Dimitri's picking up speed

Dimitri checked in with me yesterday (friday 4/25) and it sounds like he's picking up speed. He was two days out of Uelkal, tackling 9 miles the first day with a bit of a late start and 12.5 miles the next. He's replaced the skins on his skis and it seems to be helping him to move along a bit quicker, though the absence of 40 mph winds is probably the true savior.

I think the solitude is starting to set in a bit and he would probably be more than happy to have a traveling buddy about now, but his spirits remain high, and he's happy to be getting back into good trekking shape. He's gotten lucky with company on the past few legs of his journey, but I gather it's few and far between who'd volunteer to be in those kind of conditions. It does look like an amazing part of the world though for those tough enough or crazy enough to attempt it on foot. I'm sure it doesn't help for him to call in and hear my excitement about my upcoming vacation to Hawaii. I guess for the present we have different ideas on what's worthy of vacationing - though in all fairness his journey is more like work than it is like vacation. Hopefully we'll get a warm summer here in the northwest and he'll be able to fully thaw upon his return in July.

This next section between Uelkal and Anadyr should take Dimitri about two weeks to complete and since his PDA won't charge up enough with the solar panel, you'll have to put up with my updates until then.

Thank you for your interest and your positive, warming thoughts going out to our chilly yet determined friend out there in the arctic.

Aloha, 'ilima