you will never learn the lessons....don't live life on the sidelines
Love and Live well.....

Lions and Elephants and Baboons

So....I caved to temptation.  Instead of spending the day at the hotel recovering, we all took a day trip safari to a volcanic crater and saw all kinds of animals!!!  It was soooooo incredibly cool.  We saw Zebra, Wildebeest, Antelope, Hyenas, Lions...having just fed on one of those Wildebeest, three types of monkeys (including Baboons climbing into cars, and an Elephant that was so close to us, I stopped breathing....I have enough photos to last generations.  The only major problem is that we spent 13 hours in a car -two more than planned because we needed it repaired on the way home -- and now our sore muscles are worse than ever.  I am swelling up like a water balloon...so the plane trip home should be fun :)  Of course it's my right leg that has never been the same since the lightening strike.. and now it is REALLY unhappy that I made it climb to the top of Africa. 
Today was a great way to end our time here in Africa and we are all looking forward to starting  home tomorrow - sans Hannah as she heads back to Rwanda. 
I may post again before we fly out -- but for now -- I am headed to bed and to put my ever increasingly large leg up......

We are down and safe!

Have you ever sat in a lake and looked up at a cliff and thought about how cool it would be to climb up to the cliff and jump into the lake?  You climb all the way up there and the closer you get to the edge the more unsure you are about your decision in the first place.  The jump always looks more fun from the lake than when you are standing on the cliff....
That's kind of what this experience was like for us.  Each day we hiked higher and higher and the daunting task of getting to the top seemed more and more difficult.  This was definitely the hardest thing anyone in the Ricks family has ever done...but Sunday night your time (at 6:30 am Africa time) I stood at the top of Mt Kilimanjaro with all four of my children!! The photographs are fantastic...I'll post those when we get home.  The final 6 hour ascent in subzero weather above the clouds was mysterious, freezing, and a huge challenge to all of us.  I couldn't be more proud of everyone -- but Dillon gets the award for perseverance.  We had a guide named Raj, who personally saw to it that Dillon got to the top of the mountain.  Each day he would patiently hike with Dillon and keep him going.  When we got up and started climbing at midnight the final day, none of us was sure we could make it.  Dillon had the first break down about 45 minutes up the mountain and stripped off his coat and laid down on the snowy rocks and refused to go on.  Raj simply made him get back up, drink some juice and then Ryan and Amy hooked him up with some i-pod music...he was on his way.
There are so many stories to tell -- and I will begin posting them here over time...but for now, I wanted everyone to know that we are back at the hotel, sore, tired, dirty, and ready for our first nights sleep in a bed in 9 days!

VOMIT

after flying, sleeping, flying, waiting, flying, driving, and vomiting for about 36 hours -- we have arrived in Africa safe and sound with each piece of luggage.  Hannah arrived from Rwanda this morning and Ryan got here from south Africa last night. i (Nanci) got food poisoning probably in the dc airport -- and proceeded to projectile vomit for most of the 13 hour flight to ethiopia....the boys (being boys) kindly renamed it "@*%@" so we could discretely talk about my problem in public.  No worries -- I have kept down food for a day now and I feel just fine....I cannot over emphasize the horrendous experience of vomiting in a public toilet on an international flight every 30 minutes....I just kept telling myself "If I can live through this -- I can live through anything."  Then in Ethiopia - we ran into someone Ben and Maya know from Taylor!!  GO figure.  Plus we got to take our photos with the Kenyan women's volleyball team-- complete with their regional trophy they just won.  Out hotel here has been great -- pool and all (too bad we forgot our suits).  Today we went to town and bought some souvenirs.  It was decided that bartering just made Ben mad and frustrated but Dillon and I make a great team in bartering people down.  They get so confused they give up....
shop owner --"ten dollars, final bid"
Nanci -- "no that is way too high"
Dillon -- "yea - what about 15 dollars"
Nanci - (with a straight face) - --"7 is as high as we can go"
Dillon "yea no more than 10"
shop owner "okay two for 10 then"
We have been keeping ourselves awake until 10:00 pm playing cards and tonight we were so loud someone came out of their room to ask us to move :)  oops...
Tomorrow we leave for the mountain at 8:00 am and it appears as though the rainy season has hit a couple weeks too early.  PLEASE PRAY for good weather on the mountain.  We will be hiking through ran forest the next two days -- but we REALLY don't want it to be wet above the jungle--- that would mean snow!
Pardon the typos -- I am typing late at night with little sleep, no spell check on a computer that is called a "PC" -- some of you in the states still have such a machine -- but my nimble fingers aren't used to using such an archaic beast.....
Watch for a post next Tuesday after we summit.

And we're off...

Please pray for safety, all luggage to arrive, and a real sense of God's presence in our midst
Nanci, Hannah, Maya, Ben, Dillon, Austin, Ryan, and Amy

we will update the blog when we are off the mountain www.rickskiliclimb.blogspot.com/

Friday 18th;  The Ricks family leaves
Saturday 19th; fly through DC then direct to Ethiopia
Sunday 20th; Ethiopia to Tanzania -- hang out at hotel
Monday 21st; Get equipment together and sight see -visit school and medical clinic?
Tuesday 22nd: hike 3 hours thru forest to 9800 feet elevation
Wednesday 23rd: hike 5 hours through Savannah to13,700 and camp at 12,600
Thursday 24th: hike 4 - 5 hours around volcano and glacier peaks to 13,700 camp at 12,600
Friday 25th: hike 7 hours around lava towers and glacier to 15 - 16,000 camp at 12,600
Saturday 26th: hike 4 hours at 14,000 camp at 13,000
Sunday 27th: hike 5 hours - summit in sight - camp at 15,000
Monday 28th: start at midnight to climb 7 hours to 19,341 summit - descend 8 hours to 10,000
Tuesday 29th: descend 4 hours through jungle to the exit gate at 6,000 feet
Wednesday 30th: recuperate sight see -visit school and medical clinic?
Thursday 31st: leave Arusha at noon fly through Ethiopia to DC
Friday the 1st: DC to Denver -- arrive at 1:00

blessings
nanci

Strength - Determination - Acclimation...

The way I see it, getting to the top of Kilimanjaro is going to take a combination of strength, determination, and acclimation.  I have been working so hard on the strength factor that my work outs have starting hurting more than they are helping.  

After the wreck, my right ankle and foot have hurt everyday.  Running makes my left leg work harder to make up for my right foot being weak.  Consequently I tore my left calf muscle and now I have shin splints on both legs!!!  Muscle tears hurt, but I can deal with that.  The shin splints hurt down to the bone though -- literally.  So I have trained as much as I can, but I am sure not in the kind of shape I would like going into something like this. Are you ever as ready as you would like? 

The acclimating part - we can go slowly and drink lots of water -- but the rest is in God's hands - like any of this is really part our hand and part His...it's all His :)  Then there is the determination factor.  I think I have that down pat -- but I hope I am not so determined that I ignore warning signs. Each one of us will be stronger in one of these areas.  Hopefully as a team we can counter each other and help us all get to the top!

Last Minute Preparations

Things are a buzz in our household.  Literally.  The boys, including grown Ben, shaved their heads into a "buzz" haircut for the trip.  Since we are on the mountain for 9 days -- we will go a very long time without a shower.  I've never gone 9 days without showering.  Imagine your hair without a shower for 9 days.....hmmm....Thus the boys shaved their heads.  We all agreed that while Hannah looks adorable with a shaved head, Maya and I should probably keep our hair on.  So I went out today and found BIG head bands to cover up my eventual unwashed hair.  Here in Denver - right now - this seems like it's a big deal, but I am sure up on the mountain when it's zero degrees and the wind is blowing, I won't care if I haven't taken a shower in 7 days. Once I backpacked in the Tetons for 30 days -- but it was summer and I jumped in a creek or even glacier fed lake to clean off every few days. We won't have the luxury of any creeks or lakes to jump in for this trip.  I'm already looking forward to the shower when we get back down the mountain.

We have also been talking about our summit day treat for the top of the mountain.  Ben doesn't understand how important a decision this is.  After climbing hard for hours on end, you want to enjoy something extra sweet at the top.  It could be oxygen deprivation, or the need to carbo load, but the sweeter it is -- the better it seems to taste.  I think my body will go into shock - but I'm looking forward to that too.  Chocolate covered almonds is my treat, Maya wants M & M's, Dillon wants jelly beans, and Hannah chose the new peanut butter snickers....Ben said he would choose spinach.  Good luck getting that through customs.  

I Have a Dream.....

I've had a dream since my teen-age years.  That dream is to climb Mt Kilimanjaro.  Kilimanjaro is a mountain in Tanzania that sits on the border of Kenya.  It is the highest peak in Africa and sits just above 19,340 feet in the air.  The safest route is the longest one, and to take it you hike about 25 miles, gaining around 3,000 feet each day.  The round trip journey is 9 days long.  40% of the people climbing never make it to the top.  The 25 miles are not the issues so much as the lack of oxygen above 14,000 feet.  About a year ago I decided to make this dream a reality.  I knew Hannah was graduating from college, Maya was graduating from college, Maya and Ben were getting married, Austin was graduating from high school, and I have a "significant birthday" coming up.  March 18th we leave for this adventure of a lifetime. 

The time is right - it has to be now because I can't see us as a family being able to spend 2 weeks together doing something like this -- maybe ever again.  I have talked about climbing this mountain with lots of friends -- and I would love it if more would climb it with me (Ryan and Amy Paterson are completing our climbing team), but really it's about being able to spend 2 weeks with my children accomplishing a task that most people in the world never accomplish.  Dreaming my dream has been fun, but seeing it to fruition with my children will be indescribable.  Don't ask how I am paying for it, but I am covering every single dime of the cost for all 6 of us.  I figured if it takes me 10 years to pay it all back, it will be money well spent -- to spend time with my children -- time I don't think we will ever get like this again. 

So why am I writing to you to tell you of my dream?  Many of you know about my friends Greg and Sharon Fast and their daughter Abby.  Abby is 15 years old (exactly Austin's age minus one month) and 3 months ago was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in the soft tissue of her back.  Greg and Sharon's dream is that Abby survive this cancer.  Currently it is their only dream.  They have done everything they know to do to see that dream become a reality.  It has been emotionally, physically, and financially exhausting.  But of course they are going to exhaust all their resources to see that happen.  They have good insurance -- but even covering the 20% that isn't covered by insurance will amount to tens of thousands of dollars.  Traditional forms of eradicating this cancer (chemo and radiation) are not proving to be successful, so they are venturing out to try some naturopathic methods.  These are not covered by insurance at all.  So the bills are mounting -- and Greg and Sharon's dream is eluding them.  A dream that all of us have for our children -- that they would out-live us....  We don't know what the future holds for the Fasts, but we do know they need lots of emotional, physical, and financial help...and the financial help is something we all can give.  Whether it's 100 dollars or 10,000 dollars.... every cent donated will help Abby.

So for our climb up Mt Kilimanjaro in 5 weeks, we want our steps to be raising money for Abby's care.  There is a charitable organization you can make your contributions to.

RLC SERVICES send the checks to:  8168 N Pinewood Dr  Castle Rock Co 80108. 

100% of your donation will go toward Abby's care -- and 100% is tax deductible (depending on your individual tax situation). 

Please help Greg and Sharon's dream become a reality as we all pursue our own dreams.

follow the climb on:   www.rickskiliclimb.blogspot.com

follow Abby's care on:  www.caringbridge.org/visit/abbyfast

follow your own dream...and I hope it's centered on spending more time with your own loved ones.

blessings,

nanci ricks