Hi Folks!
Kathy and I have finished going through the photos from our year 2000 expedition to Tocache Peru. It was quite a task to wade through hundreds of images – both digital and printed. Each image tells one part of this story. To choose which one to use in relation to how the story unfolds has taken a lot of time. We had an outline for the story from the expedition journal, not a detailed account. This is where things get complicated and why the images should be well chosen.

The past two days I have been writing the detailed account with Kathy’s help. 

For example, one page from the journal equals 5 pages when every detail has been added. I start at noon and usually finish (hopefully) by 10pm. Thankfully, Kathy’s memory is very accurate! There have been several times I didn’t recall something that was mostly her experience! Those details from Kathy’s personal experiences will be added as we continue writing and rewriting.

I apologize that we haven’t committed to a release date yet. At this point we really don’t know how long this will take! We truly thought this would be a quick thing! It isn’t… It is a labor of love filled with extraordinary memories we both have a perspective on. And, it is taking time to grow this into the finished product.

Because we want you to have some idea, I’m including a paragraph taken from what Kathy and I have written so far. Hopefully you like it, haha : ))

BTW, if any of you have experience proofing we could use your help. When you are writing you are very close to the project and can easily make grammatical or spelling mistakes. Please let us know if you have a background in this and want to help.

Ok… Here’s an excerpt and a message from Kathy…. 

From Kathy
Hello Everyone! Nothing you’re about to read is embellished, nor has there any content added to the story to increase the drama. Honesty and integrity are very important to me and Jerry. The account below, and what we’re preparing for you, is the truth as it happened. There are many more details we’ll add as we continue “fleshing-out” the story. You’ll notice my “voice” hasn’t been added to this yet. It’s coming… Let us know what you think! 

We – as always – thank you, and appreciate your feedback!

 EXCERPT
July 23rd, 2000 – approximately 1pm
An hour passed. We were (maybe) halfway to the top. Looking up, the mountain looked jagged and rocky. It was becoming more like a piece of jagged broken glass with every turn we made on the trail. I was ahead of Kathy, who followed 20’ behind and further below me. The pack animals were ahead and now above me, as were Juglar and Frank. Coco, just turning the bend, became visible as he brought up the rear following Kathy on his horse. 

We each were spaced about 20 feet apart as we climbed. The grade became increasingly steep and my horse was now struggling up it. I leaned forward more to help the horse’s center of gravity. To my right there were no plants or shrubbery, only open space. I gazed down and saw how high we had climbed. Far below was the river, once a wide formal force punctuated by its everlasting loud roar stretching away from us and into the jungle. The Rio Tocache was now a silent small line thousands of feet below me. Clouds passed between me and the river, farther below. This was a dizzying surrealistic panorama the mind has trouble understanding. I was mesmerized by the grandeur.

Without warning the horse lost its footing and slid sideways on the loose wet rocks. Its right hind leg buckled. The horse screamed and fell completely backwards rolling over me. The full weight of the horse rolled over my right hip as jagged rocks dug into my flesh.  Terrific pain shot through my back and legs. In an instant we both fell over the edge of the trail clawing at the air as we tumbled over the ledge and into the abyss.