http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/sapere18/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from sapere18 en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:43:30 +0000 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:43:30 +0000 13 August Beaconsfield TasmaniaIt was a coin flip between Tasmania and Darwin perhaps even Cairns. In place of parasols sunscreen and holidaymakers poolside I have opted for drizzly pastoral and off the radar screen. I have to congratulate myself for choosing so wisely. Itrsquos hard to put a finger on it but Irsquove hit my stride in Tasmania. Those familiar knots are back to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Hobart/blog-428030.html 6 August Launceston Tasmania AustraliaAngela cheerfully collected me from the bus station after I mistakenly told her to be there an hourandahalf earlier. I did not ask the fiftythree yearold much she was already doing enough to help me. I was prepared to walk down the road for a while for dinner a concern at such a late hour since restaurants in Australia close so early. She prep http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Launceston/blog-425784.html Phillip flexed his muscles to remove his sole bag from my trunk directly outside the entrance to the American Airlines terminal. His mother had overstuffed the threechamber American Tourister carryon with needless extras. It bulged at the seams and strained the limits of the zippers. I dismissed the oval tear in the back of his monochrome grey tshirt and unironed cargo shorts compared to t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/San-Antonio/blog-358597.html The state capital composed of various vertical and rectangular buildings is on the brink of sliding right into the valley below. I determined to bypass the taxi stand and walk the mile or so to town while dodging the exhaust pipes of buses and other motorized hazards. ldquoOh and good news for you sir No Indians at this hotel.rdquo Huh The comment made no sense to me as I followed t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/Shimla/blog-304268.html 4 July Crossville TennesseeThe paradox of Lookout Mountain does not trouble any child especially mine. He sees no trouble with its lofty summits serene views and relief from the summer heat combined with the tackiest of amusements and commercial attractions for family tourists. Lookout Mountain straddles two states supposedly seven can be seen from the naked eye from the summit on t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Georgia/blog-415112.html 3 August Sydney New South Wales AustraliaEvery city in the world has ldquothatrdquo part of town. You know where all the problems are. Longtime listeners to ABC Radio Sydney lament its downhill spiral into squalor and social breakdown. No one goes there anymore they say. Itrsquos not safe for children. Whatever you do warns one caller donrsquot go there after dark. There m http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Kings-Cross/blog-425221.html 29 July Adelaide South AustraliaNever have I traveled so far and been so close to home. It is a country town of one million plus and a few skyscrapers. It would be unfair even rude to say that this best thing anyone could do in Adelaide is leave. South Australiarsquos humdrum capital is in desperate need of the benefit of the doubt. Maybe itrsquos because I pulled into town in the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/blog-421235.html 23 July Broken Hill New South Wales Australia Even the name evokes how the Outback can impact the psyche. Arrival in Broken Hill makes me grateful that I paid attention back in tenth grade chemistry class. The next oasis west of Wilcannia it is a vibrant eyepleasing if isolated community dependent on the price of the ore extracted from the nearby mines. Elements compounds and miner http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Broken-Hill/blog-421233.html 22 July Broken Hill New South Wales AustraliaThe fuel gauge read over two thirds. All I needed to do was get to the next town. According to my road map there was a gas station one hundred ninety kilometers away. I started out and only cast a limited glance at the gas station. Soon enough it and Cobar was a disintegrating dot in my rearview mirror. Ahead of me lay four hundred sixty ki http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Broken-Hill/blog-421232.html 21 July Broken Hill New South Wales AustralialdquoWhatever you do watch out for the blacks.rdquo The comment caught me off guard. I had been in town for less than two hours. The bartender was warning me about my next stop where I would do nothing more but fill up the tank. ldquoEven when you go into pay lock your car. Theyrsquore everywhere.rdquo He unsettled me although http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Broken-Hill/blog-421231.html 15 July Sydney New South Wales Australia He finally got his wish. Even when I told him where I was going to spend the better part of the month he found a way to inject an element of trepidation into my veins as though it might force me to reconsider. In years past conversations between us with something to the effect ofldquoWhy wonrsquot you consider it Itrsquos a big place l http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Surrey-Hills/blog-418730.html 11 July Los Angeles CaliforniaYoursquod think hersquod done this a time or two before. But he had the same experience on a wakeboard that I do on a cello. Tim whose prodigious house Zack helped build had taken him out on his speedboat around Lake Holiday. It was Philliprsquos moment and he knew it. The excitement he could hardly contain had him begging for the OK from Tim to ju http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Crossvillle/blog-418614.html 5 July Crossville TennesseeldquoHey Rich wanna a Beeritardquo A what I deduced what Felicia had asked me but I asked her about its contents anyway. Zackrsquos newly married twentytwoyearold daughter put the transparent plastic pitcher down and rattled off the primitive recipe perfectly suited for a tanktopandswimmingtrunks crowd on a Fourth of July weekend.In order to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Crossvillle/blog-416973.html 3 July Crossville TennesseeldquoCome to think of it Rich wersquove never been to a game over thererdquo Zack reflected when I firmly broached the subject. Whether he and Penny decided to join us would never sway my plans to drag Phillip ninety plus miles to a AA baseball game. ldquoGood the yoursquore in to comerdquoldquoYeah wersquoll do itrdquo Under other cir http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Knoxville/blog-415462.html 1 July Crossville TennesseeUnmistakable indicators abound in the South to remind the outsider that wersquore not from around here. ldquoGood Morningrdquo I greeted her no differently than I would anyone else or anywhere else except a slight more enthusiastically now that I am away from the daily grind and chains of work. Neither she nor her partners are too busy behind the deli c http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Crossvillle/blog-414451.html 28 June Manchester ConnecticutAll I wanted was a few weekends and to take him to a hockey game now and then. Instead his mother resorted to the deplorable yet surefire tactic of using him as a weapon against me. She has utilized him this way from the very beginning when she didnrsquot get what she wanted out of me. For years I tolerated the put downs insults and threats. I held my http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Connecticut/Manchester/blog-414440.html Welcome to this summerrsquos essays entitled THE SUMMER OF MY SALVATION. THE SUMMER OF MY SALVATION will depict a different type of journey starting in Tennessee. From there who knows A travelerrsquos itinerary should never be set in stone. For me it is still developing as I compose these words. I am still considering a change in title as planning has been thrown on its head in the past w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Connecticut/Manchester/blog-412937.html Interstate 81 and I go back to my earliest memories of elementary school. It and I would join at Scranton the corridor that splits the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains a 324mile straightshot gutter ball asphalt groove connecting Winchester and Bristol Virginia. The highway and I have a somnambular relationship. My aunt would zip across the commonwealth from the West Virginia border and o http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Crossvillle/blog-375678.html ldquoAllrdquoldquoAll a va toirdquoldquoAre you OKrdquo I looked straight up to my feet. It took little time to smell the decaying grass protruding through the smashed windshield. I wiggled my toes. Fine. I could move my arms legs and neck. I felt fine.ldquoYes I think so. All I could make out was his voice and beams from his flashlight that penetrated the snowcov http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Quebec/Sherbrooke/blog-351029.html Winter in Qubec takes on human qualities and does not follow the guidelines set forth by a twelvemonth calendar. It has already come and will not surrender for the better part of the next fourandahalf months. It lends a feeling of being in the last outpost before pure wilderness takes over. Lac Mgantic a stern community on the shores of a sizeable lake of the same name loses its seasona http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Quebec/Sherbrooke/blog-351027.html