The day had come that Kasper was leaving us. It was hard to imagine a world without Kasper now; having him with us was as natural as though we’d planned the whole 3-year trip to be with him and brought him in our suitcase from Tucson. The thought of him not being with us anymore didn’t really even fully register.

[ngfilename filename='p1020384.jpg' float=center]
[ngfilename filename='p1020487.jpg' float=center]

To make the most of the last morning and afternoon we had together before his 4:30p departure by Jeep to Srinagar in the neighboring state of (politically unstable) Kashmir, we had a nice leisurely rooftop restaurant breakfast with a beautiful view of the mountains, Leh Palace on those mountains, and Leh all around us. We played some chess with a backdrop that looked ridiculously unreal, then headed up the mountain to check out the palace up close.

[ngfilename filename='p1020385.jpg' float=center]
[ngfilename filename='p1020412.jpg' float=center]

It was more an abandoned fort type of place than a stately palace, but we made a pretty thorough exploration of its many rooms and rooftops (check out the Leh Palace album to see), then headed back home. Ray copied photos for him and Kasper and I played another game of chess, which he almost won.

[ngfilename filename='p1020488.jpg' float=center]

It would have been his first victory against either of us, but sadly it would have to wait until our next meeting. We went back up to the Jeep and saw him off after buying his Sprite and biscuits for the ride because we’d forgotten to buy his breakfast that morning and we’d wanted to buy his last meal with us.

[ngfilename filename='p1020492.jpg' float=center]

We waved him off, and then looked at each other like, “Now what?” It had only been about 10 days that we’d even known Kasper but now it was hard to imagine a time that it had been just Ray and I traveling alone.

[ngfilename filename='p1020493.jpg' float=center]
[ngfilename filename='p1020494.jpg' float=center]
[ngfilename filename='p1020495.jpg' float=center]

After we bade him goodbye, Ray and I went and checked our email for just under an hour, Vince finally wrote again, mom had written again and surprisingly Melaura from work had written to say hi and see how things were going. We stopped on the way back to get Mango juice and orange Wafer cookies in lieu of having to go out again for dinner tonight, showered, did laundry (“did laundry” if you can call it that, in a bucket),

[ngfilename filename='p1020502.jpg' float=center]

and settled in to catch up on finances (I’m keeping a ridiculously meticulous database of every single Rupee spent) and do some route-planning for after Leh. The laundry was soaking in its bucket, thinking about what it had done, it was dark outside, and I was elbow-deep in Rupees and spreadsheets when a voice outside the door said something strange…

“Who wants to play a game of chess?”