Marion Nelson

Animal lovers, especially female ones, are often accused of being neurotic and unable to relate to other human beings. More often than not, those pointing the finger have never had a pet. It seems to me the universe gave us three things to make life bearable: hope, jokes, and dogs. But the greatest of these gifts was dogs.

I believe when you've been stuck too long in one spot, it's best to throw a grenade and jump. And pray.

I am well aware of the hardship I will be facing. I am the first to admit I'm remarkably unqualified for such a hazardous undertaking. But this is precisely the point of my journey. I'd like to think an ordinary person is capable of anything.

Like any journey, it's not what you carry but what you leave behind.

I can deal with peace really easily, but nice people confound me. You know, how do you tell a nice person that you just wish they'd crawl into a hole and die.

Sorry. It's been a while since I've had anybody to talk to.

I'd pared my possessions down to almost nothing. I had a filthy old sarong for hot weather, and a jumper and woolly socks for cold weather. I had something to sleep on, and something to eat and drink out of. And that was all I needed. Like any journey, it's not what you carry, but what you leave behind.

After completing her 1700 mile journey, Robyn wrote the article that accompanied Rick's photographs for National Geographic magazine. The overwhelming response to the story inspired her to expand it into the international best seller Tracks.

Dear sir, I am planning to walk across the Australian desert from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean. A distance of 2,000 miles. The trip will take six to seven months. There are herds of feral camels roaming freely throughout Central Australia, and my idea was to capture a few and train them to carry my gear.

In the desert time is elusive. There were days when minutes dragged on for years, and the hours stretched for eons. It felt as if I was perfectly stationary, walking in place, pushing the world around under my feet. But time moves in one direction, always forward. So I decided to keep on walking no matter what.