Bilboa, Spain

I have never thought about placing a town in a certain location to help defend it from pirates.

I'm impressed that a city has so many buildings from various architects from around the world... Wow. Just hosting the Guggenheim museum is extraordinary; especially since the city constructed the building in addition paying the Guggenheim foundation for locating a museum here...

I guess I'm not learned in the art world... I just don't understand modern art; but I'm damn glad I went. I feel so refined now ;)

Cherbourg France

Utah Beach & Saint Mere Eglise

To experience these places that are so memorialized from World War II... 21 bunkers spread along the area overlooking Utah Beach... Huge canon; concrete reinforced bunkers... Unbelievable open spaces to land at and fight across. One can only imagine how difficult it must have been.

Florence and Jack

Many of you know by now that Florence passed on 9/12/2011 @ 8:38 AM

Reflections:
It was just Florence and I in the room the day my dad died.

Dad was laying there in hospice in Cheyenne. I had read or someone told me that sometimes people need to know it is ok to go. Dad had made it his purpose to take care of Florence and seemed to be hanging on to the threads of life for some reason. I got close to the bed; not knowing if he could hear me and told him that it was ok to go, that I would take care of Florence. He opened his eyes for a moment as if understanding what I had just said and then he died.

I have since that day tried my hardest to be true to my word and today, being half way around the world is very difficult. I know that Dennis an Carol will take care of the arrangements, but it's still hard to be away.

I'm glad she is finally at peace with the world and gone to a better place

Getting to England from Phoenix,Arizona

Have you ever run through an airport to an empty boarding area; the gate agent yelling "what's your last name?"... Another agent running down the jetway to hold the plane...damn that was fun!!

We were on time (ahead of time) for our Delta Airlines flight out of Phoenix heading to Atlanta on 9/11/2011... The plane was 50 minutes late arriving; not to worry, we had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta... We board the plane, close the doors and there is a mechanical problem... The ground crew fixed the problem as people with close connections were reassured. We close the doors and back out of the gate; stop; another failure- so we return to the gate and the ground crew works some more... This time the ticket agents for Delta board the plane and talk to individuals about hotel rooms, etc as they will now miss their flights. We are getting down to a 30 min layover and are reassured that all is well connecting to our flight to Heathrow... The pilot made up some useable time in the air and we are cautiously optimistic; land in Atlanta and guess what? A plane is in our gate... The clock is ticking... We race off the plane in terminal A find our way to the tram that takes us to terminal E... Yes stoping at B, C, and D along the way... We race to catch our plane and the boarding area is empty. Fun time Delta!!!

We get to England hours later and find the ship greeters from Holland America cruise lines and we wait at the airport for an hour and a half while others clear customs... Finally board the ship fir a relaxing cruise... What's next?

Travel on 9/11

We had just started traveling before 2001. 9/11 certainly changed the routine. The cautions and observations have evolved over the past ten years.

One thing that has not changed is my desire to travel. I figure if I quit traveling or change plans due to the tragedy of 9/11 then the terrorists have won.

They haven't won; I'm flying on 9/11

Magic Rope

Getting ready to head out for a long cruise. One of the items we always pack is Magic Rope!  Shock Cord is the elastic cord that makes tent poles stay together.

Its kind of like taking along Duct Tape... we use it to keep doors shut and keep doors open and to secure gear... it can be a clothes line... while on the Bark Europa we tied the fan up so it wasn't pointing permanently at the floor.  It can be used a shoe laces; braided into a belt or web net; we have kept bags from sliding all over the place.  I'm sure we will find new uses on this next adventure.

do you use Magic Rope? how do you use it (please keep comments family friendly)

Ft. Laramie, Wyoming

This unique area was first noted in 1812 by the Stuart party that were taking dispatches from the new post near Astoria Oregon (founded by Lewis and Clark) they traveled through South Pass Wyoming and wintered in the area where Fort Laramie now stands.

Fort Laramie then Fort William was founded in 1834 at the convergence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers.  It was one of the main locations for civilization in the frontier west along the Oregon Trail.  From the time of trappers moving west and the discovery of the Oregon Trail through American Indian uprisings stretching from the Dakotas to Colorado the Fort's area of influence was huge in such a wilderness. 

The history of this area and the fort is rich and includes famous names like Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith, the American Fur Company (owned by Astor), Red Cloud, Kit Carson, the explorer-missionary Father De Smet, and Augustus Johann Sutter and countless other noteworthy frontier icons.

Interestingly the Fort was at first not a military fort but a convenient location about half way from the rich beaver area of the Green River and the last steamboat landing on the Missouri river. a place where traders could take rest and libations; trade with others or even make their way deeper into the frontier or head back to known civilization.  In 1841 a competing entrepreneur built a second fort, not of log and timber but of adobe and was named at first Fort John, honoring John B. Sarpy the captain of the party working for Lancaster P. Lupton of Colorado the names Fort John and Fort William waned to the more popular Fort Laramie as we know it today and the American Fur Company finally dominated the trade in the area.

After a long and colorful history and the steady migration toward Oregon and California President Polk and congress sent the military west to protect the travelers along the Oregon Trail (1846). It wasn't until 1849 that the military purchased the buildings at Fort Laramie. Just in time for the gold rush migration to California where 50,000 migrants traveled west each year.

Of course compounding issues were the American Indians and that is a story of itself.  By 1890 with the railroads by-passing the fort, the Indians pacified, and the general progress and change of migration the fort was finally abandoned.

I'm glad I've been to the fort a few times; I always learn something new about our history with each visit.