through the roof...

that is it.  That is how close we are.  Zack and I are stuck in the Phoenix Airport right now waiting to head back to San Diego for the final push towards Kili.  This past week was absolutely amazing to see how much support and well-wishes there are for us.  I was in Salt Lake City all week meeting with some of the Overstock Execs, Chris Waddell (the paraplegic athlete that conquered Kili in October), Tara’s family and Zack’s family.  Everything was perfect (except it was cold).

On Sunday evening I met Zack’s family and just as I expected, they were some of the nicest people I have met.  Both of his parents and his brothers and sisters were extremely friendly with me, and quickly, his mother asked me over for breakfast on Thursday morning.  I went and she made some eggs, bacon and homade cinnamon rolls that were to die for.

Monday morning I met with Chris which was one of my main highlights of my visit here.  Just to sit across from him and hear his story was absolutely awesome.  To learn how he accomplished his goals and how he is helping us reach ours was mind-blowing.  I appreciated every moment with him.  From there I did some interviewing at the Overstock.com call center where Zack works.

Tuesday I went and met with Zack’s C.H.E.K Practitioners in Park City which was great.  Scott and Heather at the Rebound Health and Performance Center are extremely knowledgeable in mountain affairs and had a lot of great information for me.

From there I went to Overstock to meet some of the people that I have talked with over the phone for months.  Like I thought, they were great people.  Nicole Bondoc, Stormy Simon, Garry Carlson, Emily Madsen and the rest of the team have been soooo helpful making this project happen, and again, I am in their debt.

On Wednesday was my one on one time with Tara’s mother, Marian Butcher.  An incredibly nice and soft spoken woman, this was also one of my highlights of my trip.  Getting to know the families of my teammates seem to be the things that I look forward to most so far and I am blessed to have spent some great time with her.  Unfortunately this trip was for work and being so close to the climb I could not go skiing or anything, but Marian said I could come back and stay with her if I wanted to.  I may take her up on that offer.

Today, Zack and I are heading to San Diego where we are going to meet the rest of the team for some last training and filming before we get going to Africa.  I cannot believe we are this close.  Each day I wake up, I am getting more and more excited.  Here we go, through the roof.

- Derek