In the Tracks of Dinosaurs

It’s with a certain amount of regret that I announce the ending of this blog. I’ve had a wonderful time exploring how far afield I could range with my interests and have greatly appreciated having you go there with me. Thanks for your comments and your encouragement.

But a higher duty, a greater opportunity, a destiny calls me to other endeavors.

At first, of course, I thought it was a prank. The heavy, cream-colored stationery embossed with the certainly-spurious address of something called “The New Mongolian Corps of Discovery” couldn’t be a bona fide enterprise. The contents were even more suspicious. A letter, some “official-looking” documents including a visa with a Mongol horseman for “The Semi-Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia,” and a letter from someone named Philby Snarmes, Chairman of the “New Mongolian Corps of Discovery.”

I won’t quote here from the letter. In fact, I cannot, because the contents are privileged information which, if they became known in Gottingen or Geneva or London, might provide insight into the competing interests who would, if they could, steal a march upon the ambitious and world-changing aims of the Expedition.

It was real enough, alright: almost too real. It took many phone calls, e-mails and, ultimately, a visit by Dr. Smarmes himself, along with key members of the Corps of Discovery to convince me that they were in dead earnest.

So, I am in a rush. I have only a few hours left to gather up the rest of my gear. I need a left-handed axe, a length of shoreline, and some riding breeches with puttees. I’m supposed to be out in front of my house at 4PM, when a 1922 Kaiser touring automobile will drive by and pick me up. Wow, what an adventure.

I’ll try to write from Ulaan Baator.