100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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I am getting pretty excited at this point. I am sure there will be some let-downs etc., but I am sure going to Antarctica will be a positive event. Four days from now I am headed to Washington DC, Denver, LA, Auckland, Christchurch and then finally to McMurdo. With the staging, orientation and crossing the date line it will take me 6 days (or more) to get to the ice.

I was looking at some photos and I ran across this classic. G. Mills (K2LDT) and I were raising a tower on the rover for the Winter VHF/UHF contest. It must have been 1997. Man, it was cold that morning. I guess that Antarctica thing was on my mind.

Rover Tower FN13 Baker Hill

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