I am an embarrassment to bloggers everywhere. The summer's travel consisted of 7 countries, 8 states (not including the ones I just drove through, some of which were substantial drives-- like Wyoming [the long way]), visits with about 2 dozen friends and lots of their babies, a conference, a swing by Chicago to see the fam, a purge and pack up of the house in Bloomington to end that era, and (believe it or not) a fair amount of work. I arrived back in Portland late last week happy to be home and tired. My friend Dan from Dallas (Dallas, OR) came to help me unload the U-haul into my new.... apartment. Yes, lady and gentleman-- the schaackmobile-as-dwelling era has also come to a close, at least temporarily. I am renting a renovated basement apartment on campus at Reed and will be living a legitimate brick-and-mortar lifestyle for the next few.... well, for a while. What does that mean for the blog??? I feel some kind of moral blogger obligation to change the name if I am not actually living in the trailer anymore. Then again, blogger morals seem highly malleable to me and I am sure there is a way to make this comfortable for everyone. The question I keep getting asked is-- what are you going to do with the travel trailer??? The answer: what most people do with them... I am going to use it for travel. And thus, the schaackmobile will live on as my vacation home. Or mobile lab unit. Or urban retreat. Or guest house. Or all these things. We'll see how it goes, I will keep you posted as its fate emerges. And there you have the workaround-- how better to keep you apprised of the schaackmobile's fate other than to maintain it's self-titled blog? Blogger morals be damned.
Enough rationalizing. After the workshops, Andrew (the student traveling with me) and I went
up Mt. Kenya for a last hurrah in equatorial Africa. I tried to climb this beautiful mountain for the first time in 1995, but was thwarted by a variety of circumstances that, at the time seemed amusing, and now looking back seem really unbelievable. Perhaps it suffices to say that during my first attempt, I never actually saw the top of the mountain because it was socked in by clouds and and bad weather. The only picture I have from that trip is me and my 5 compatriots standing by a tarn at about 16,355 while it was snowing. This picture (above) was taken at about the same altitude after our only flirtation with bad weather during the entire four days. The mountain, the ascent, the hiking, the vegetation, the rock, the weather, the company, the gorge, the hyrax, and the thrill of summitting were all awesome. Go if you can.
Me and Jimmy at the peak at sunrise.
Enough rationalizing. After the workshops, Andrew (the student traveling with me) and I went 
up Mt. Kenya for a last hurrah in equatorial Africa. I tried to climb this beautiful mountain for the first time in 1995, but was thwarted by a variety of circumstances that, at the time seemed amusing, and now looking back seem really unbelievable. Perhaps it suffices to say that during my first attempt, I never actually saw the top of the mountain because it was socked in by clouds and and bad weather. The only picture I have from that trip is me and my 5 compatriots standing by a tarn at about 16,355 while it was snowing. This picture (above) was taken at about the same altitude after our only flirtation with bad weather during the entire four days. The mountain, the ascent, the hiking, the vegetation, the rock, the weather, the company, the gorge, the hyrax, and the thrill of summitting were all awesome. Go if you can.
Me and Jimmy at the peak at sunrise.
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