Post #85

Welcome to my 85th post!! What a milestone! I know there are those of you who never thought it would go this far, but here we are!!! Can you smell the sarcasm?

Actually, I know there aren't a lot of readers of this blog, but I really need to do a better job of posting (doesn't that sound familiar?). There are some blogs and personal web pages that I've been following and I always enjoy their updates. I'm finding myself worried because there haven't been any updates in a while. For example, there's a guy traveling around the world on his motorcycle. He started in the US, made his way to South America, and had an accident in Bolivia. He broke his leg rather badly when his motorcycle fell over on him and he needed to be medically evacuated back to the US. He had surgeries and therapy and recuperated for about 9 months. He then went back to Bolivia, got his motorcycle repaired, ran in to some red tape, had another minor accident (tweaked his leg/foot), etc. Well the guy hasn't posted for a couple weeks and that makes me a little concerned for his well-being.

Then there's a couple who are on their way around the world on motorcycles. They haven't posted in almost a month. I'm a bit worried about them and I can't even begin to think about what their families must be thinking.

I feel weird getting caught up in the lives of these people I don't even know, but I enjoy reading about their adventures. They are doing something that I would love to be able to attempt someday. I'm not so sure about how far around the world I would want to go, but I definitely want to travel extensively on a motorcycle. I think I would probably start on some smaller treks within North America, but the coolest thing would be a tip-to-tip trip, the Artic Circle in Alaska down to the tip of South America in Ushuaia, Argentina. What do you think, Greg?

Around the world.......

Dan's blog had a nifty link to a website that let you check off a list of countries that you have visited and it would generate a map of the world with the visited countries in red. As I was checking off the list, I cheated with a couple countries in that I really didn't spend more than a couple hours at an airport there. Those countries are England and French Guiana. Two other countries on the list are a stretch but allow me to explain them.

One time I was going to Kuwait for a 30 day temporary duty with the Air Force. Someone at our base was misinformed on how to get there. This person thought that all personnel going to the Middle East had to take a normal personnel rotation flight to Saudi Arabia and would then continue on to their destination. After delays getting out of the US and finally arriving in Saudi Arabia, we (I was traveling with one other person from my base) were informed that we should not have flown to Saudi Arabia as there are no continuing flights to Kuwait. The base there really didn't know what to do with us so we spent the remainder of the night under a giant overhang outside and waited for further instructions. The next morning, a small plane that did a regular mail run was able to give us a lift into Kuwait, and then we were able to hitch a ride with some Air Force security guys to our base. So my visit to Saudi Arabia was brief and limited.

Once I was returning from Paraguay and had to change planes in Brazil. There was a mechanical delay there and the airline put me up in a hotel in San Pablo (Sao Paulo). It was a somewhat eerie feeling to arrive at the airport the next morning without proper credentials (no Brazilian visa in my passport) and try to convince security that I was legally there.

My Visited Countries

Get your own Visited Countries Map from Travel Blog

We were able to have a short visit with Greg and Deb on Saturday. Their little girls were terrific with our little girl. Allie was very patient and shared her Leapster and Julia surprised her parents by sharing her little babies. They said that Dan had mentioned us in one of his recent posts. Thanks Dan and Amy! And we think our Lourdes is pretty too!!


It was nice to see Greg, Deb and the girls. I hope we can spend a little more time together in the future. Perhaps we should consider a visit to the magical state of Wisconsin (even the name is enchanting!). Greg explained the problem he is having with his blog. Basically he goes through his web page with his ISP to import from Blogger. That method has always been a problem for him and basically his web page host/ISP changed something and he's got to figure out what he needs to do to get back up and running. Good luck!!

The end of Greg and Deb on the Web....

Greg mentioned that Blogger Beta has caused the demise of his web page. I'm not sure what he means as he didn't give any details, so I thought I would post an update on my page to see if there are any problems.
I know October was the last time I posted, so I'll make the same empty promise of trying to do better in the future.
Everything is fine here and Lourdes is growing like a weed. In mid-January we'll probably be helping her move into the dorms for the spring semester at U of I. Just kidding, she's growing by leaps and bounds and seems to be getting smarter all the time.
Time to take a shower and go visit the family for an early Christmas celebration.
Take care and Happy Holidays (Christmas, Chanukah, Kawanza, New Year's, and any thing else that I swear to God or your higher deity (or lack there of) that I didn't intentionally leave out).