Some numbers to start the US travel story:

1 1/2 = hours of sleep in the first 1 1/2 days of travel

2 1/2 = hours spent waiting in line at San Diego Airport to pass through immigration

3 1/2 = hours taken to cut my hair at the school of hairdressing

On the plus side of the equation:

We have adjusted quite quickly to local US time (17 hours behind Australian EST)

The poor harassed border security officer granted the requested 6 month visa with no questions asked

I saved $80 (US) by having a novice hair dressing apprentice cut my hair

Some more maths for you:

We now measure distance in miles 1km = 5/8 of a mile. We will be hiking about 2655 miles which sounds a lot less than over 4200km.

We now weigh ourselves and our gear in pounds instead of kg. My starting wt is 51.7kg and Rob is 82kg. In pounds we are 114lb and 180lb. (1kg = 2.205lb)

We are eating and burning calories instead of kJs (1kJ = 0.239 calories)

The best one though is the temperature which is about 40 minimum and 90 maximum in the desert (1deg C x 9/5) + 32 = 33. 8deg F)