What a great day in a new city in a new country. I haven’t been to France for several years, and that was to Paris. Strasbourg is a wonderful city.

We got to meet our new biking buddies, Al and Jen, from Perth, Australia. Them, along with Neal and Randa, Fraser and Diane, and Linda and me, will spend one more day here before getting on our barge and heading down the Rhine River.

Linda and I had a few hiccups getting here. One train out of Stuttgart was canceled, another was late, and we got off of another too soon, jumped on a wrong train, and then finally found a train going to Strasbourg. We found our hotel, found Neal and Randa, went into town, found the rest of the Motley Crew, had a bit of dinner and a bit of beer.

I do feel a bit lost here. This morning we were in Germany. I speak German pretty well. Now we’re in France, where the speak – FRENCH! I only know three words in French:

• Mecri
• Wee
• No

I’m not sure, but I think I’ve spelled at least one of those words wrong.

Anyway, here are a few scenes from Strasbourg.

As they say in France, Aw Vway.

One of the most inspirational books I’ve owned and read is “Dove”, the true story about a 16 year old boy who sailed around the world by himself in 1965. Robin Lee Graham grew up in California (as did I) and started his journey a few miles away from my home.

When I moved back to the states on 1981 (I lived in Europe for a while), I went back to California and decided to either buy a boat and sail away or move to the mountains. I chose the later, eventually buying a small farm in Norh Idaho.

At the end of his book, Robin and his wife also moved to the mountains of Montana. I always wondered where in Montana they moved and if they still lived there.

My good friend Randa Froebel knows the Grahams. They are neighbors. Last week, we all got together for food and stories. It was a great time. As the Grahams were leaving, Robin and I signed books – he signed “Dove” and I signed “The Rats of Plainville”.Meeting one of my childhood heros was one of the high points of our trip

Calgary is out last stop before heading to Europe. Good friends Fraser Diane put us up for a few days before we head out. They, along with Neal and Randa, are traveling to Europe with us. When we return from Europe (alone), we’ll stay in Fraser and Diane’s apartment for a couple more weeks before moving on the British Columbia.

We didn’t do much in Calgary this time. We did get a chance to play pickleball (first time in two weeks), take a few walks along the Elbow River, and drive around town. We found a spot that had wonderful view of downtown.

We left for the airport this morning. We’re flying to Denver, then London, and finally Stuttgart, Germany. We’ll meet up with Fraser and Diane (coming in from Paris) and Neal and Randa (coming in from Zurich, Switzerland) on Friday.

Denver

We’re in Denver now, sitting in the airport, waiting for our next flight. It’s good to kind of be home. We sure do miss Colorado. Our Europe trip will be great, as will the rest of the time we spend in Canada. We’ll be back in Colorado for a couple of weeks in August before we head back to Arizona.

On to London . . .

Neal and Randa are really good friends from Venture Out. They live in Lakeside when not in Arizona.

Linda and I spent three days in Lakeside, hiking, eating, painting, and getting ready to travel into Canada before heading to Europe. Lakeside is a beautiful town on the shore of Flathead Lake. Randa’s house has great views of the lake and the surrounding Mission Mountains.

Neal took us to one of his favorite hikes in Montana, a four mike hike to the Holland Lake falls. Afterwards we stopped for a post-hike beer in Woods Bay.

Wish we could have stayed longer, but we’ll be seeing Neal and Randa in a few days in France.

Au revoir . . .

In 1981, I moved to North Idaho. I lived there for seven years. Eventually, both my sisters Barbara (Bo) and Monica (Mo) followed me there. I left in 1988 to go to college in Oregon. My sisters moved here and there, but both eventually returned to the Idaho panhandle. Bo lives there full time while Mo and her husband live there in the summers and spend winters in Arizona (like us).

Linda and I stopped in Post falls for a day and a half, passing through on our way to Montana. Mo and her husband were in Canada so we only got the chance to visit with Bo.

Our time with Bo was limited, but we made the best of it. We also took a bit of time to wander around Coeur d’ Alene, hiking Tubbs Hill and driving around the area.

Bo lives in a small apartment near the Spokane River, but because Mo was out of town, and has a bigger house, Bo stayed at Mo’s house. She also took care of Porter, Mo’s dog.

It’s always good to see family, but our time came to an end and on Wednesday morning, we left Idaho and drove east into Montana.

If you’ve never been to Leavenworth, like Bavarian towns and good German beer, and don’t mind staying in a tourist trap, go there for a day or two. It’s quite a lovely little town nestled high in the Washington Cascades. Leavenworth is famous for it’s Oktoberfest and Christmas celebrations. I’d hitchhiked through Leavenworth back in 1979, and driven through there once afterwards, but I’d never really spent any substantial time in the town. So Linda and I decided to stop there on the way to Idaho to see my sister.

Our first stop was the Doghaus Brewery. After one good German-style beer (Pilsner), we wandered into the small town square just in time to hear a four-piece Alphorn band.

Linda and I spent the rest of the evening and the next day wandering through every store at least twice (even the T-shirt shops, though we bought no T-shirts). We danced the polka to a German band in the afternoon. I did buy a walking stick medallion for my walking stick, a hat pin for my hat, and a nutcracker, for wherever we put it in December. We also had another beer or two in some pretty cool biergartens.

Here are a few scenes from town.

We left Monday morning to visit my oldest sister in Post Falls, Idaho. Because I don’t like interstates, we kept to highways 2 and 28 in Eastern Washington. The roads traverse through fields of barley and orchards of apples and cherries, while following the Columbia River.

Linda and I are fortunate to live in a place with lots of good friends, many of who are snowbirds. We have friends all over the states and many in Canada. When we travel during the summer to get away from the Arizona heat, we often meet up with our friends. In Olympia, we met up with (and stayed) with Jon and Kathy.

On the first day, Jon and Kathy took us to downtown Olympia to visit the capitol building and boardwalk. We hit a couple of good breweries before going back to their house for dinner and games.

The following day, we visited a very cool, private sculpture garden (Monarch Sculpture Park) near their house. Lots of cool art to see while wandering the grounds.

Our plans were to drive up to see Pete and Phyliss in Port Orchard, but because of unforeseen circumstances, we had to head east through Leavenworth, Washington, and then on to Idaho.

Linda and I left Joanie and Robert’s farm and drove east into the Cascade Mountains and then north toward Crater Lake. The drive along the Umpqua River was beautiful.

I’m always looking for new places to go, and one of those places was Crater Lake National Park. I lived in Oregon for three years while going to college, but between classes, working, marriage, and raising a daughter, I never took the time to drive the three hours to drive from Monmouth to Crater Lake.

We made it to Crater Lake National Park in the late morning. Unfortunately, most of the park was closed due to heavy snowfall. We were able to enter the park in the south entrance, drive up to the lake, and hike along a closed section of the main road which travels around the lake.

We left the park and drove north toward Bend. The Cascade Mountains are beautiful, especially when they have snow. One of the peaks we drove by was Mount Thielsen, an extinct volcano in Southern in Oregon.

We arrived in Bend in the early afternoon. The next two days we spent checking out the city of Bend and the surrounding area.

Let me tell you about my adopted family.

I was orphaned pretty young. When our father died in my sixteenth year, I didn’t have a place to live. I did have a good friend, Jim, who I knew in high school. His family took me in so I could finish high school. Sherrie, whom I visited in the precious story, was the ring leader. Her, along with her husband Mike, Jim, Jim’s brother John, and near the end of my time there, Joanie, gave me a home for a year. I’ll always have a big special place in my thoughts for them.

Joanie is my adopted sister. We’ve stayed in touch all these years, although there were several years when I didn’t know where she was and I’m sure she didn’t know where I was either. We met again in 2005 when my son Mychal and me made a three-week long road trip through the west. Joanie lived in Sedona, Arizona, and Mychal and I spent a few days with Joanie and her daughter Sophia. Joanie lived in Sedona for many years until she recently moved to Azalea, Oregon with her partner Robert.

Now you’re up to date.

Linda and I pulled out of Bishop early in the morning of June 8th. Our destination was somewhere in Northern California, preferably near Mt. Lassen National Park. We drove up US 395 toward Reno. We made good time. Actually, we made great time. We passed through Susanville by 1:30 PM, heading toward Mt. Lassen. While pulling out of Susanville, I had the idea that maybe we could visit Mt. Lassen and drive all the way to Joanie’s house that evening. I called Joanie and left her a message. Linda and I then drove into the northern part of Mt. Lassen National Park and made a quick hike through the woods.

Northern California has some impressive mountains. From a viewpoint near Lassen, I saw Crater Peak, an 8,683 foot extinct volcano. About an hour from there, while driving along Highway 89, we came to Mt. Shasta, another great looking old volcano.

The rest of these photographs are from our time in Azalea with Joanie and Robert. Linda and I slept in the apartment they built in an old barn, hiked around the area, and enjoyed the farm life.

Linda and I have been planning this trip for a long time. Almost a year, in fact. At first, we planned on traveling east, then north, then west, and then, back home. I was supposed to participate in the 2025 Veteran’s Golden Age Games in Memphis, Tennessee. I hurt my knee a couple of months ago and didn’t think running, jumping, and court sports were the wise thing to do.

Instead, we decided to travel west, and then north, and then east, and then south, and then back home again. Our new itinerary would take us through Utah, into California to see my mom, up to Oregon to see my sister, further north to Washington to visit Venture Out friends, into Idaho to visit another sister, to Montana to see more Venture Out friends, and then back home though Boise (to see my kids).

Somewhere in the planning stage, our good friends Fraser and Diane, who live in Calgary, Canada invited us to stay in their apartment for a month while they go off to Europe. We agreed. But then, they asked us to go to Europe with them and ride bikes down the Rhine River. We agreed again. After two weeks in Europe, we were told we could go back to Calgary and stay in their apartment till the end of July. We agreed once more.

Linda and I are very agreeable people.

With more places to explore and more friends to visit, we added another month-and-a-half to travel around Canada and the West. Along the way, we’ll visit more friends, more family, and a few more states.

We pulled out of Mesa on the morning of June 4th. Our first stop – St. George, Utah.

Bon Voyage . . .