Travel - so far, hiking, bicycling, sailing, plane, national, international, adventure and learning, life

My mother could have stayed home and not gone anywhere but her yard and garden, the church, and school, if she had her way. Her sister travelled the world with her friend Babe sending us kids different gifts from exotic places. I’d adore the camel she sent from Egypt. She’d write letters and send cards and was every year vacationing in some place somewhere in the world, sometimes at a Baptist conference, sometimes. She was real adventurer. Dad also loved to travel and as a child he took the family to both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. We’d have these long road trips in his car or travel by train. I remember the first time he took my brother and I up in a little plane too.

I’d hitchhike from Winnipeg to Banff at 17 then to Toronto at 18.  My friend Doug, who’d become a minister, would make this trip with me to Aunt Sally’s.  Then Baiba and I would hitch to Toronto and hitch back to Winnipeg, go with Kirk in his beater to the Strawberry Mountain Peace and Love Festival then hitch to San Francisco to dance in the streets and wear flowers in our hair.  

We’d fly to London when I was 19.  There we’d cross to Amsterdam, buy bicycles, bicycle across Holland, France and Germany ending in the Oktoberfest where we’d meet Jerry. The passes to Italy were snowed in by early snow fall so we’d put our bicycles on Jerries VW bug, which didn’t have a first gear, and travel through the Pyrenees Mountains to on through Barcelona to Algeciras. We’d take a boat to Morocco then return to Spain and hitchiked back to London where we’d live for a year. We’d take a bus to Glasgow and Edinburough while each weekend we’d bicycle or visit places around London like Oxford and Cambridge and Churchill’s estate.  

Back in Canada I’d settle down to studies and not travel for a few years.  Maureen and I would take car camping trips, first to Banff then to California and back to Winnipeg . We’d have a wonderfully romantic holiday with Aunt Sally when Maureen dressed like Annie Hall and I was struggling to be an intellectual. I’d fly to Churchill and visit a half dozen or more northern Indian reserves in Northern Ontario and Northern Manitoba. We’d car camp to the East Coast, Quebec, New Brunswick, Halifax and go across the border to Boston.  We’d hike the Banff mountains with Glen and his wife.I’d eventually fly to the North West Territories and also work in the Yukon and North Vancouver Island and visit southern Alaska.

We’d fly to Cancun in Mexico and love Cozumel, Maureen in her bikini looking like the cover girl of the Sports Illustrated. I’d try sailing and get carried out to sea needing a sailor to come out and rescue me, after I’d been sunburnt to lobster shade.  We’d go to Hawaii too. A wonderful Maui vacation with our California friends who we’d canoe with in Canada and Northern California .  Maureen and I and her sister would hike the West Coast Trail on Vancouver.  

I was bicycling. I was canoeing. We were camping. I was driving long distances.  We were also taking flights. So much about travel is in the mode. Buckminster Fuller talked about the stationaryness of the vast majority of the population until the last decades.  99% of the population prior to 1900 had simply not traveled more than 100 miles from their birth place. St. Paul was a tent maker. That in the day was like a Boering airplane mechanic. It was elite to own a tent and be able to travel.  St. Paul was able to spread the gospel because he travelled and he did all his travelling by foot or boat. Jesus walked all over Israel.

When I graduated psychiatry I flew to India spending a couple of months in Bombay and environs. Then I returned to drive to California after travelling to Virginia.  I’d turn down job offers in Virginia, Stanford and Berkeley to drive up the west coast and take a job at UBC.  I’d sold the Mustang I’d loved and with the Baha Bug Pendergast and some cash I’d set off for the US. When I was living in Marin County I’d take trips to Napa Valley wineries and hike the Sierra trails in the hills.  

I’d move to north Vancouver Island where I’d get a Broncho II after my VW Rabbit. The Broncho II 4wd took me through all the logging roads and back trails of the island where I hunted and fished and camped. I’d travel to Calgary and Banff in that vehicle too.  Then I’d get a Vanagon which I had when I met my wife and we drove in it down to California and also across Canada to Winnipeg.  We drove it to Whistler and Blackhom for down hill skiing and Manning Park for cross country skiing. 

With my wife Sherry I’d sail north to the Queen Charlottes and south to the Sea of Cortez. Back in Vancouver I’d get sober.lose my Toyota Truck, return to bicycling until I got my Chevy Beretta and was back to road camping.I’d switch to an Astro Van which became famous for it’s peculiar door after the mussels fell off the dinghy I carried in it and mixed with the moose blood that had pooled in the bottom after I’d carried a moose I shot home in the van, Tom and I butchering in his garage one night. He’d insist my ‘air freshners’ made the van worse and friends would ride with the windows down and their heads out the window even after Tom hosed the whole interior down.  I graduated to the Ranger truck and drove that all over BC hunting, fishing and camping. 

I fly to Israel and have the most spiritual time of great synchronicity and visions renting a car and driving around the country. 

I’d travel to Queen Charlotte Island in my Ford F-350 with Laura to hunt deer there in winter.   I’d shot deer there from my boat when I’d sailed up and anchored there.  Now I was travelling by ferry and across land with the truck and brought back several deer to be butchered.

I’d fly to Saipan and visit Tinia and Guam. I’d fly to Washington to do my MRO exams and visit the amazing museums.  With IDAA I’d visit a whole bunch of American towns that I’d probably not have visitted necessarily except for these great folk I’d study with each year and come to look forward to seeing and sharing with each year. Being with Hank in Phoenix was a highlight. Going with Art and Carole to the Andy Warhol museum was another ‘event’.  Having alligator in Mobile Alabama was incredible.  New Orleans.  Las Vegas, Norfolk, Buffalo, Florida.  

I’d visit the Bahamas with Julie, Bill and Bill.

I’d invited Laura to come with me to Milan and Rome.  We’d have days in London as well so we could see Westminster Abbey and Piccadilly Square, TRafalgar and the London Bridge.I love the London Tube.  After living there it was a joy to return. 

Then I’d go to Greece myself to visit Crete and Athens and Meteoria.I’d rent a car but have great difficulty with the traffic signs. Delphi was everything it is meant to be.

I’d take Laura to Ireland and we’d love Dublin and TRinity and find my grandfather’s grave in the north.  We’d visit graves and study Celtic crosses.

We’d love Galway.  We’d love all of Ireland.

I’d fly to Istanbul, hire a guide and explore the anxient city of Constantine revelling in the magnificence of Sophia.  I’d then visit the underground churches of Capadoecia.

I’d go with Dr. Ney to Dr. Baku to speak against abortion and meet with those internationally studying the negative effects of abortion on women .My interest was the high association with addiction.

I’d visitted places by hitchiking, bicycle through customs and countries, riding on trains and buses and driving my own car and truck and sailing my international blue water sailing boat.I’d fly in bush planes and helicopters and international jets.  Each way of transport had its inherent charm.

Like my father and mother who’d tented for years then graduated to tent trailers and RV’s I’d buy and RV and then carry my Honda 250 enduro to Sturges North no longer staying in tents or motels or hotels but bringing my home on wheels with me.

Laura and I with Gilbert would so enjoy these trips. 

We’d done motorcycle camping so much, riding together often to Seattle on the Roadster, sometimes taking Gilbert on the motorcycle with us liked we did to Salt Spring Island. He’d fly back and forth to Ottawa with me to visit my dad and then my brother.

My brother bought Hay Bay and I loved visitting him there.

My friend would phone me from Alaska and I’d fly to Moscow and visit there and St. Petersburg with her enjoying the Russia train trip. I loved the art and museums and the church’s. I love visitting churches and I love Christian artwork.

When he became sick with cancer I shipped my sailboat down to the Lakes so that I could take him sailing. I have the fondest memories of sailing with him and the nephews and my extraordinary sister in law.  

This year I visitted Ethiopia on my own loving the monasteries and Lallibella rock hewn churches.  

It’s been a blessing to travel.  I love travelling and writing. I love the different modes of travel. I’ve loved horses and donkeys and camels,bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, cars, trucks, train and planes.  I’ve stayed in sleeping bags on the ground ,tents, motels, cabins, luxury hotels,  igloos, RV’s and campers.  I’ve loved travel and adventure and all the learning that has come with it. I’ve so enjoyed the photography and writing. I’ve loved reading about the countries and seeing the peoples nd learning the history and cultures of different people and even studying languages. It’s been a blessing and a humbling experience. It’s been educational and experiential. It’s been scarey and uplifting. I’m blessed. I love it. I take after my aunt and my dad.  Now my nephew Graeme has picked up the torch and loves to travel too.