Category: Travel Page 6 of 29
New Clarendon Cycles piece up at the Clarendon Patch about getting to National airport on your bike. Â It really is a fantastic way to get there for weekend/quick trips. Â And so long as your return flight doesn’t drop you back at DCA in the middle of rush hour, you can always punk out and return via Metro if you find yourself not really feeling like riding home.
It started out early last year.  A friend suggested that I think about joining him (and a couple other guys) in an attempt to ascend Kilimanjaro.  Getting a view of Africa from 5,895 metres/19,336 feet?  Who *wouldn’t* want to do that?  As exciting as the idea was, though, I just couldn’t make it work in the planned timeframe.  So it was with no small amount of jealousy that I followed along with the planning as I helped out with some of the provisioning over the year (they’re based in Dubai, which is sadly short of excellent stores like Casual Adventure and REI).
Then in October, one of the original crew fell ill and the trip got pushed off to February.  I let it roll around in my head for a while, and by the time we were in December, I knew I couldn’t skip this.  So I signed on, and from there the trip snowballed.  What started out as an in-and-out summit attempt with a few people turned into a six person Kilimanjaro expedition.  Then (assuming no one died or otherwise did something inconvenient), we’d head to Zanzibar – adding a few more adults and children – for some rest and recovery.  And since it was on the way home, why not hit Addis Ababa for a few days?
So that was the plan for my February. Â Interested in how it worked out? Â The first of several installments is on the other side of the jump.
A few months ago, I decided to join a very good friend’s long-planned attempt to ascend Kilimanjaro. Â A few days ago, I got back from that attempt. Â So now I’m going to try and tell the story.
Not that there’s been much action here lately, but there’s going to be something of a gap. I’m hoping I can occaisionally update via phone from the road. If not, back in a few weeks …