Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I could barely put this book down. The adventures that Helen Thayer and her husband encountered as they walked across the Gobi Desert are bigger-than-life. As a reader, you feel as though you are on the trail with them, step for step, sweating, thirsty, tired and dirty. Sprinkled throughout the book are wonderful and heartfelt encounters with Mongolian nomads who share what little they have with these two American travelers. Scorpions, snakes, smugglers, rifle-toting border guards -- it's all here. What makes it all the more amazing is that Helen Thayer was in her early 60s and her husband in his 70s when they made this trek.
It is so refreshing to read an adventure tale from a woman's point of view. Helen's voice is authentic and down-to-earth. Yes, she can walk 1600 miles through the desert with the best of them, despite a serious hip and leg injury, but she also frets about the animal carcasses she sees along the way, wondering about the creatures' painful last moments. She worries about the plight of the nomad families they meet, but also recognizes and appreciates their quiet strength and close connection to the land. She'll make you laugh at the antics she and her husband go through to avoid eating some of the food and drink given to them by the warm and welcoming Mongolians. And you may find yourself in tears as their once-in-a-lifetime journey draws to an end. A wonderful adventure tale!
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