My 2009 Rick Steves Tour

My main reasons for going to Europe for the summer are to help my 92 year old mother with her rather large garden, to give her some of my company, to visit my siblings who all live on this side of the big pond, to visit with some good friends, and to enjoy the regional sausages, cheeses, and beers, without  weight gain.  Realizing that "absence makes the heart grow fonder", I try to absent myself periodically by exploring other parts of Germany or other countries.  In the past I'd gone on bike trips and hikes of my own planning and this time thought I might try my first organized tour with strangers in strange lands.  Thus my Rick Steves tour from Berlin to Vienna.

Why Rick Steves? Advertising from his PBS shows is probably the main reason, though his philosophy of exploring places by foot and public transportation after a brief introduction thereto appealed to me.  This meant that the hotels are usually right in the middle of the action, for better or worse.  

This particular tour went from Berlin to Wien, as the natives call their town, via Dresden, Prague, Cesky Krumlov, and Melk.  Our tour guide was a lovely and very knowledgeable lady, well versed in the regions' cultures and languages, a former Opera singer with a Dr. in musicology and a voice to go with all of that history.  Within cities we had native guides as guides typically have to be licensed.  All of these guides were excellent, being able to give us a feel for the contemporary culture and how recent history has had a place in creating it.  The group of 28 were predominantly from the west coast with a few east coasters and some upper midwesterners,  all lovely and interesting travel companions (Thanks for the pix, Will).  I cannot possibly describe all of my experiences and will limit them to what impressed me and what may not be in the guide books we received.

TRANSPORTATION

Rick Steves tours do not start in the US.  He gives you instructions on how you get to your first hotel using local public transportation - a first challenge.  For me, since I was already in Germany, it meant high speed rail, the Intercity Express or ICE.  I had purchased a Eurail ticket over the internet which gave my five days of unrestricted travel in Germany and Austria.  This allowed me to stop over in Munich for a few days after the tour's completion.  Within cities we were given day or limited duration tickets, typically valid for any mode of transportation be it subway, streetcar, bus, or funicular.  We were also given good public transportation maps and maps of points of interest to explore.  Walking ability is a must for this tour as we had to certify that we could walk up to 12 miles a day, which I felt we often did.

BERLIN

Berlin is the new (again) capital of Germany since 1999.  We stayed in the Prenzlauer Berg part of town, formerly located in East Germany where one could also find the historic Brandenburg Gate and most of the culturally and historically  significant  museums and buildings, except for the Reichstag building.  The Prenzlauer Berg is home to Germany's young digital bohemians, as Spiegel magazine called them, people who eschew the rat race and materialism and view life as a work in progress, having a large part of enjoyment of children, family, friends, coffee houses, and beer gardens.  Rents in these parts are relatively cheap with many fixeruppers available.

The historic Reichstag building started in 1884 has been more of a symbol of democracy than actually a container of democratic institutions until completion of reconstruction in 1999.  It had spent many decades in disuse since its suspicious burning in 1933 after Hitler's rise to dictatorship. The reconstruction added a steel and glass cupola to illustrate transparency, as it allows light to enter the Plenary Chamber.   Tourists  may peek down from the cupola to see the government in action.  A walk up the spiral staircase to the top of the cupola is rewarded with a 360 degree view of Berlin's skyline which it should be noted is, with a few exceptions, limited to around six story buildings.

The German government operates as a parliamentary system.  In the Plenary Chamber where final legislative decisions are made are seated ministers of the executive branch, the Bundesrat consisting of appointed representatives for the 16 states (akin to the Senate but only advisory)  and the elected 614 members of the Bundestag (akin to the House of Representatives but with all of the legislative power).  The ruling coalition of the Bundestag represents a majority of 5 parties and is headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, making her the most powerful politician.  Imagine a government with no US style Senate with its veto power and only a House to blame or praise!  Incidentally, the Chancellor's home is the nondescript building shown below, guarded by two policeman on the street.

Berlin has too many museums to see in just three days.  Most meaningful to me was the German History Museum.  There is also a lot of Jewish history including the somewhat plain looking memorial which can only be appreciated by actually walking into it.  The emergence of Stumbling Stone Memorials in Berlin and around Germany is notable in that they are plaques placed into the sidewalks to remind of former Jewish residents of the neighborhood who perished in the Nazi madness.

DRESDEN

Baroque Dresden historically referred to as the Florence on the Elbe river is a Phoenix risen from the ashes of WWII firebombing.  Some estimate the bombing killed over 100,000 people many who were passing through on escape routes from the eastern front.  Some say the bombing was retribution for the rocket bombings of London.  Some say it ain't so.  In any case, after the fall of the wall the rebuilding of Dresden in the baroque style gathered steam and has resulted in a remarkable "old town".  Notable places are the opera, the Zwinger palace complex, the Frauenkirche cathedral, and the old master's art gallery with its great collection of famous paintings.  

Of note is the parade of 700 years of Saxon royalty mural made  of 24,000 tiles of Meissen porcelain which survived the intense heat of the firebombing.

 CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech Republic is a small nation that resulted from the split of the former Czechoslovakia in 1993.  It is the western half that associates itself more with the Christian west and is a parcel of land that has been under the control of many other powers surrounding it - sort of a football that got kicked around by Slavic, German, and Russian speaking countries.  It is now a part of the European Union but has not yet accepted the Euro as its currency.  English has replaced  Russian as the foreign language taught in school.  Today's young people have very western tastes in their acceptance of the internet and cell phones and the culture that goes along with that.

The Czech Republic was fortunate to have experienced only little damage during WWII.  Prague as one sees it today has been preserved and maintained for its architectural appeal.  There's much to see in the Prague castle area where the Prime Minister lives and where some of the seat of government is.  The monastery brewery had the best beer I tasted on the trip; forget about Czech Budweiser and Pilsner Urquell.

Prague is a tourist town and tourism has become a major industry in the Czech Republic.  During the day the streets are mobbed with tourists but it is possible to get away from the masses and enjoy some good music, for example, in some of the old churches.  I attended an excellent organ, trumpet and choir presentation of old masters in the cathedral of Saint Nicholas.  What acoustics!

We stayed in the Little Quarter of town,  which had a fruit park across the street  leading up to the castle.  There were orchards of various types of trees including ripe cherries some of which were picked by moi every morning for a breakfast appetizer.  (Europe seems to be full of fruit trees, many along the roads, available for picking. Currently the Mirabelle plums are falling off the trees in masses, without worms. Yum!)

After Prague we visited Cesky Krumlov, a lovely old and small town surrounded by the swift Vlatava river which offers several types of water experiences.  The cobble stoned town is fun to walk through and helps to imagine what life must have been like there centuries ago.

Before leaving for Vienna, Austria, we stopped for a brief time at  Theresienstadt (Terezin).  This fortified town of the Hapsburg empire was used as a "model" concentration camp for elite Jews by the Nazis.  Life there was pictured in the film Schindler's List.

VIENNA

On the way to Vienna we stopped for a few hours at the fabulous and newly restored abbey of Melk, located high above the Danube.  Founded in the 11th century it boasts a beautiful library containing many old and historic titles, a lovely and ornate baroque church, and a large park.  Some monks of those times surely lived in great places.  Probably beat joining the armies of the time.

Vienna is the capital of Austria and has been the seat of one of the most powerful dynasties, the Hapsburgs.  The last emperor, Franz Josef, lived in the huge, pictured Schönbrunn castle.  The town is full of cathedrals, museums of all types and relics of its 2500 year history.  But it is also a modern town behind the historic facades and is rated as the most livable city in the world.  It is an active town with musical venues available every night and daily opera during the opera season.  I particularly enjoyed paintings by the Dutch and Flemish masters at the Kunsthistorisches Museum for their depiction of village life at the time.

We had an enjoyable evening at one of the daily public movie showings that take place during the summer in front of the fabulous town hall.  We saw a video set to contemporary German composer Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, a piece I first heard at college in a semi-conscious state early one morning.  You've got to know the piece to appreciate the experience.  But I digress.  These evening events are well attended with over 3000 seats available and a whole street devoted to food pavilions offering a large selection. 

The Austrians epitomize the concept of Gemütlichkeit, take life easy, and believe in being genuinely friendly.  A "Grüss Gott" is the standard greeting.

MUNICH

After the tour ended I continued on for two nights in Munich (München) Germany.  This town is not as historic as Vienna and suffered extensive devastation during both world wars. It is also a city of many museums but it being a nice day, I preferred to examine its extensive park system on bicycle during the day and enjoy some of the public entertainment, good Bier and food at night.

My bike trip took me through several parks including the huge and popular  English Garden with its many meadows and forested areas and a lunch at the Chinese tower restaurant complex.  I also saw many beautiful residential areas and other points of interest normally not seen on organized tours.  The Olympic Park is still maintained and used and the Schönbrunn Palace also had a huge park to offer.

The last evening I witnessed a GLBT event, Christopher Street Day,  in front of the famous town hall.  The whole downtown was filled with colorful characters and on stage there was  good music and a serious discussion among several politicians about GLBT politics.

Downtown Munich has a huge, almost a mile long, pedestrian mall crossing it.  It is filled with people and entertainers and offers the "vibrancy" that my home town of Columbia is still seeking.  This vibrancy, in large part is due to good public transportation, many people living in downtown (in buildings not exceeding around six stories, by law), and many parents not working during the day. Munich is the 7th most livable city in the world.  And finally, MJ had a great following here a is evidenced by the tribute concert plaque.

A quick trip back to my mother's home on the ICE finished the tour, all in all a positive experience. I did not use names of travelers to protect their privacy.  This blog entry, of course, depicted only a small part of the experience in words and pictures.  To involve the other sense one needs to get out there in the middle of it.

Germany 2009

It's 2009 and a new travel season has started.  This year's travels will be limited to Europe and I'll start with an event in my mother's hometown.

Hessentag is an annual event of the German state of Hessen in some chosen city to celebrate its history and to make it a destination.  My childhood city of Langenselbold located about 25 miles east of Frankfurt was the 49th Hessentag Stadt (city).  Preparations started over a year ago and included a complete redo of the water, gas, sewage, stormwater and electric infrastructure under the main celebration route, including a complete redo of roadways, sidewalks, elevated bus stops and street greenery.  Millions of Euros were spent in preparing the town of only 15 000 for an influx of over a million visitors during the 10 days of festivities.  The state of Hessen is slightly smaller than Maryland with slightly more people (6.1 million).

The festivities took place along a route of about 2 miles with booths on both sides of the roads which were closed to all motorized traffic for the duration.  Some samplings of booth offerings were handmade willow baskets, every type of broom you can imagine, jewelry from many nations, foods mostly native but also Thai, Kurdish, Chinese, Polish, and even American ice cream, hot dogs, etc.  Music and dancing took place simultaneously on 10 large and well outfitted stages throughout the day with much of the music being rock, jazz, blues, etc, with English singing.  A US Army dixieland band and a US Air Force rock band, both from military stationed in Germany could also be heard.  One of the stages was exclusively dedicated to in-state folk dancing and oomph bands of which there must have been dozens according to the 180 page program book.  There was also a large military presence and an even larger police presence with many police on Segways and motorbikes.  The police tent had the best free rock music events.  A parade of 157 entries lasting three hours was the finishing event.

The most important activity was eating and drinking, with beer and wine retreats distributed throughout the festive areas.  At the palace park one could spend all night drinking a great variety of wines while listening to various bands.  This is where I spent much of my time into the late dusk with childhood acquaintances .  It was truly amazing to see the determination of the visitors to attend, even on the many rainy days, as they marched about with their umbrellas not seeming to mind the weather.  

Other activities of interest were historical presentations at the palace, the churches, and the history museum.  The Hessen Minister (governor) was present all ten days and was very visible opening various exhibits and holding hearings with various interest groups such as farmers, educators, etc.  Being quite a personable politician, he was often seen walking about and joining citizens for a drink.

This event took great coordination and many volunteers to carry out effectively.  It was done very professionally with much attention to detail in preparation for the worst in weather, traffic and parking and in cleaning up.  Of course,  residents living along the festive route or near the music stages didn't get much sleep except between midnight and 3 AM when the noisy street cleaning started.

I believe that a similar idea of a traveling state fair, which this partially was, could be implemented for many of the small cities we have in Maryland.  But could we get a good crowd to attend?

My German Trip

Though this blog title was not to be about anything but the US, I will add some observations and experiences during my summer in Germany. I hadn’t spent a whole summer in Germany since 1959 and this was a good time to do so, to do some rediscovery of my homeland and to visit my mother and other relatives young and very old.

The first four weeks were dedicated to my mother and her garden which is the largest garden parcel remaining in the old part of the city, Langenselbold. It is partially overgrown with grapes, blackberry hedges, and the invasive Japanese Knöterich (fallopia japonica) and full of dead fruit trees. A gustatory benefit of being here in summer is the sequence of remaining fruits: currants, cherries, blackberries, plums, quince, apples.

During these first weeks I was also working on improving my German language skills – learning all of the new words which have mostly English roots or are just adopted English words, especially from pop culture, marketing, and computer technology. Words such as kollidiert (collided) and komplettiert (completed). Mother and I speak a mix of German and English and sometime have fun literally translating the German compound words into English, i.e. for breakfast: Frühstück is “early piece”. Getting practice hearing the many distinct dialects found in Germany can also be a challenge.

The Euro money exists of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, cent coins, all being regulary used, as well as 1 and 2 Euro coins. If one doesn’t make an effort to spend the change one receives, one’s wallet will bulge with change very quickly.

By far the majority of German drivers respect the speed and traffic laws, especially in-town and give deference to pedestrians and bicyclists, of which there are many. Many sections of the Autobahn are now under speed control but in those areas where there aren’t any controls, one must continually watch for super fast, gas wasting, drivers passing in the left lane. On must always drive in the right lane and may never pass on the right. Fortunately, trucks are limited to 100 km/h (62 mph) and, believe it or not, the trucks obey the law because of serious enforcement and large penalties. Thus if you want to drive a relaxed speed and not worry about the crazy speeders in the passing lane, just join the truck convoy in the right lane, save gas, and smell the Diesel exhaust. The German roads are also full of signs and one could keep busy just looking at them rather than driving. There are two standard non-Autobahn speeds, 50 kmh in city and 100 km outside of cities unless posted otherwise. One of my favorites is the “end of prior restrictions” or freedom sign.

So, after a few introductory weeks of re-immersion into German culture, I was ready for some total immersion and sightseeing. I saw an ad by Radweg-Services.de offering rides all over Germany as well as France, Holland, Belgium, Hungary, Austria, and Italy.
A week bicycle tour of the close-by Main river valley seemed like a good start.

This trip started in Bamberg and ended in Aschaffenberg and was managed by Radelo.de. It was 6 days in the saddle covering, at a relaxed pace, the 430 km of mostly paved bicycle paths running along the Main river and through the many adjacent historic villages and cities. I rented a bike which had six hub gears (Shimano) with coaster as well as rim breaks. Saddle bags (now called panniers?) and a map bag with detailed maps were provided as was a complete repair kit, trip odometer-speed inidcator-clock combo and running lights should you need to bike during the dark hours of summer, 11 PM – 4 AM.

Overnight accommodations were in three star boutique hotels, many old historic buildings as the one shown in Volkach. All rooms had showers and generally a great view. Internet access was very spotty, however. I took the half pension option which provided in-house choices of local foods, generally very good but usually too much food for me to eat.

German hotels are a little different than the ordinary chain motels in the US. Beds, for example, had no bed covers to remove and had no top sheet and blanket for cover. The German cover is a completely enclosed quilt. I always wondered when they last cleaned the covers and blankets, one is exposed to in the US.

German toilets are different also. They are typically low flow, dual flush or start-stop flush, i.e. you control how much flushing you need. Showers are tiny, all having the removable shower head on a flex tube. One peculiarity I haven’t figured out yet is why the light switches to bathrooms or WCs in Germany are always outside of the room. One could sit in private on the loo or be in the shower when someone mischievous comes along and turns off your light. It can’t be to protect yourself from the 220V electricity because they have hair dryers and outlets in the bathroom. It must just be a regulation on the books and we know by now that regulations must be followed. Ja!

The cities and villages along the way all have a long history shaped by religious and civil conflicts over the millenia. Bamberg, the first city on the trip, managed to survive WWII unscathed because the local commander decided to actively show the Allies that they are surrendering. It is a town historically divided between the religious part where the Bishop lived, were there were no taxes, and the civil part were taxes were levied, The Rathaus, or city hall, was located on an island served by a bridge across the Main, binding the two parts of town together. This town has 4200 houses under historic protection and most of them are still occupied. A part of town called the Garden District had houses with large gardens for growing foods for the local market which to this day is open Mon-Sat.




At the other end of the trip is Aschaffenburg which was a historic fortification and town. Here, the WWII commander in charge, decided to make a stand against the allies and thus the city was completely firebombed. There is little left of the historic feel but the Schloss Johannisburg was completely rebuilt to the original appearance and now houses a regional museum of largely local art and artifacts.





In between these two cities lie many villages which are known for their beers and wines. This is Franconia and though it’s a part of Bavaria, don’t call the residents Bavarians. They feel themselves as distinct. The trip goes from the Beer Franconia, where many grain fields are located, to the Wine Franconia in the narrow Main valley with its steep slopes and many vineyards. Most of the vineyards are small and privately owned and each will have its own wine cellars and tasting rooms. Some villages are a collection of local wineries.

One particularly nice historic town was Volkach where I stayed in a hotel going back hundreds of years. It was right on the town square with the local church, Rathaus, fountain, and many outdoor eating and drinking venues with happy children playing into dusk. In all villages I stayed in there were always the church bells informing me of the time, except during sleeping hours, 12 PM – 6 AM, in some places.










The city of Würzburg is also an historic city which received much WWII destruction and was rebuilt. It has a skyline dominated by the largest fortification in Germany, Marienberg, connected to the old town by a bridge being used since 1133. It also has the most cathedrals per square km.








Two other places of note are the ancient churches at Urphar and Bürgstadt. Both have biblical pictorials on the walls which was a common way of teaching the bible stories to the analphabets (illiterates). The church at Urphar has been in continuous service since the 10th century.









The type of trip I was on was self-guided between lodgings. This gave me an opportunity to explore at my own pace and will but didn’t enable socializing with others. Typically, family groups or male or female or mixed groups of elderly people sign on to this type of Gucci biking trip. It wasn’t cheap, averaging around 100 Euros per day (not counting train transportation there and back) which is about twice my average cost experience on my US trip.








Germany has very many well-marked bike paths going nearly everywhere. Also along the paths, near the villages, there are small ads for overnight lodging and eating establishments for bikers. There were 100s of bikers on the paths every day from young to old. Most were traveling with equipment, few were just day bikers. In short it’s a biker’s paradise on non-rainy days. I’d like to do a similar trip again sometime with other interested bikers. Anyone interested? Danube to Hungary?

APPRECIATION
First, I’d like to thank the relatives and many friends and acquaintances whom I visited. It was nice getting reacquainted with friends from high school, college, and work. I’d like to thank them for the time and the accommodations. I also have to realize that all of this would not have been this easy were it not for modern technology, (still) cheap energy, and an economic system that allows this kind of indulgence. I was indeed lucky on this trip considering I had it rain on my parade on only two days out of 55, had no tornadoes, no flooding, no flat tires, no car problems, no traffic tickets, and no sickness other than some allergic reaction to all of that pollen in the various springs I experienced. Also thanks to Susan for tolerating my time away from Columbia.

TRAVEL EXPERIENCE
My decision to stay on secondary roads and to stay within the speed limits was a wise one. I found the secondary road surfaces equal to and often better than my interstate experiences. Secondary roads had much less traffic and it was easier to stop quickly for pictures, etc. It’s also a much better way to experience the local economy and culture. Locals are also much more likely to obey the speed limits in small communities. One has to wonder if there are any law-abiding Christians living in the cities as they certainly aren’t out on the freeways keeping me company among the speeders.

Motels for me were not necessarily a good experience. They almost universally had bad smells from Fabreeze to worse and some don’t even have windows that open. They almost all have small refrigerators that cycle continuously (can you imagine the energy waste? I turned them off). Many motels are located near noisy freeways and may have trucks with AC compressors cycling all night. The good thing is that they almost universally now have free wireless internet access which is the way this blog got updated. Campgrounds, on the other hand, are usually a great experience for fresh air, prettier surroundings, meeting people, and quietude, though some are within range of midnite (or later) trains. State campgrounds are not cheap (~$20/night) and National Parks with Golden Passports or similar cards are a steal at $6/night. Unfortunately, the National Parks are beginning to look neglected and are understaffed because of poor funding from Uncle Sam. Conditions are being created, I believe, for more privatization of this prime real estate.

Eating out can be expensive nowadays with a reasonable meal and a Stella and tip costing around $20. Meals are a little cheaper in the country, though not by much. McDonalds and Subway are almost always there as backup choices. Many grocery stores offer beside fresh fruit, etc. take-out food for solitary dining. Though finding good grocery stores in some parts of the country is not a choice.

LAND OF PLENTY?
When white man first landed on these shores, he found a land of plenty, a land sustainably used for millenia by the native Americans he subsequently conquered to realize his manifest destiny.

White man’s fascination with growth has now pushed the Natives to marginal lands and has led to the agricultural usage of all easily farmed as well as marginal lands requiring extensive irrigation. As man’s numbers increased, good agricultural lands near population centers were “developed” into housing, industrial, and commercial uses. The ultimate examples of this seen on this trip are Los Angeles and the Florida coasts. Many other examples exist on a smaller scale from retirement community sprawl to house trailer spawl in the high desert. In today’s “dynamic” employment environment, many agricultural workers, for example, just live out of campers in camper cities.

This Land of Plenty has seen its plenty eroded over the last century as the needs of its population, has increased 4 fold. Water demand in the Southwest is straining the dwindling resources. The waters behind the Hoover Dam are approaching their lowest level since they started to fill the lake in 1935 and may be too low for the turbine intakes soon. Yet growth goes on.

This country’s fascination with growth will be its downfall. Growth to our current numbers was only possible because of cheap fossil fuels. These numbers cannot be maintained as we deplete the remaining fossil fuels because the alternatives, wood and grazing for beasts of burden are insufficient for our current numbers. This reminds me of the old seventies saying, “Nature Bats Last”.

DID I FIND A NEW HOME?
So did I find a place I’d like to call a new home? Well, yes and no.

The Southeast has warmer weather punctuated by occasional hurricanes. Florida still has great wildlife in birds and fish and some opportunity for growing fruit trees and vegetables. The hot humid weather I could get used to again. There seems to be a lack of individual and unique communities; it all seems like a sprawl with cars a necessity. In the other southern states one can get the same humid heat in summer and some of the colder northern winters. There are a lot of retirement communities with golf courses. Not exactly what I’m looking for.

The Southwest is too dusty and arid for me. Though a pristine desert environment with a little oasis is of interest, good luck finding it. The cities often look junky except for the few high cost, higher altitude retirement cities. Wildfires are an ever present danger. The California coast must have been Nirvana around 1900 with its ideal weather for growing fruits and vegetables. It is now too densely packed with humans and too expensive for what you get.

The Central Plains states are largely agricultural and can be boring. They also have extreme weather from heat to cold as well as tornadoes. They do often have distinct communities though many smaller ones have very limited variety, great for solitary and inactive lifestyles.

The Coastal Northwest certainly is scenically very appealing. It has mild and cool weather great for gardening and has lots of outdoor opportunities for active lives. It, of course, is also growing fast because of its desirability, a problem with most Nirvanas which soon become less so as they are loved to death by the ever increasing masses.

Western Canada certainly is beautiful. The Vancouver area is mild (they even have palm trees), crowded, and expensive. The Kootenays are beautiful and though they have a colder climate, they are a still a good area for fruit trees and gardening.

The upper Northeast, exemplified by Vermont is beautiful but cold. It has plenty of water and is also good for gardening. It also has nice small towns and a movement statewide to become self-sustaining. Its desire to secede from the US also says something about its welcoming of old out-of-staters like me. If it ever gets warmer with global warming, it also will be overrun with the masses looking to escape the sprawl.

The common thread is that this country only has so much nice-to-live-on land, pretty much all of it populated by today’s 303 million people. What will it look like with the expected 445 million by 2050? Can we really afford the huge legal and illegal immigration policy of today?

So, it’s a toss between Vermont and Oregon at present. So to avoid a decision at this time I will first go to Europe for a few months of reflection and if McCain wins the election just stay there.

Thanks for listening/reading and please remember that all comments made are personal and based upon limited sampling.

Auf Wiedersehen,
Au Revoir
Good Bye
Sayonara
Ciao

First, Lets Do the Numbers

In this age of computers, spread sheets, resettable odometers, electronic fuel consumption measurement, etc. it’s easier to do the numbers, so let’s do them.

This trip covered 12,850 miles of mostly secondary roads. The car, a 2004 Prius, was driven at the speed limits, not to exceed 65 mph, by cruise control. It averaged 51.66 mpg on fuel that varied in price from $3.17 to $5.00 per gallon with an average cost of $3.63/gal. Total fuel consumption was 249 gallons accounting for 2.5 tons of CO2. The carbon emission was offset by 2.5 acres of trees in one year on my Carroll County tree farm (What a smug green SOB, this blogger!).

Lodging and food were the dominant other expenses. Lodging consisted of staying at friends and family (44% of the time), camping(22%), and moteling(38%). Food was a combination of grocery food, eating occasionally at good but reasonable restaurants, and having a few too many fish sandwiches and pies from the one universally available source, McDonalds.

Total cost for the 55 days was $4152 or $75.50/day. Fuel was 21.7%, lodging 35.5%, camping 4.8% with the rest, food and drink for self and friends, books, posters, admissions etc. 38%. Of course, there were some savings at home estimated to be: electricity, gas, water and sewage and the at-home food consumption and car usage. There were also some new costs: cutting the grass to satisfy the homeowners association and the neighbors. The incremental cost of the trip is estimated at $3000.

The Long and Winding Road*..

..that leads to my door is mostly US Route 2 from Bonner’s Ferry, Iowa to Saginaw City, Michigan. This route of good pavement and little traffic is a relaxing delight to drive at between 55 and 65 mph.


In West Glacier I took a quick view of the famed mountains of Glacier National Park. The park personnel is just readying for the summer tourist onslaught and hadn’t plowed most of the roads yet.

Going up the nearby Marais Pass (5220ft) on the west side is all nice and green. Just past the peak however, trees quickly change to high desert vegetation as the Blackfeet Indian Reservation is entered. This high plain stretching for 100s of miles to the east is wheat farming country and most of the towns along the road and the adjacent railroad are small decaying farm towns with massive silos, spaced around 20 miles apart. They have hopeful names such as Dunkirk, Inverness, Kremlin(US Style), Glasgow, Harlem, Zurich, etc. Some cities tell the population and one stated that it had 512 happy people and one curmudgeon.












In Montana the locations of traffic mortalities are marked by standard white crosses indicating how many people died. These crosses really standout and are testament to the dangers of driving.













Entering North Dakota,one could see more orderly and well-off cities and greener fields. In the eastern half, windbreaks started appearing many being evergreen trees seen nowhere else. In one city one could see huge wind mill blades although in both Montana and North Dakota there were no to few wind power generating towers visible – here in the land of wind. One other item of interest noted here is the presence of native American (aka Indian) radio stations where one can get lessons in native vocabulary, hear public interest announcements regarding drinking and suicide, hear NPR news, advertisements, and lots of chanting which I really started to enjoy after initially forcing myself to listen to it.

In Minnesota northern style forests started appearing and further along the lumber trucks started rolling again carting this time not lumber for construction as in the west but lumber for paper production. Driving for hours in a green canyon of trees is not as interesting as driving in the treeless plains as the trees hide most everything and one can’t look over them. So one plays music and listens to the radio offerings which in these parts as in most other parts of the west are dominated by country&western and religious broadcast, an occasional PBS station, and lots of right-wing hate and misinformation talk radio with notables such as Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck. I’ve gotten to really enjoy C&W.

After crossing the Mackinac Bridge into northern Michigan, the environment seemed familiar again with bad Interstate roads and everyone in a great big rush wasting fuel to get to somewhere. My last motel night was in Gaylord, Michigan, a touristy town with its architectural shtick being little alpine roofs in front of every establishment. From here it was a visit in Medina, Ohio with in-laws Phil & Pat and Susan’s brother Stuart who just happened to be visiting for a few days.

Coming soon to this blog will be a summary of the trip and what it meant to me.

* Beatles

Oh, Canada

Oh Canada, had I only left more time to discover the west of you. My four days there were just enough to wet my appetite for a more lengthy tour of discovery.





Realizing that I would be in Vancouver on Victoria Day Weekend (a long weekend celebrating the 64 year reign of Queen Victoria), I decided to stay in a distant burb of the city, Maple Ridge, hoping for a few cheaper nights of lodging. Maple Ridge was like many other small cities I saw in Canada, relatively clean and orderly compared with most small rural US cities.




My foray into Vancouver started in Stanley Park which is an island park north of the city. I parked the car for the whole day ($7) and biked about the city exploring the park and the Seaside trail which also takes one around False Creek, the little bay into the city around which all downtown life seems to revolve on a beautiful day like the one I had. Further west of the city is a large beach with an impressive tidal flat visited by Bald Eagles and many other birds. Since the temperature was in the 80s, the bike and walk paths were fully packed as was any available grass near the beaches. There were many outdoor eating opportunities and the several, large outdoor pools were open for business. Vancouver seems to be a real livable city with little blight noticeable downtown.

After a beautiful day in Vancouver I filled up with $5/gal gasoline and drove the roller coaster route 3 across many mountain passes to Creston located in the Kootenay region of eastern British Columbia. Here I briefly visited with the Almeritters, acquaintances from my hometown in Germany. It was a day after the wedding of their youngest daughter and I was asked to participate in finishing the left over wedding goodies.

Realizing that I was a little too early for the roads and campgrounds in Banff and Glacier National Parks to be open, I decided to start heading for home via the route of the cheaper fuel – the USA.

The Pacific Coast

The Pacific Coast hasn’t been very pacific with its strong winds and high seas making for a cold California experience along the coast. All this wind was of course great for the thousands of wind turbines in the San Gorgonio Mountain Pass, creating 300-600 mega Watt of electrical power, enough for Palm Springs and the whole valley.

Palm Springs appeared to be a grander version of Naples, Florida with all of the upscale stores, fancy dwellings, and hundreds of restaurants. It was a great contrast to the poverty seen in the adjacent Mojave Desert.


Coming out of the desert and crossing the Santa Rosa mountain pass on Route 74, I had an opportunity to hike for a few miles on the Pacific Crest Trail which runs from Mexico to Canada. It was surprisingly busy with back packers and in full bloom with a great variety of flowers.


In San Diego I visited with Steve and his lovely wife, Sue in their downtown home. The house is built across a small gulch and the gulch is an unbelievably beautiful and productive garden with orange, plum, avocado, loquat, banana, and other trees, myriad flowers and orchids and many birds including an expatriate Baltimore Oriole who kept tweeting something like “San Diego beats Baltimore almost any time of the year”. Steve and his wife and another old high school and Boy Scout friend, Daryl, all joined for a local Cinco de Mayo meal.

In Hemet, I visited Aunt Püppi whom I hadn’t seen in over 50 years. She’s 94 years old and has retired from work and horseback riding to the internet and e-mail.

From Hemet it takes about !120 miles! of freeway and development to get out of greater Los Angeles to the much more serene coastal route. In both Santa Barbara and Monterrey I had the opportunity to explore the waterfronts by bicycle on their excellent path systems. In several locations such as Watsonville, one can see the truck farms growing lettuce, strawberries, artichokes, etc. with the largely Latino workers bent over picking or planting. The worker’s small towns are largely hovels of temporary lodging and Spanish signs. Think of them sometime as you enjoy your California fruits and greens.

Of course, I had to spend some time in the Big Sur area of the coastal route, famous from the hippie days of yore. The area still has hippies, though somewhat more aged. It also has a Henry Miller Library containing all those banned books from the 50s, such as Tropic of Cancer, which one had to obtain in Europe. Camping among the Redwoods in the valley is cold. It was 37 degrees one morning and it stayed cold most of the day even though when I went hiking in the desert-like adjacent 3000 ft Mt. Manuel, it was hot and dry. Interestingly, when the light rain comes at night, it never hits the ground below the trees, keeping tents dry.

I arrived in San Francisco on a beautiful clear day and just had to join the hundreds of bikers and walkers crossing the Golden Gate Bridge to take in the sights and enjoy the day. Advisory signs were periodically present to protect us from ourselves.

Going back to the coastal route I revisited Stinson Beach where Susan and I had slept in the Dunes in our 1972 Tour d'Ouest. It hasn’t changed! It even still has the Redwood House B&B with its German sign “Zimmer mit Frühstück”.

Driving the coastal route requires lots of patience, a strong upper body for serpentine driving, and an appreciation for beauty. There are great vistas around nearly every curve and there are happy cows feasting on luscious greens on ocean front meadows. There are also a lot of bicyclists and hikers trekking the Coastal Route in a southern direction to take advantage of dominant winds and to be better seen by motorists. The coastal communities are small and have not yet been invaded by outside development money. They are mostly plain with seemingly contended residents in the fishing, oystering, or lumber business.

In Oregon I visited former APLer, Don Duncan, who has landed his dream job in the liberal outpost of Portland. It is a busy and livable city with many great restaurants and pubs and bumper stickers saying “Keep Portland Weird”. Don has a great view of downtown from his office window and he can ride on a modern alpine-style aerial tram from his waterfront campus to his hill campus. Portland has a nice park with Japanese Garden, Zoo, Arboretum, and many hiking trails plus great views of snow topped mountains.

Continuing the travels on coastal route 101, takes one to the Olympic Peninsula known for its northern rain forests. Driving there was my second rainy day on this trip. And the following day the promised sun also did not appear and it rained yet more making the rain forest seem truly genuine.

Finally on the third day on the ferry ride to Victoria, British Columbia, the sky turned a lovely and warm blue making it possible to explore this beautiful Capital of BC by bicycle and sit outside for a delicious lunch and a Stella draft. I finished the beautiful day back in the US with a drive up to Hurricane Ridge to get a great panoramic view of the snow capped Olympic Mountains.

The Southwest

The Southwest experience was also very windy, starting off with a blinding dust storm on the Interstate coming into Albuquerque, NM. The cutsey adobe style old towns started with Taos which had a small town square reminiscent of town squares in small midwestern towns such as Medina, OH. The stores in these “old towns” are largely touristy in their offerings, yet I couldn’t find a good outdoor place to sit to have a brewsky for my minimum daily liquid requirements. The architecture is adobe, adobe, and adobe. Even the new steel structures have the old adobe finishes. Outside the tourist area other architectures, presumably not as expensive, quickly became the norm. Santa Fe, the capitol city, was similar to Taos, except on a larger scale. Both cities were explored by bicycle as it is a quick, yet less stressful way, to get to see the places.

The next destination was Flagstaff for an expected camping overnight. However, because of the forecast 22 deg night at the city’s 7000 ft altitude, I decided to move to lower altitudes for more of an atmospheric blanket. I thus headed for Sedona, an upscale cutsey place built for the upscalers. Trying to find a campground or motel outside of Sedona on the way to Las Vegas was unsuccessful and I had to drive into the evening before I suddenly had dozens of choices in the crossroads town of Kingman. On the way there I had to pass through the village of Jerome which reminded me of those northern Italian villages clinging to the top of mountain passes with narrow serpentine roads winding through town. It even had a catholic retreat center at the top of the village.

On the way to Vegas, I stopped at Hoover Dam for a tour. It was interesting to hear about how quickly and efficiently it was built (we don’t seem to be able to do even some smaller government contracted projects without cost and schedule overruns anymore). The old exhibit center had a huge hydrological model of the Colorado watershed which showed all of the dams and irrigated areas. About 30% of the electricity goes to light up Las Vegas and most of the rest goes to California. Security is high, as an act of terror on the dam would have huge consequences. In fact they are in the process of building a bypass bridge over the gorge, south of the dam, which will be the largest bridge of its kind.

Driving in Las Vegas was a stressful, high speed experience which made me decide on the spot to get some rest in Death Valley instead. I arrived at Furnace Creek Ranch and found a great camping spot in the shade of several Mesquite trees. The first evening was pleasantly warm for sleeping in the nude on top of the sleeping bag (did I mention the full body tanning session in the Colorado dunes?). The night sky was clear with a brilliant display of stars and the Milky Way, accompanied by a chorus of Hyenas howling in the distance. Daytime found Prairie Chickens suddenly appearing in the camping area with their weird call, an introduction sounding like a Dove, followed by castanets. There is much wildlife in Death Valley.

The following morning I went to Bad Water waiting for a colorful sunrise, which didn’t appear. This was followed by what seemed like a quick ride to the easily visible other end of the valley to see Scotty’s Castle. Well, it took 160 miles of driving to see it. It was interesting to observe what can be done with lots of money in a somewhat disorganized way.

The evening cooled down from the 97 deg high to a pleasant beer and wine drinking temperature. Our neighborhood social hour or three was composed of a detective dad from Chicago and his Hollywood director (in training) daughter and a spelunker lady from Taos. The pleasantries of conversation were followed once again by a dazzling display of stars and a peaceful sleep.
The dry desert environment is great for preserving the past. This allows us to find evidence of past civilizations more easily. It unfortunately also means that today’s junk easily accumulates and is easily visible. The result is that much of the “civilized” desert is trashy looking from plastic bags trapped in cacti to old abandoned trailers, cars, etc. scattered about.
As one drives through the Southwest, one realizes the importance of water to this desert environment. Yet, one cannot help but notice the water squander in high flow shower heads and high flow toilets in motels, wasteful irrigation practices in some areas, and the prevalence of conventional water sucking golf courses. Even in Death Valley, the moneyed class can fly in for an evening round of golf. The Coyotes are fighting back, however, as they have taken an occasional fancy to chasing golf balls on the course during daytime.