Day 7 - December 17, 2013. Up at 11:30pm and start our ascent at midnight. Unbelievably, the moon is out and bright, no clouds and about -10C. This is doable. The hike up is very Pole Pole. Several folks are suffering from some sort of altitude discomfort. Cat was sick to her stomach and couple of times in the night. Poor kid, I was so worried she wasn't going to make it, but she is one tough cookie. It seems one of the Army guys, Dave, and I were the only...

Day 6 - December 17, 2013 Woke up my regular 2 times to pee. It was almost a full moon and you could see all the starts, there SHE was, in all her glory, close up and personal. it was freezing out, so much so I had to wear my down jacket to sleep in. We hike to last camp, Barafu - 15,300 feet,, before the summit night. The trip up was 5-6 hours and a bit cloudy, snow as we approached. The camp is quite crowded - 25,000+ people a year summit Kilimanjaro so ...

Day 5 - December 15, 2013 No rain to wake up and leave to - yeah! The route was up and down, however, did not realize it was like rock climbing! Thank goodness it didn't rain through the most difficult bit. Jesse (one of the army guys wives) had 'a moment'. Her husband stood there and told her not to be so selfish because she was holding us up. Whoa…..So I shooed everyone away and got her to breath and talk. She was not used to difficult hikes, never min...

Day 4 - December 14, 2013 Chambo strongly advised us to drink 3 liters of water per day. So I have. I also had to get up in the night 2X to pee. The most wonderful sight gave me hope. The stars were out, the sky was clear and the almost full moon was shining on HER - there she was in all her glory. Bloody magnificent, both times! We awoke to clearer weather but today, I was prepared. I had dry socks, my ankle supports, gaiters, Gortex rain ...

Day 3 - December 13, 2013 THE NEXT MORNING, I came out of the lodge and said 'good morning' to Sarah - she growled 'good morning Princess". Wow. I had been toying with saying something profound so they weren't so rude for the rest of the trip. I did have another 6 days with these people. Definitely thinking this route was a mistake. At breakfast, the ELEPHANT was in the room so before everyone left, I said something….to the effect that I have had 5 operatio...