All I have ever wanted to do was travel. Geography was my favorite subject and each time I said, “Oh, I would really like to go there”, my Dad would reply, “I suppose you want to go to Mongolia, too!” And, I did!

I was looking through my new end-of-the-year catalogs from different tour operators, and noticed Mountain Travel-Sobek had a trip to Mongolia for Summer, 2000. It was a 13-day trip, moderate hiking with a maximum elevation of 7,500 feet. Seven nights camping in tents and Gers, 3 nights hotel. They also had a Gobi Desert post-trip extension. Chicago, recently had a special Dinosaur exhibit at the Field Museum, and I had seen a documentary about the “Flaming Cliffs”, in Mongolia, where major Dinosaur finds had been made. Had to see it! To fly that far, and not go to the Gobi Desert would have been criminal.

map of Mongolia

I like to use an American tour operator for trips to very remote areas, and had traveled with MT-S before. Even “ex-Marine” felt comfortable going to Mongolia with them (though he is convinced that I’m not functioning on all cylinders.) “Ex-Marine’s” (Steve) idea of a “remote” area is Downtown Las Vegas instead of the Strip.

Genghis Kahn…..Mongolia – old movies and visions of Huns, ravaging, pillaging, sacking villages – just the thought excited me.

Started planning….