Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent

Isaac Asimov

History is an interesting thing. Humanity is also rather interesting, confusing but interesting. We left the town of Kas, on the southern coast of turkey and crossed maybe 3 kilometer of water arriving at Greek island of Kastellorizo (Megisti) and went through customs, having to leave our passports with the police there

After World War I the islands in the Mediterranean were granted to Greece. Seems funny having these islands just off the Turkish coast belong to Greece but the world is funny. And there is a large military presence on the Greek island, apparently half the island is military land. There is a large warship loaded with cruise misses and such at the village. As there was a military ship at Kas, which Charles and I toured. All over there is military presence. I guess falls into the category of if you hate me I will hate you, despite being neighbors. Humanity? apparently the Greeks here can buy perishable items in Kas and get a local customs permit to cross back and forth without problem, but non perishable items have to come from the isle of Rhode’s, a distance of 150 kilometer. There is a 10 year wait list to build a house with the backup of supplies.

The town of Megisti is a quaint town currently resident population of about 360 and double that if you include military living here. Used to be 14000, but the town was bombed in World War I by the Germans.

A short drove to west side of island brought us to some limestone cliffs which one tiny area has a small entry into a cave. The blue cave. 2 kayaks and paddle board went in, but did not think entry possible as a bit of wave action. Some tour boats outside with people swimming in. But we took the dinghy and started in having to lay completely on floor as only a meter at most clearance and wave action changing height constantly. But entry then was amazing. At first I thought “wow, they have lighted this cave”. There is an iridescent blue color. It is all natural light from the entry through the water.

I started to swim back to our ship just motoring a hundred meters off the cave. Too deep to anchor. A tour boat in little runabout stopped me saying too dangerous, despite our crew granting permission for me. Tour boat made me get in their boat and wait until his tourist boarded. Our dinghy arrived but tour boat operator said do not go there, but I jumped in anyway. Enver said when back on board, to not listen to people I don’t know, but the tour operator kept blocking my way. We figure the tour boat did not want to set a precedence of swimming. Oh well whatever.

Back to town others wanted to hike the hill to castle and church, but I just wanted to sit at sidewalk cafe, have a beer, and absorb the town life. Ned joined me and we had a delightful time, which 4 beers helped. Jeanne joined us, and the proprietor thrilled us with various answers to various questions. His English quite adequate. Another beer enroute to rendezvous with rest of group.

A delightful meal Enver had a giant pork chop which one can’t have in turkey,due to Muslim no pork rule. I had thinly sliced raw sea bass, covered in caviar, jeanne-4 apparently delicious big prawns, and squid as an appetizer for all along with fried sardines. Absolutely delicious meal.

Slept on board boat in harbor, walked to bakery in am for morning bread, and breakfast. Then off again to this uninhabited island (except military) for snorkeling swimming, kayaking etc delightful

Now approaching Kas, Turkey again where will spend night. Hoped for a quiet anchorage, but alas punched hole in dinghy on the limestone so will spend night to repair.

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

John F Kennedy

This is a massive subject, although someone said it is just one thing after another. Hence, I will start in the middle.

Arrived Izmir via flight from cappadocia region via Istanbul. Turkish air fed us a hot sandwich both flights one an hour another 45 minutes can’t remember last time fed a meal on domestic flight

Driver and van arrived and off to lunch. Another incredible Turkish meal. I have concluded we are not allowed to be remotely hungry on this trip.

Then to the ruins of Ephemeris, one of the largest Roman cities, with a population of 200, 000 people, which included slaves which were in significant numbers. Apparently some “owned” as many as 2000.

The city was rediscovered and is slowly being “dug out”. One could see the Main Street again full of people “tourists” it was inhabited 2 millennia ago.

I find it interesting to see cultures containing art. It takes a rich culture to have the ability for spare time to support the arts tome seemed to be above and beyond this. I describe it as decadent. But labor was cheap.

Besides ornate columns and frescos, the Roman’s were great developers of modern culture and survivabiliyy. Sewer systems, water systems water transport. Amazing technology. One thinks of “primitive civilizations as primitive, considering ourselves to be the epitome of civilization, but two thousand years ago people had developed amazing system still in use today.

Of course religion played a huge part of any civilization from the beginning. If anything happened to you, it has been considered to be due to the gods. People always have wondered why or where we came from. Gods gave us the answer. I suppose people believe in a system of fairness. If I am good to the gods and worship them the gods will be good to them. Roman’s were no different. Hence the statues.

Just finished another lunch breaking up a 3 hour drive to the southern coast where we board a boat and downs 9 days cruising.

The most dangerous world view is the view of those who have never looked at the world.

Alexander von Humboldt

Departed Doha at 2 pm Saturday the 16 September. A huge airport and nice have the hotel to sleep. Sort of attempted to go through customs immigration but many said for the short time we would be gone was a bit dicey, so we never left the transit area. Something the United States does not have: areas where you can stay without going through immigration and security when you are just transferring planes. Very nice.

In anchorage the ticket agent said could only check baggage to Doha and not complete trip as it was a 20 hour layover and too long to hold baggage. When we got to Seattle checking into flight to Doha agent said she could change it to go all the way to Istanbul. If it had only gotten to Doha, we might have not been able to get back into security area and hotel until just before flight.

Arrived Istanbul and got a ride to hotel. A car race driver wannabe, but we got here in good shape, although my bag did not arrive on plane. Qatar airlines said they would deliver when it was found.

Sunday morning met our guide for the next two days,Fulya. She was great, what a wealth of information. History is her passion and there is lots of history here. At the meeting point of Europe and Asia here on the Bosphorus straights, cultures have come together for millennia. My brain is full, and trying to remember and digest it all.

Eastern edge of the Roman Empire, and old aqueducts and the hippodrome where the chariot races were held.

And we went through numerous mosques of various sultans and important people. Like a lot of place the religious sites are built big and grandiose and people like to see.

The past two days began at about 9 am and lasted until 9 pm walking, seeing, trying to absorb the vast knowledge Fulya was trying to impart upon us.

The area is dry and the powers at that time created these gigantic cistern to hold water. We toured one estimating it over a hundred meters long and 50 meter wide and maybe 20 meters deep. Holds a huge amount of water.

The would stop for lunch at a restaurant which Fulya knew of and each day it was incredible.

Monday lunch did not have the view but awesome food.

Sunday evening we took a tour on ferry along the Bosphorus straight, which was delightful. So many boats, one better know the rules of road. Big bulk containers, (no Ukrainian grain though), ferry’s, a cruise ship, private yachts, and a few private boats.

It is an amazing city, as I understand it between 16 and 20 million people. A good transportation system. Took the subway over to Asia today, a very pleasant ride. As with many things once you learn how it is easy. Fun to figure out each city system.

But tonite was awesome. Here is the story. In about 2009 both jeanne and I worked as nurses. One evening a 21 year old fellow, came in having crashed his rental bicycle on day 2 of his trip to make money for the summer. He was on a work student visa (J1) and was planning to make money for a camera, so he could begin work as a professional photographer. Well, his dreams were shattered and he met us by going to surgery with nowhere to go after. We took him home. He stayed with us only a day then returned to the hostel where he could network.

I happened to still have his email and instagram account, and thus contacted him, just before this trip, not knowing if he was around or what. A delightful evening catching up after 14 years. Thinking similar sharing stories and meeting his fiancé, just asked her last week.( although together for many years) he is a professional photographer now and filmmaker.

One never knows where life will take you, one day you are riding your bicycle, the next moment your hand is broken, and life changes. 14 years later you have dinner with some wondrous people.

My bag showed up just now, 6 hours before our departure. Should I pack or unpack.

If people did not sometimes do silly thing, nothing intelligent would ever get done

Ludwig Wittgenstein

This is turning into a little journal of travels. But somehow I always envisioned it being not only travel but ideas, thoughts and a bit of personal philosophy. Maybe boring, I guess. But it is what I am.

Thus a quick recap of life since returning from Tanzania, Africa. That still remains an amazing trip. Some folks return to africa over and over, and I understand. It was fascinating and one sees things when traveling, overlooked in every day life at home. I, of course, would return on that trip, but there is so much out there and other places beckon. There are 53 very different countries in Africa. I am thinking many folks want to travel to Alaska. Well that is my home, and after nearly 50 years there, I still find it fascinating, and have not come close to doing what there is to do. Jeanne and I have discussed possibly moving to other places, but each time the community brings us to stay. It has its downsides, but it is home. Thus now a recap of past 6 months in alaska.

Hence, again on return from Africa I endeavored to find the joy in home. And we did. Immersed in the ski jumping community, as volunteers, as well as the middle school ski races. It was a busy spring. I did receive my certification to become a national certified ski jumping judge. Whoppee. Not sure what that does, as next national meet I attend is next February, the junior national ski jumping championships. Only one judge allowed from our alaska division, and I have been promoted to “chief of hills”. That means if the hills are not perfect and all the water, electricity, snow, grooming, and physical facilities are not perfect, it is my fault.

Jeanne had surgery on her foot from a long standing problem which was greatly exacerbated while in Africa. It was a rough 6 weeks of non weight bearing, and we have 3 flights of stairs at home. 5 of 12 people on the Africa trip had surgery on return. Only 3 were exacerbated on that trip, 2 were after trip falls.

In April, Zak, the head coach and ski jumping administrator went on a preparatory ski, climbing trip in the mountains behind Alyeska, the downhill ski area where I spent a fair amount of time. He was preparing for a climb and ski off the summit of Denali, in May. When I returned to town from skiing, about 3 pm I got a call that Zak had set off his emergency SOS button on the inreach device. That is major! Turns out the third person down set off a huge avalanche. Brandon tumbled down over a thousand feet, over two cliffs, and somehow did not get buried. He only had a major shattered femur. It required a military high angle rescue, hoisting the litter into the hovering helicopter. It changed a lot of the spring, and summer. Zak and Nate had to ski out.

Summer began and our friend Natasha, one of the ski jumping coaches, asked to go on a river trip with us, as she said we always seem to have such fun and she had never been on a multiple day river trip. Well that is easy to arrange. Zak was scheduled to go but work things got in way.

A mutual friend in Seattle met a traveler, biking and surfing his way from Ushuaia Argentina to Deadhorse alaska, on the north coast and arctic ocean. She quite kindly encouraged him to look me up when trip done. He stayed with us for a week and we thoroughly enjoyed showing off alaska. He has a great video link on Utube called “kooks on bikes“

The summer solstice ski jumping camp was held the week of summer solstice, and was a great event, despite the main water line blowing out on an upgrade we did in the spring. Nothing like being up on the hill trying to figure out how to repair the line quickly, while some 150 people from all over North America are below watching you wondering when they can jump again. The kids were great and seemed to have fun. Kids are kids! On solstice, most of the rules and coaching go out the window, and we turn them loose to jump until 1 am. It is just fun. Ok, Natasha did say no going down backwards.

A great one day bike trip 1 July with zak and Natasha. 23 mile (40 k). Johnson pass trail a few days before it gets too overgrown to ride.

Then the river trip. We were planning on the chulitna river and taking 4-5 days, but we needed another boat for safety as just our raft and Natasha in a packraft is not enough margin of safety. Hence we invited Craig and Cyd, who were just returning from a river trip near fairbanks, and had done the chulitna the end of may with family. Craig and I have known each other for nearly 40 years and done numerous river trips together. They live in Utqiagvik, the farthest north point in the United States. Craig is the preeminent biologist about bowhead whale biology. When they come to anchorage I thoroughly enjoy sitting down with Craig with a scotch in hand and discuss the latest in universal discoveries, or scientific explorations. What has the James Webb space telescope discovered, what is the meaning of life, where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket.

Thus we began camping at the put in of the river on the 4th of July for a departure on the fifth. The morning of the fifth Craig and I would spout out some river rules to Natasha who was new to river running. Always have things tied in, in case of a flip, if you get knocked out of boat never be downstream of the boat, and on and on. We were having fun. As we left and I pushed off into the river, I I explained to Craig “this trip we are going to discover the true answers”. And Craig had purchased the fireworks for nightly entertainment, to prove the point.

40 minutes into the trip an avoidance of a log log jam caused Natasha to come out of her packraft, and Craig was also out of his boat floating. I was able to get a throw line to Natasha, and got her in our boat, but when we rounded the corner where Craig had floated, with Cyd in their boat, the entire floatable current went into a log jam. Cyd was in the boat, but Craig was gone.

Jeanne, Natasha and I managed to get to a sandbar, avoiding us going into the logjam where Cyd was sitting. We somehow managed to get Cyd off their boat and to our sandbar. Natasha and I worked trying to move their boat with a z drag pulley system, to no avail. There was no sign of Craig. I finally punched the SOS button calling for help through the satellite emergency system. The state trooper helicopter arrived an hour and half later, helping to get us to a safe place on shore, then taking jeanne and Cyd back to cars. Natasha and I with two troopers walking out the kilometer back to road, a heinous 75 minute trek through thick brush, water, mosquitos and horror. Our summer and lives were changed forever. Craig was found 11 days later on a sandbar.

At the memorial in Utqiagvik, Natasha asked before I spoke if I could make it without crying. I said a 60% chance, but I did not even make it through the first sentence. After the memorial numerous of us went out on the beach and had a bonfire watching the midnight sun. (Utqiagvik is 71 degrees north, way above the arctic circle.)

Over the summer there were various reminders of the event, as if we needed that. Various people would find some of our items along the river, and return them. We lost both our rafts but currently most gear has been returned. My friend Geoff and I went into a burger joint in Anchorage and happened on a person who knew of our event. She was heading up a conference, and Craig was to be the lead speaker at a conference on intertidal activity along the arctic, the week after our return.The conference was cancelled. All my questions remain unanswered, and the fireworks are saved for new years.

August found us back with ski jumping, hosting about 15 kids from British Columbia, Canada. They came for a week as their jumps were not at their training level. great fun, and a welcome diversion from our minds. Showing off alaska.

Alas, also in august my 100 year old aunt in Illinois was hit by a car while crossing a street. Jeanne and I went back to Illinois, and despite the reasons celebrated her life with my cousins. She was awesome, and I confess I liked her following this blog. She always had some comment. The last of that generation, for our family.

Now September and currently sitting on a plane again heading out. We departed at 11 am from anchorage, scheduled to arrive Seattle at 3:30 pm, departing at 5:30 pm for Doha, Qatar, a 14.5 hour flight, arriving 6:30 pm tomorrow evening. This is the same flight we took in February, but this time we spend 18 hours in Doha, then fly back to Istanbul, where our current trip starts. We arrive there at 6:45 Saturday evening. It is now Thursday.