As always, the rover and the team carried on, just like they have for 13 years and counting. Even as experienced as this world-class rover team is though, it’s difficult for them under these circumstances now to predict exactly how quickly Opportunity can make progress and get out of the rim.

"It's been difficult to do any real strategic planning because we just don't know," said Stroupe. “Some days we come in and were lucky. We've landed on the high point and can see really far, and have good terrain in front of us. Other days we come in and there's a hole in the mesh, because of a little rise that we can't see past, so we end up having to do really short drives.”

Those short drives add up however and by month's end, Opportunity chalked up 209.49 meters (687.30 feet), every meter of which almost was hard earned. It’s clear to see the rover made significant progress toward her “exit” at the crest when you look at the overhead maps (pictured in this Update), charted by Phil Stooke, author of author of The International Atlas of Mars Exploration Vol. 2, Spirit to Curiosity: 2004 to 2014 (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

In comings sols, the plan will likely include one more science stop to take some APXS analysis on some bedrock. “We haven't done that for a few months, since October,” said Arvidson. “Other than that it's getting up and out of Cape Tribulation and onto the Meridiani Plains.”

The MER scientists are as excited as they have ever been on this mission – save perhaps for the landing days all those years ago – and they’re getting more and more anxious to get to the gully. Opportunity seems excited too. At least she’s ready to rove. No surprise there. "It's amazing how well it's performing for being a 13-year-old vehicle on Mars," said Seibert.

Despite her broken shoulder and front right front wheel, the loss of a couple of mineral detectors, and her flash or long-term memory, the future still looks bright for this vivacious veteran. The gully is now under a kilometer (0.62 of a mile) away but first Opportunity has to get to the crest and onto flatter, terrain where this rover can make serious tracks.

It’ll still be a few weeks of hard driving and climbing though and the MER ops team will have the rover’s back every rove of the way. "We're still on really steep slopes, but were moving along at a slow, but steady pace," said Stroupe.

As much work as tending to a rover on Mars has been all these sols and months and years, this team remains as enthused and energized as ever. “It’s still a lot of fun,” said Arvidson. “And we're still making discoveries practically every week.”

The rewards of more than a decade’s worth of dedicated work, of the long hours, sleepless nights, and nail-biting moments come in different ways to different people. “I continue to be thrilled when I walk into a coffee shop and see Pancam mosaics on people's laptop backgrounds, or when I see a poster on a wall in a school that showcases images from Spirit and Opportunity,” said Bell. “Or maybe especially (in my own geeky way) when I see a new research paper published that has gone back and used some of the early data from the missions to pull just a bit more science out of the images and other measurements. Sweet!”

Others look at Mars in the night sky and are ‘transported.’ "I have a feel for what time of sol it is on Mars, and when I look up at this dim red dot in the night sky, I think: 'Opportunity is driving now,’” said Seibert. “It's so much more than, 'Oh there's a planet.' It's knowing the rover is there and what’s happening right then."