This heartwarming encounter with this beautiful
woman (with whom I am now connected on Facebook
and Instagram) and her family was a reminder that un-
less something went wrong, my team had just a day and
a half of the Mongol Derby left. We were about mid-
pack with no one for hours ahead of or behind us, so if
there was ever a time to relax and take a look around,
it was now.
So when we rolled into station 26 with 1 1/2 hours
of riding time left, Eion, Christine, and I opted to have
an early night there rather than ride on and camp out.
I'm so grateful we made that call, as this turned out to
be one of my favorite nights of the Derby. The woman
at the station whipped us up a mean feast including
roasted potatoes and a delectable homemade blueber-
ry jam on sourdough bread. "She went into the moun-
tains and picked the blueberries to make the jam," the
translator explained. She couldn't have smiled wider
when we asked the translator to convey our gratitude.
