PRISON BREAK!

Sans Rod (who's recently been diagnosed with a mild form of shingles), the team and I went to the mountains for a couple of days of R & R. We live about two hours away from Mt Elbrus - one of the Seven Summits - the seven tallest mountains in the world. Elbrus is the tallest mountain in Europe.

The getaway was anything but an R & R for me because some of us did a 5+ mile hike up a steep mountain face in knee-deep snow. (BTW, do not wear ankle socks on such a trek.) The spectacular views did not compensate for the aches and pains I felt the next day. Mental note: must find older teammates.

On our second day, we got word that there'd been a 'problem' with one in our party. We immediately thought the worst and assumed that someone had been injured skiing or hiking. We were practically giddy with happiness to learn that 3 of our guys were in jail, instead. As it happened, they were hiking in a forbidden military zone and were arrested by soldiers and hauled off to jail. After a lot of drama and a little Frisbee playing with the guards, they were released. The fun we have here.