August 5

I talked to Abe this morning but will keep this short as I am a bit jet lagged. Bottom line is that he has put in a pretty rough three days, two of them with a lot of gravel which is not only dangerous but also jarring, and yesterday with mostly uphill climb. He is feverish and showing a lot of stress on his legs and body so is taking a 4-day rest. Presumably he will start to descend and it should be easier going, but...there is descending and descending. He is halfway between Chita and Khabarovsk according to his calculations. I'll try to give more detail of exactly where he is next time.