Why? What? and When?

Why? What? When?

When I asked my family to guess what crazy thing I may be doing for my 70th birthday, my brother said ( in a typical Indian sarcastic brotherly way)"  she is not going to climb a mountain ".  Little does he know, she will not only climb the mountain, she will like to climb the highest mountain of all ( on this planet) . Well, not quite: I will climb only up to the Everest Base Camp.

Why? Because it is there and it is a good motivation to get in shape and an opportunity to make life long friends.

What? A trek to the EBC ( Everest base camp) with a group of very nice people who are willing to take this novice with them.

When?  I am leaving on Oct 11th to Kathmandu..so it is coming very soon.

This is something I can humbly say, " I will like to try to attempt to walk to the EBC and I will put forward my best effort but whether it happens depends on the mountains and  the unknown". 

Training and such:

 If you have seen my pictures of Yosemite and Tahoe and around the bay area hikes and wondered why suddenly I am becoming so active..it is the fear that is the main motivation behind the training. Support from family and friends has been overwhelming. I have no idea how much I will be able to walk but I will try.

Training hikes are going on over the mountains as well as on the beach. I felt like I was in bad shape, so Kunal ( Vinaya's nephew) has been my trainer to increase the core strength and do more cardio. Just couple of months of proper activity has made a big difference and hopefully that is enough for the mountain. 
I wish I could say the same thing for eating habits. I tried to eat well but it dis nor always work...hopefully the mountain will understand how hard it is to give up sweets :)
Doctors health checkups went well. This forced me to do the tests that I was supposed to do 20 years ago. I was very scared to find some hidden bug lurking in my system but all is well and got the permission from the cardiologist, oncologist and general physician. So, all systems are ready to go.

                 Here are the fellow mahayatris. We had a wonderful send off at Sanjiv and vanita,s home and are all ready to go with unbelivable support from everyone. I will try to blog everyday on the iPad borrowed from glen who spent many hours coaching me and laughed at my lack of I skills. Anyways I hope I do not disappoint him😏
Right now I am sitting in united lounge at sfo waiting for Turkish airline to take me to Kathmandu vie Istanbul. I was little worried about the recent US and Turkey events but it should be fine. I will be the first mahayatri to arrive in KTM and will report from there. I have two big suitcases full of stuff..not sure why I am carrying so much stuff, it is supposed to be a rough trip.?
Need to try to apply for visa for Nepal....so bye for now..will be in touch soon