#and the other one just took a intercontinental road trip man it went places and got lost so many times and somehow ended up there | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

perpetualmover-blog · 8 years

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Adding timeline info

I had hoped to include a timeline in my blog, but have not found a way to include one other than to try to incorporate this file. I will provide some background here and try to expand the comments on the pictures.

My family moved a lot when I was young and by the time I finished college, I had attended eighteen schools in five states. At that time, I had visited ten states.

After beginning my career, I took every opportunity to find work in new and exciting places, moving from state to state. Within four years, we had lived in five states.

In 1962, we drove from Orlando to Seattle for the World's Fair, then down the coast to LA and back by Death Valley and the Grand Canyon. We spent three weeks and covered 9000 miles as well as nearly all the western states, ducking across the border at El Paso, to get my first foreign country.

In 1963, we went on a cruise to the Bahamas, adding another country to the list, then I took a job in Fairbanks, Alaska, adding Canada on the way to Fairbanks, up the Alaskan ferry. The satellite program I was working on had problems after two months, so they sent us back to Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. I drove the entire length of the Alcan Highway and most of the Queen's Highway across Canada. Wonderful trip through the Yukon, across the Rockies and the prairies. I drove alone and the family flew. Much more comfortable that way. My boys started kindergarden in Fairbanks, finished it in Maryland and started first grade in Florida. Melbourne, Florida, was a great place to live and remains on my all time list of memories.

During that year, I had covered most of Canada and was creeping up on nearly all the US states. Several years ago, I completed my sweep and have now visited every State, as well as nearly every US city of any size and have driven almost every Interstate and freeway in the country.

When Montreal hosted Expo 67 in 1967, we made another road trip through all the eastern states and all the eastern provinces of Canada, except Labrador and Newfoundland, all the way out the Gaspe' peninsula to Prince Edward Island and back by Nova Scotia. (Still haven't made it to Labrador and Nove Scotia.) We saw many wonderful and exciting sights, driving 7500 miles or so.

I took a team of design engineers to Long Island in the summer of 1968 and we explored the NYC area in great detail while living out on the island.

In 1972, I took a job in California. I had wanted to have the opportunity to explore the west more thoroughly, after our taste of it ten years earlier. I traveled there fairly often, but rarely had time to explore. I wanted to see Yosemite and the rest of the Sierras as well as continuing to explore San Francisco, LA and San Diego.

In 1974, I began several years of short term consulting assignments, which took me to Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Akron, West Palm Beach, Binghampton, NY, Laguna Beach, Cucamonga, CA, and various other places.

My new wife and I loved to travel, so I would accept consulting contracts of four to six months, then we would take one to three months off to travel. In 1979, Delta offered an unlimited ticket for 30 days to anywhere they flew, for $600. The only limitation was that you could not fly out of the same airport twice. Also, all reservations had to be made at the time the ticket was purchased and could not be changed. We were living in West Palm Beach at the time, so we sat in the ticket office and planned a marathon trip. I arranged to be able to work ten hour days with flexible scheduling, so I could work eight days and take off six. We did that twice, traveling constantly for the six days. There were enough airports in South Florida to allow us to comply with the “one flight from each” requirement, We hit nearly every major airport west of the Mississippi, as well as all those in South Florida. It was a wonderful experience.

During that period in my life, we went coast to coast 22 times, in total. Sometimes flying, sometimes driving a 24-28 foot moving van with a tow car behind and just about every combination in between.

In 1984, I found myself alone again. I quit my job and formed a company to develop controls for robotics and factory automation. I figured I could make it two or three months on what l little savings I had. Somehow, I managed to string it out for 32 year.s. I moved that company from Tustin, CA, to San Diego, Carlsbad, Cardiff by the Sea, Santa Ana, Riverside and Rome, GA, in the first few years, then went intercontinental.

I had tried several times to find a way to find work overseas, but nothing worked out. I took a job as a Nuclear Physicist with the Army Corps of engineers in 1959, to go to the South Pacific as part of the test team. Before I could get to Ft. Belvoir, VA, for training, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed and my dreams of sun washed beaches and palm trees were dashed. So were the promises of bonuses, travel pay and fast promotions. Oh, well.

On two occasions, I thought I had a lock on jobs in Germany. In one case, there was a miscommunication that took the job off the table and in the other case, the financial arrangements were too spooky, so I turned it down. My other attempt at intercontinental relocation was for a job in Ecuador. I was very excited about the possibility until I learned that one in four Americans who go to Ecuador contract meningitis. As there were four of us, I calculated the odds and withdrew.

My first trip to Europe finally happened in 1987 when I attended a trade symposium in Munich, then called on customers in other parts of Germany, as well as France and England. This was a dream come true for me. I bought a Eurail pass that allowed unlimited travel for three weeks and took off. During those three weeks, I covered nearly all of Europe. If I wanted to see the countryside, I would stay in a hotel overnight so I could travel by day. If I merely wanted to get somewhere and had already seen the area I would be traveling through, I would sleep on the train.

I kissed the Blarney Stone, I was mesmerized by the fjords in Norway and the view from the Eiffel Tower. I walked where Queen Elizabeth I had carried out her affairs and shivered through a past life flashback when walking into the Coliseum in Rome.

My first trip to Europe was for three weeks. Every time I went, I wound up staying a week longer than the previous trip, making the pilgrimage three times a year. The thousands of pictures I took on film are in storage, with only a few available to me now, that I scanned.

In 1991, I moved, lock, stock and barrel to Germany, shipping 55 boxes and bags because I had no idea what I would need. I shipped records and record players, my VCR and boxes of videos I had recorded from cable.

During the next three years, I covered Europe like the dew. My friends and I went everywhere together, skiing on the Austrian glacier, hiking in the Alps, pub crawling in Germany, to a friend's Polterabend (bachelor party where they smash crockery to scare off the evil spirits) and museums, street fairs, birthday parties (you throw your own party in Germany--and pay for it). When the gang did not have plans, I took off on my own. One summer, I took three weeks and drove the periphery of France, visiting Paris, Normandy, Le Mans, Bordeaux, the Riviera, the central mountain range and back to the Alps at Geneva.

I crisscrossed Switzerland, completely fulfilling my bucket list wish to see it before checking out. The Germans did not appreciate my noting that Switzerland is only twice as large as LA.

One Sunday afternoon, with nothing else to do, I got in my car and drove to Lichtenstein, across a portion of Austria, then the length of Switzerland and a portion of France before returning home.

After receiving a very expensive speeding ticket in Denmark, I came to realize that if I had been caught driving across Czechoslovakia at the speeds which I had experienced when there, they would have confiscated my car--and it was a leased car. Oops!

When on the train returning from the fjords, across what I thought of as the “roof of the world” because it was so stark that there were no colors, I had a marvelous experience. Everything that could be seen from the train was either pitch black or snow white. There was nothing else. A nice couple allowed me to share their table in the dining car. We had a very enjoyable conversation, during which they made me feel very much at ease. At the end of the meal, I learned that they were members of the British royal family, from the island of Guernsey. Oops! Just an old country boy from Bitter Branch, here. Scuse me, Duke.

In 1992, Lufthansa offered an unlimited ticket, somewhat similar to the one we had used years before with Delta. Since it was 15 years later and prices had increased a bit, plus the fact that Lufthansa has a more extensive travel map than Delta, tickets were $1500. Similar restrictions applied. All reservations to be made before leaving and travel must always be in the same direction.

I opted to head west, stopping in the Atlanta area to visit friends and family, then on to California for more of the same, then to Tahiti, with a side trip to Bora Bora, New Zealand for Christmas Day, Sydney for Boxing Day, Canberra, Singapore and return to Frankfurt, spread over three weeks.

All of this for $1500. Not much more than Delta's price from Huntsville to Atlanta.

As in Lucerne, Switzerland, I took so many pictures in Sydney that I finally left my camera in the hotel room because I couldn't stop snapping pictures and film was expensive. Digital cameras were still years away and those pictures are in the storage box. I only have two that I scanned.

For the next bunch of years, I lived in Germany or the US, depending on various factors, traveling back and forth about three times a year, regardless of which side of the pond I was living on. Nearly all of my customers were in Europe, so my travel was a legitimate business expense

After returning to the US in 1995, I moved my company around as I wished. When your company has only one employee, it is easier to move it wherever you like. Several months were spent working with friends in Colorado, near Boulder. Back to Alabama for several months, then California again.

By 1998, I could no longer tolerate the political climate in California and came back east, to Rome, GA. I learned to love Rome when I was in college and have wound up living there about as much as any other town along the way. California has my personal record for number of years (21), but Rome is the winner in terms of length of time in one city (about seven).

I returned to Germany in 2002, just as the euro was becoming a standard currency. It simplified travel enormously. In my previous travels, it had been a real irritant to have to maintain at least some cash in half a dozen currencies. I could get on a train in the morning with a pocket full of cash in five different currencies and by noon would not be able to buy lunch. At the same time, they were doing away with passport controls at the country borders, so it was no longer necessary to make sure I had my passport if we bopped over the Rhine for a meal in Alsace (yummmyummm).

In 2002, digital cameras were beginning to compete with film in terms of resolution and blew them away in terms of cost and convenience. I have most of the thousands of pictures I have taken since then. They fit on a memory stick. These are the ones I draw on for my blog posts.

As of now, I have visited 48 countries, although a couple were only refueling stops during the night, with no outside view. (Singapore and Brazil) Fiji was only a refueling stop, but at least it was daylight. I have lived in 19 states, making it hard to explain to people here when they ask where I am from.

I decided to retire last April. Since then, I have lived in Ireland, France and Croatia, with visits to Germany, Bulgaria and Slovenia. I plan to stay in Croatia until December, then may go to the Azores or Cape Verde or the Canary Islands for the Winter, or might go back to Ireland for the cheap rent.

The pictures on my blog are nearly all newer than 2002, with a few exceptions. I will begin trying to remember to identify each picture posted with country and year info. I am also happy to respond to questions.

At the moment, I am beginning to plan where to spend Christmas. I like to spend Christmas and birthdays in memorable places. So far, I have Christmased in the US, Germany, Ireland, Paris, Tunisia and New Zealand, perhaps more. This year I added Bulgaria to my list of birthday sites. For this year, I am thinking about spending Christmas on the Island of Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean. Did you know that you can rent a furnished apartment on Guadeloupe for less than $500 per month? http://www.longtermlettings.com/r/rent/tav_6323082/

You can also fly there from Paris for as little as $175.

https://vols.aircaraibes.com/plnext/aircaraibesB2C/FlexPricerAvailabilityDispatcherPui.action;jsessionid=hLjsEru5iLxo3fRzMf1t83WCnAVc80nUvw_BfocLU_pu_US5VnuP!543641853!-146662806

You don't have to be rich if you are cunning and cheap.

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