I met my husband when we were both undergrads at Auburn and the fall after we started dating we took a semester off and went to Nepal. We were hiking towards the Tengboche monastery in a remote region of the Himalayans, after an hour plane ride in what my husband calls a “crop-duster” that you might see flying over the Plains. After a long hike straight up the mountains, we stopped at a small guesthouse to stay the night. We had no electricity, no running water, a wooden bed, and a menu consisting mainly of rice and “greens”. The weather was cold and while sitting in the common area by the fire before starting the next day’s hike, I was wearing my orange and blue Auburn fleece and heard those two words: “War Eagle.” I realized the woman across the fire had noticed the AU logo on my fleece. Being the only other English speaking person there, we started talking, and it turned out she was from Alabama and was an Auburn fan. So here we sat, literally on the other side of the world, a 2-day plane ride from Birmingham, AL, followed by another nerve-wrecking flight in a tiny plane plus a day’s hike straight up the side of a mountain, talking about the Auburn football season we were missing on our trip. Since they haven’t heard about Auburn or football in Kathmandu, we had to ask if she knew how Auburn was doing that season.
Stephanie & Tommy