Hello from Uralsk, Kazakhstan!!! We are here! After travelling for 22 hrs. over 8,000 miles (or 13,500 kilometers) we are here. Access to the internet has been a minor challenge - this coupled with jet lag, meetings, flights, catching up on sleep - did I mention jet lag? we have contacted the rest of the world. Please forgive me if I happen to repeat myself - we're feeling the effects from a little jet lag. We are adjusting however and hope to post something more poignant later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks to all who have left comments so far - it is a welcome sight to receive your well wishes. I have attempted to post a photo of us in our hotel room in Almaty however the dial-up connection is too slow in our apt. so text only. We were finally able to relax a bit and settle down for a few hours. Almaty is a fascinating city, surrounded on the south eastern side by snow-capped mountain peaks. Truly an incredible sight to wake up to after arriving late in the evening. We will post again soon. I feel this stong urge to describe our journey up to this point with great poignancy but am somewhat handicapped by the need to sleep. My brain sees and feels all of the different experiences so far but I am still quite slow to capture ideas quickly and easily. I will do my best to share our experiences with everyone soon enough.