A perfect last remembrance of India was this man leading a camel. As he passed me he stopped and waited for me to get 5 or 6 photos of him and the camel and then just gave me a smile and walked on. Just a normal act of kindness with no request for money and nothing but a smile.


To tell the truth, seeing this only made me depressed...the trip is really just 77km from being over.

The goal achieved - the final odometer reading of 12,260.7km that I covered onwalkabout!

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2003-12-30 - Anwar-Delhi (Day 261)

The sky is a brilliant blue as I set out for the last day's ride to Delhi which is very appropriate as the entire trip was about heading off into the wild blue yonder. What sticks in my mind on this trip in is the odometer clicking over as I drove back to Delhi. When I was in Nepal having a jacket made to remember the trip I had to pick a final number of kilometers for the trip. I had originally planned on 3,000-4,000 kilometers but to my surprise I had reached 7,500 kilometers after 6 months. However, I only had a couple months left on the trip and a long list of places I still wanted to go. Pulling out my maps and the places I took a guess at 12,000. As I went along, this became more of a totem as the thought of finishing at 11,500 for example but having that 12,000 on the back of my shirt would always leave me just a bit short of my goals as the jacket would forever be reminding me. That the odometer rolled past 12,000 just as I reached Alwar, my last stop, was very fulfilling and seemed perfect for the trip's end. Of all the goals I set, I managed to complete every one of the big ones. I rode the length of the Himalayan Range and crossed the highest roads in the world. I took on a country where I didn't speak the language and traveling is tough, by myself and came out fine. I covered 13 of India's 26 states and and spent enough time to really get to know the country. On the way I met some people I hope will be friends for life. Most importantly,reaching the 98% percentile on my GMAT scores far exceeded my goals and there is enough improvement in my photography for me to be very satisfied. Riding through the afternoon Rajasthan sun I felt overjoyed that I had set a goal so far in the distance that I had no idea what it would even entail to complete but still managed to find my way. Today on the last day of the trip, I am overwhelmed with a feeling of elation at the completion of this trip. It was without doubt the most challenging personal achievement that I have made to date, and the feeling of amazement at myself that I completed it is simply wonderful.

Perhaps best of all, I have captured this year - events, thoughts and photos which I will always have. Through this website I have this year packaged away where I will have it anytime I wish to look back for the rest of my life which is something I can not say about any other year.

I suspect that I will not have children until late in life and I may never have enough time to spend with them or my grandchildren for them to really know who I was. This year and the Onwalkabout website hopefully will open a window for them on who I was. The website is dedicated to those kids and grandkids who occupied many of my thoughts during the trip.

The ride into Delhi was eventful only in how smooth everything went. Everything was blue until about half way to Delhi, then the cars came out and I was back on that same highway that I started on the first day's drive to Agra completing the full circle of the trip. This time I was traveling at 100km an hour instead of 40km as I had become a good "Indian driver" in my own right. I wasn't hungry on the way up as stopping at roadside dhabas I knew what to order, and perhaps as importantly, my stomach could take it. I did take one wrong turn, but that also spoke to how used to India I had become in that it was only 10 minutes lost before I was back onto the right path. Other then that, I drove right up to the door of Lalli's shop without incident. That in itself says a lot about what happened over the course of the trip. Even the flat I was sure the gods would use to play one last trick on me, never appeared!

As I looked at the final odometer reading of 12,260.7km as I parked the mule in front of Inder Motors I could not contain a grin and thought of "well done!" That simple sense of elation at completion of a big task sometimes can overwhelm the whole journey itself and in this case, I simply couldn't stop smiling.

My backpack left nine months earlier with Lalli was back in the shop and I spent the next three hours packing what was to go on to France, what stayed with the Mule and what went in the garbage. Lalli and I spent a good hour going over instructions for the bike and things to change or modify before the next trip. Lastly a stop at the Internet cafe and notes went out to tell the world that I am safe, and against most prognostications, I lived through the trip.

For the first time in memory, I was calmly heading to the airport, more then four hours before my flight, just to make sure that no last minute surprises would crop up and ruin the last day. Sitting in the cab and riding out of the gray winter of Delhi my heart filled with sadness. India is an incredibly tough country to travel in and there are so many things that are difficult to understand or accept, but it is also a country one comes to love, and respect even with all that is different. I will miss India, more as the small annoying details fade from memory and I remember the highlights, people I met and the amazing countryside that I crossed. I may never have another chance to do a trip like this, so if this is once-in-a-lifetime then so be it - it was all I could have possibly hoped for and oh so much more then I thought possible.

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