This log runs through September 18, 2003

June 11, 2003 in Solomons, Maryland

We forgot to mention that after arriving in Beaufort, NC (880 miles at sea from Nassau) we traveled to the ICW, taking the beautiful Dismal Swamp route to the Chesapeake. What a treat.

Calvert Marina is a beautiful place. And to make life even more cushy, we installed a satellite television dish. It's a far cry from the Bahamian information void.

June 18, 2003 leaving Solomons
We about to depart Solomons, MD via the Gypsy Wagon, heading to SD for Becky's sorority reunion and to Cody, Wyoming for Don's high school reunion. Better yet, we'll see our families.

We're having serious trouble trying to run this website program on the new computer. A new website construction program will arrive today and we'll begin the process of extensively redesigning the site. While it'll take weeks, we're very excited and plan a site much more focused on the terrific photos we've taken during our nearly four years of continuous travel.

It may not be possible to update this site during this process. But rest assured that we're working on the new one and will post it ASAP.

And as for new travels -- here's a biggie. As of right now we're planning extensive travel in Nepal and the surrounding areas on the "top of the world."

Our deepest thanks to the many people who have recently contacted us to say they've been following our site for years. Our very special thanks to those who have come to visit -- including a doctor named Mike from North Carolina who dropped by with presents and an offer of dinner (which we accepted!).

June 21 heading west
During the next five or six weeks we will be driving in the western USA. Armed with a new high-end Minolta digital camera, watch for new photos.

To Becky's sorority sisters, and Don's classmates, and family members we haven't seen for ages, here we come!

June 27, 2003 arriving in Deadwood, South Dakota
What a difference a few days makes. An 1,800 mile drive saw us dodging bales of hay falling off a truck near Chicago and dodging tornados in Minnesota. On the night of the most severe outbreak of violent weather in memory, we sat in the basement of a house west of Minneapolis with friends as tornados destroyed a nearby town. If a tank had been needed to deter looters, Winthrop has one!

In the morning we passed vehicles blown off the road, crossed South Dakota's range land and traversed the mighty Missouri.

Becky's sorority reunion begins today. This ought to be a riot!

June 30, 2003 after a wild weekend in Deadwood
Don considers himself fortunate to have spent the weekend with Becky and her sorority sisters of the University of South Dakota Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. The group gathered in Deadwood (where they have shootouts on the street) and checked into the Franklin Hotel (which was amazingly efficient in its ability to foul things up).

CLICK HERE for enlargeable photos of South Dakota.

July 8 , 2003 in Salt Lake City, Utah
What a wonderful and wild time we had in Cody, Wyoming for Don's high school reunion and are now visiting Becky’s brother and sister in law in Salt Lake.

July 11, 2003 in Jackson, Wyoming
Having topped Teton Pass and looked down on the town of Jackson and the South Park area, we're now back at the beautiful home of our dear friends Lyn and Joe.

July 13, 2003 in Jackson Hole
People in this valley are always concerned about forest fires. When we were here two years ago, a huge fire burned out of control for days.

CLICK HERE for enlargeable photos of Wyoming.

Yesterday we spotted the first smoke of a new fire. The wind has gone to calm, giving firefighters a chance to snuff it before major damage is done.

July 14, 2003 in Livingston, MT
What a trip through Yellowstone and Teton National Parks from Jackson, WY to Livingston, MT.  Don’s dad is facing a dangerous operation and we’ll be here helping in any way we can.

August 5, 2003 in Billings and Livingston, Montana
It has been a busy time. Dad had major surgery in Billings and is recovering in the hospital there. He’s such an amazing guy!

Meanwhile, we’ve decided to head back to Asia. Earlier in the Expedition we had to defer Nepal due to violence there. Things have calmed down a bit, so that’s where we’re going. We’ll likely pick a number of other Asian and SE Asian destinations to visit before returning to the USA about six months later.

Pioneer will be stored on land in Virginia while we’re gone. In a week or two we’ll head back east, sail Pioneer and then prepare to store and winterize her. We don’t even have airline reservations yet, but we’re working on it. Of more immediate concern, trips to the dentist and to doctors for physicals and immunization updates.

CLICK HERE to view photos of our wedding, which we just added on a whim.

August 8, 2003 in Livingston, Montana: Planning a major new adventure

We are heading for Kathmandu, Nepal. After two months of preparations, the Expedition will fly from the Washington, DC area to Bangkok, Thailand and then on to Kathmandu. We anticipate spending at least two months in that fascinating area before heading back to Thailand for the year-end holidays and then perhaps on to Cambodia, Vietnam and, if we can work out various permissions, an overland trip from northern Vietnam all the way to Hong Kong.

Lots of things could change, but our over intention is to explore fascinating nooks and crannies missed on previous trips to Asia.

August 13, 2003 preparing to depart Livingston

In a few days we’ll be heading for Solomons, Maryland where Don will have a shoulder operation. Then we’ll move Pioneer to Virginia, take it out of the water and prepare it for winter. Then, if our schedule holds, on October 4, we’ll travel more than three days by air, ending up in Nepal. Lots to do before then. Lots.

August 18, 2003 in Belle Fourche, South Dakota

We’ve been working to improve the navigation of this site. Readers will not find Forward/Previous links on all longs and essays. We’ve also added a link on the home page, leading to the most current log.

If any of our friends in the DC area have a place to store our car when we head for Kathmandu (now scheduled for October 5), please let us know.

August 20, 2003 in Belle Fourche

Becky’s church is about to sell some of its beautiful and historic stained glass windows. This is not a commercial site and we don’t sell things. But it doesn’t seem wrong to help out a church that needs it. After all, we continually help a little mission hospital in Thailand. So the good folks at the United Church of Christ (Congregational) let us photograph some samples. Check them out in the South Dakota Gallery.

August 24, 2003 in central Minnesota

Since leaving South Dakota we’ve been watching the news, hoping to learn that former South Dakota Governor Bill Janklow has been charged criminally for running a stop sign at 75 mph and killing a motorcyclist at an intersection. Janklow served as Governor 16 years, as Attorney General before that, and since his final term as Governor he has been the state’s only member in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Janklow has a horrible driving record, receiving a dozen speeding tickets in a short period. During one of his “state of the state” speeches he admitted driving far too fast, adding that he would continue to do so because he could afford the penalty. Now he has blown a stop sign at terrific speed on a road he was familiar with, and has killed an innocent person who was obeying the traffic laws.

Janklow has also received tickets in the past for not having insurance, and after each three accidents in one three month period he claimed to have been averting an object or other vehicle -- assertions never born out by evidence. He made a similar claim in this case.

We visited the intersection where the crash took place. Although it can’t be seen in this aerial photo, the stop sign is in plain sight and is preceded by a “stop ahead” sign. In this photo, Janklow was driving from the bottom toward the top and never slowed for the stop sign. The motorcyclist, Randy Scott of Minnesota, was coming from the left had no stop sign. He was driving under the speed limit, but because of Congressman Janklow’s outrageous and arrogant behavior, Scott was killed instantly.

We hope Janklow’s long-standing arrogance behind the wheel results in serious criminal charges, and that his status as a Congressman and former Governor does not diminish prosecutors’ zeal. For many years this public official has driven like a maniac. We think he deserves prison time. If he is let off easy, he should be the object of a recall petition. As South Dakota residents, we will enthusiastically promote his removal from public life. This is not the kind of representation, or reputation, South Dakota needs.

August 27 in Des Moines, Iowa

We’ve recalculated the distance from Solomons, Maryland (where we’ll begin the next journey) to Kathmandu, Nepal, via the route we’ll take. Believe it or not, it’s more than half way around the world. That’s because we can’t take the shortest route, across the Atlantic. We need to drive from Maryland to Yuma, AZ, where we’ll leave the Gypsy Wagon, then rent a car to get to the Los Angeles airport, and then fly across the Pacific. Here are the minimum mileages we’ll travel if there is no route deviation at all:

Solomons, MD to Los Angeles airport via Yuma 2,829
Los Angeles to Taipei 6,807
Taipei to Bangkok 1,571 miles
Bangkok to Kathmandu 1,371 miles

Total: 12,578 miles.
The distance between any two spots at exactly the opposite points on earth is less -- 12,448 statute miles.

Another interesting fact: The time in Nepal is not offset an even number of hours. When it’s 3pm DST in the USA’s central time zone, it’s 2:45am the next day in Nepal.

August 30, 2003 in Solomons, Maryland

After our 6,760 mile trip out west and back, we’re now tending hundreds of financial, legal and logistical matters involved with preparing and storing the boat and then spending the following six or seven months in Nepal, Indochina and SE China.

September 1, 2003 in Solomons

A tremendous boat fire in the marina this morning. Check out the photo in the Maryland photo gallery.

September 4, 2003 in Solomons

When not preparing the boat for storage and running up to DC for immunizations in preparation for our upcoming jaunt across south and southeast Asia, we’ve been working on the website. We decided that pop-up buttons may not be worth it. Some people are confused by them, they don’t always display correctly, and it takes six hours to upload the site to the Internet (via dial-up). So for now they’ve been eliminated. Please let us know what you think.

Tibet note: In planning our overland journey from Nepal to Tibet, we’ve learned that the route hits 16,900 feet above sea level. That’s more than 2,000 higher than the highest point in the lower 48 states (California’s Mt. Whitney). It’s 3,000 feet higher than we ever flew our Cessna 182. We’ve purchased high altitude sickness medication.

Amazingly, although the pass we’ll drive is higher than any place in the United States except Mt. McKinley (Denali) in Alaska, there are well over 3,000 mountain peaks over that height, almost all of them in the Himalayas.

September 8, 2003 in Solomons

There are hundreds of things to think about when preparing for a trip like this. Figuring how to pack all the computer and camera gear -- and clothing suitable for both Tibet and steaming jungles of Indochina -- all on a 44 LB per person weight limit is daunting. Then there are financial matters. Today we hunted down all our dormant credit cards and used them once. After calling for the mailing addresses we send payments. No way bills would catch up with us. More important, these cards have large credit limits that we may someday need.

Our use of them today was solely to indicate to the companies that our accounts are not dormant and that the cards should be reissued when they expire.

Our hats are off to the staff of Hotel Thamel in Kathmandu, Nepal. We’ve made a one-month reservation beginning October 8, and we’ve peppered these people with all kinds of questions. Their patience with us has been extraordinary. For example, we now know that many things -- passport photos, warm clothing for Tibet, all kinds of things -- are cheaper in Tibet. We can’t wait to get there.

We have learned that the 16,900 foot pass we’ll drive over enroute from Nepal to Lhasa, Tibet is not the highest in the world. The highest road in the world is also in the Himalaya chain, further west. It tops 18,000 feet.

September 15, 2003 in Maryland

The coming hurricane may expedite our departure from the Chesapeake. We’re going to try and get Pioneer out of the water before the big blow. She’ll be safer there in case of a major water surge.

September 16, 2003 in Maryland

The hurricane is closer and we’re preparing Pioneer to be hauled from the water first thing in the morning and put on stands above the highest possible storm surge waterline. The sails are off, the dodger and bimini down and rigging and ropes stowed. NWS says the storm is growing weaker but is still dangerous. Right now it’s coming right at us. Not to worry tho, we’ll be just fine.

September 18, 2003 in Springfield, Virginia

We got Pioneer out of the water in the nick of time. What a wild few days it was getting the boat hauled and totally lashed down for the storm, and removing most of our personal items in preparation for the trip to Nepal and Tibet. We left Pioneer last night after dark and won’t be back unless the hurricane, which is beginning to strike right now, causes damage.

We are concerning about friends’ boats in the Chesapeake, where the water surge is expected to be very high. Lucky for us, we’re safe in a friend’s house in Virginia.

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