by Jess McCuan

You’re never too old for anything. Not even a walk to the North Pole. When she was 48, Helen Thayer was standing atop a 25,000-foot summit in Tajikistan, thinking she wanted to do more. The former medical lab technician, who lives outside Seattle, packed a 160-pound sled and walked 345 miles to the North Pole. At age 50, she became the first woman to make the trip alone. Then she set off across the Gobi and Sahara deserts, down the Amazon, across Antarctica and back to her native New Zealand.

When VERVE caught up with her, she had just returned from Africa, where she and her husband Bill spent a month living with Tanzanian bushmen. "I’m still finding out what my own name is," she joked, feeling jet-lagged as she readjusted to the 11-hour time difference. She’ll speak at Asheville’s Diana Wortham Theatre on May 13 and will sign books at Mast General stores in May.

Do you and Bill run out of things to talk about walking 2,400 miles across the Sahara? We’re two recycled teenagers. We just have that chemistry. We don’t have to talk. There are times when we talk, talk, talk. When things have to be done, they get done. We do very well together. We never take anybody else, and I suppose we never will.

Why? No one would want to put up with us. We’ve been known to walk 15 to 18 hours a day. We don’t have a base camp, and we don’t have managers or public relations firms… I’m 72, Bill’s 83. We’re as fit as when we were 25.

Any bits of wisdom to share from other cultures? We in the Western world could learn to put that cell phone down, put away the iPod. We need to look around ourselves and see nature as it truly is. Instead of something going on in your ears, brought in artificially, stop and look at the wind on the trees. What are the clouds like today? It costs nothing to observe. Especially young people, who are constantly texting. It’s sad to see that. These tribes—the bushmen wouldn’t know a cell phone if they saw one. They’re doing remarkably well without them.

Helen Thayer speaks at Asheville’s Diana Wortham Theatre on May 13. For more details about her May appearances, visit mastgeneralstore.com/helenthayer.  Proceeds from all events go to Manna FoodBank.