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Walking the Gobi: A 1600-Mile Trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despairby Helen ThayerAt the age of 63, Helen Thayer fulfilled her lifelong dream of crossing Mongolia's Gobi Desert. Accompanied by her 74-year-old husband Bill and two camels, Tom and Jerry, Thayer walked 1600 miles in 126-degree temperatures, battling fierce sandstorms, dehydration, dangerous drug smugglers, and ubiquitous scorpions. For more than 60 days Helen struggled to keep moving through this inhospitable terrain despite a severe leg injury. Without sponsors, a support team, or radio contact, hers is a journey of pure discovery and adventure.Walking the Gobi takes readers on a trip through a little-known landscape and introduces them to the culture of the nomadic people whose ancestors have eked out an existence in the Gobi for thousands of years. Thayer's respect and admiration for the culture of Gobi and her gentle weaving of natural history shine throughout this remarkable story. The author proves that Baby Boomers don't have to take life lying down-their adventures have just begun. Product Code: 0646 Pages: 272 ISBN: 978-1-59485-064-6 Binding Information: Paperback Publisher: The Mountaineers Books Publication date: 7/30/2007 Color: no
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Adventure writing at its best!,
By
This review is from: Walking the Gobi: 1,600 Mile-trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair (Hardcover)
I could barely put this book down. The adventures that Helen Thayer and her husband encountered as they walked across the Gobi Desert are bigger-than-life. As a reader, you feel as though you are on the trail with them, step for step, sweating, thirsty, tired and dirty. Sprinkled throughout the book are wonderful and heartfelt encounters with Mongolian nomads who share what little they have with these two American travelers. Scorpions, snakes, smugglers, rifle-toting border guards -- it's all here. What makes it all the more amazing is that Helen Thayer was in her early 60s and her husband in his 70s when they made this trek.
It is so refreshing to read an adventure tale from a woman's point of view. Helen's voice is authentic and down-to-earth. Yes, she can walk 1600 miles through the desert with the best of them, despite a serious hip and leg injury, but she also frets about the animal carcasses she sees along the way, wondering about the creatures' painful last moments. She worries about the plight of the nomad families they meet, but also recognizes and appreciates their quiet strength and close connection to the land. She'll make you laugh at the antics she and her husband go through to avoid eating some of the food and drink given to them by the warm and welcoming Mongolians. And you may find yourself in tears as their once-in-a-lifetime journey draws to an end. A wonderful adventure tale!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thrilling and Inspirational,
This review is from: Walking the Gobi: 1,600 Mile-trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair (Hardcover)
Another Helen Thayer (Polar Dream and 3 Among the Wolves) non-fiction thriller that takes the reader on an adventure of discovery and inspiration. The heart-felt understanding and sincere admiration of the Mongolian culture she clearly admires and grew to love shines throughout the book. For 81 days and 1,600 miles she and her husband Bill endured hardship, sometimes life-threatening, in one of the harshest places on earth. Crossing this dry, desparately hot desert in summer temperatures over 120 degrees would test even the hardiest soul. But these two walked all the way at age 63 (Helen) and 74 (Bill). Their close personal relationship as husband and wife never wavered throughout even the worst encounters with extreme thirst, scorpions, snakes and smugglers. Thayer's gift of vivid description takes the reader along as if walking at her side all the way. I laughed with her as she described some of their antics and I cried with her when they tried to save a dying animal they encountered. And I wanted to reach out and pat their two beloved camels they called Tom and Jerry. This is an "I can't put it down" book of not only an enduring close personal relationship of a husband and wife, but also of a thrilling adventure, and an oportunity to learn more about a remarkable culture. A truly inspirational read!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two great accomplishments- An adventure and the book about it,
By
This review is from: Walking the Gobi: 1,600 Mile-trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair (Hardcover)
I want to invite Helen Thayer over to dinner. Mainly I want to hear her stories again, and more of them. As soon as I closed Walking the Gobi and set it down on my kitchen table, I felt at the same time winded and awed, but hungry for more.
If you're reading this review, I'm sure you've read the synopsis: two people over age 60 decide to walk across 1500 miles of one of the least-studied deserts in the world. And they do it in the summer. When Helen Thayer sat down to write this real-life adventure story, she must have known that she had something good. After all, the idea itself is impressive; it tugs at the ear and challenges the imagination. But Thayer does much more in Walking the Gobi than recount a long trek in a string of stories or patronize the reader by giving only summary and analysis of the journey's meaning. Thayer's descriptions are careful and organized, educated and intuitive. She gives us the gift of recreating each day so we can experience them with her. Each day is numbered and recorded with useful detail- pointing out the unique moments that set it apart from the rest and reinforcing the monotonous heat, wind, and regional dangers that made the journey long and at times overwhelming. Helen Thayer accomplished a truly great feat when she crossed the Gobi, but what's even better is that she wrote a book about it. Happy adventuring! 2115|R3OMQ42HCTWMFB;2115|R22Z25UJV1TAD2;2115|R1C15MY5T9WSIA;
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