positive inventory

When I went to Asia, I had about forty pounds of gear including eleven pounds of photographic equipment. Now I am moving to Oregon and the moving company estimates my household goods at 15,000 pounds. For two months, I lived with gear weighing less than my body weight and really didn't miss anything, yet I intend to move over seven tons.

I learned something packing for international trips. I can't take everything I need out of the closet, stuff it all in my suitcase, take a few things out and hope it is lightweight. I needed a positive inventory, meaning a list of things I need to take. Before I even touch anything physically, I need to challenge myself if that item is absolutely necessary.

With the exception of fishing equipment, I have gone through every room in the house and found something to purge. I don't intend to create a positive inventory for my entire household,

Patagonia flies

  Dawn and I presented our Patagonia Adventure to the local chapter of Trout Unlimited. About 70 people were in attendance. It was lots of fun and well received. Here is a link for our local chapter:
http://wvtu.org/kvctu.html

I took some photos of the unique flies we bought in Argentina.

moving WV:OR

Time to move. I'm moving from West Virginia to Oregon. Or, if you prefer, I am moving back to Oregon. I now live in Charleston: I moved here from Portland. I am now moving to Eugene.

I've lived in a lot of places: New York, Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon and West Virginia. I didn't have any choice about New York. I moved personally to Colorado. The other moves were corporate moves for my job. I'm now returning to Oregon for personal reasons.

my longest Saturday night

(Sept 29) I arrived in Eugene about 4 p.m., Saturday, right on schedule. The only crinkle in my plan was my lack of sleep. On the plane, I traveled with a fifty member adolescent girl dance troupe. They were ages nine to fourteen. For their prize, they had won the competition championship in Australia and were flying to America to perform at Disneyland for three days.

For the first three or four hours, I admired their excitement, youth, vitality and exuberance. Then I wanted to sleep. Their voices pierced right though my earplugs. Their voices pierced right through my earplugs when I had a headset on top of my ears and the music playing loud. There were three girls in the row ahead of me and three in the row behind. Every time one got up, they all got up. They....

Dawn on her birthday

For Dawn's birthday, we took a break from moving and visited Babcock State Park, located in Fayette County in south central West Virginia. Babcock is famous for the Glade Creek Grist Mill. The mill is a built from the parts of several older mills. There were lots of photographers capturing the mill and the Fall foliage. Here's a link:
http://www.babcocksp.com/

Give Peace a Chance

All we are saying
Is Give Peace a Chance
--John Lennon

(Sept. 28) What's wrong with being an aging hippy? The obvious answer is, "Who wants to be an aging anything?" I grew up in the 60s and 70s. I was a freshman in college when President Nixon sent the B-52 bombers to Cambodia. I participated in teach-ins, discussions, rallies and marches. Looking back, I would say, "It made a difference." It made a difference in the U.S. with the withdrawal from Vietnam. And, it made a difference to inspire and enable other popular uprisings in Eastern Germany with the tearing down of the Wall and in eastern block countries like Czechoslovakia.

I spoke with a woman from Bali, Indonesia. In planning travel destinations, I have put some countries on the low priority list because of anti-American sentiment.

Whistle Blower

(Sept 28) My father was a carpenter, a union carpenter. The whistle was a symbol. The foreman was the company man. The shop steward was the first union man on the job and usually the last to leave when the project was completed. The steward blew the whistle at 8 a.m. and the men started work and again at lunch, after lunch and at the end of the work day.

When I first got into backpacking in the 70s, my father gave me a metal whistle with a wooden ball inside. Over the years, I've carried that whistle on and off. If I got stuck somewhere, maybe sprained an ankle, I could call for help. This year, I carried it all over South America, Asia and the USA.

This morning it was confiscated by the Australian government as a part of the war against terror.

Happy Birthday, Dawn

 Dawn,
Happy Birthday!

my longest Saturday

(Sept28) I set two alarms for 2:50 a.m. to make sure I would be awake for the 3 a.m. shuttle. My clothes were laid out like a fireman's. I was all packed except for the fleece I was wearing to bed. I awoke before the alarm. The bus drivers had taken the tents beside me. "Alright, mates. It's two-thirty. Time to get a leg up." My flight plan is Brisbane to Melbourne to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Eugene. I arrive in Eugene after 4 p.m., so I should get to my hotel by 6 p.m.

Without calculating each leg of my journey, total travel time (on schedule is):

3 a.m. to 6 p.m. >>> 15 hours

Time difference >>> 17 hours

Total in transit >>> 32 hours

I'm sure it sounds worse that it will really be !!! :-)

fesitval

I went to a festival at Ivory Rock Conference Center. It is about one hour from Brisbane.The festival was well-organized; the topic was peace. Temperatures ranged from about 11 to 33 Centigrade or about 50 Fahrenheit at night to daytime highs in the 90s. The sun was brutal. Apparently the ozone layer has been significantly depleted in this area.

I met people from Fiji, Indonesia, Taiwan, Argentina, Ireland, Denmark, Puerto Rico, Holland, Italy, India, Malaysia, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and the U.S.A.

Brisbane

I stayed at the Royal on the Park Hotel in Brisbane. It's on Alice Street, right across from the Botanic Gardens. As I stepped outside, I saw a storm moving in while the sun, low on the horizon, reflected on the building. I took a walk in the park. It's spring now. The flowers are blooming and everyone is out exercising. There is a walking/cycling trail along the Brisbane River, that goes on farther than I chose to walk. Footbridges connect to the far side of the river with yet more trails. The weather was cool. Although they report a twelve year drought, it rained on me. I wandered through the Queen Street Mall and ate several meals there. I expected steak, crocodile and kangaroo specialties, but was surprised at the excellent Asian fusion cuisine. The city is culturally diverse and lively. Brisbane is the capital of Queensland and located near the Pacific.

inside and outside

My sister, Alicia, has a nice office at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Her view is the Shrine Auditorium where the Academy Awards and Emmy Awards are given. She can also see downtown Los Angeles. We had a good visit.

Australia

from Journal entry of  Sept. 22

They do say, "mate." When you walk on the wrong side (the right side) and bump into them, they say, "Sorry, mate." They have dollar and two-dollar coins that are very small. I am almost on their time zone. I went to sleep about 8 p.m. and awoke about 4 a.m.

Time is confusing. I called Dawn at 7 a.m. It was 2 p.m. Pacific Time for her. But she was living in Saturday and I was living in Sunday. I'm living in the future!

what David said

from Journal entry of  Sept. 22

David said, "Watch the company you keep," "Everything happens for a reason" and "There's only the present." For 14.5 hours we sat beside each other on our flight from Los Angeles to Sydney. His thoughts:

1. Over time, people start to become like the people they associate with. Their interests become ours. We do similar things and start to think alike. We dream about the same things and tend to have similar goals.

2. It's not by chance we are where we are. Our actions to date set our current circumstances in place, a reaction to past causes, an inevitable conclusion to past actions. We took the same fights, so we were meant to meet.

3. In the present, there is a memory of the past and a glimmer of the future. But neither the past nor the future actually exist separate from our current understanding in the present. Yet our respective histories frame our thoughts. Our fears and wishes color the future. But all of this occurs in the present.

twitter

from Journal entry of  Sept. 22

Have you checked out twitter.com? Basically it is for text messages or instant messages. Rather than just messaging your friends to say, "I'm at the DQ in the Mall," you send the message to twitter to let the whole world know. Everyone gets their five seconds of fame. "I'm at the subway station." "I'm at the dry cleaners." When your message hits the website, it shows up as the last entry. That is, until someone else's update hits the website and their entry becomes the last entry. You are on the front page for about five seconds. After that, your entry is old news.

Instant messaging has a certain kind of appeal. When I blog, I've arrived in Australia, I am doing the same thing. It's an important event in my life. The day feels special. Some people may be interested. A smaller number might be relieved. But all the Australians will be totally bored. Is faster better? I could twitter, "I'm washing my socks." But maybe, it would be better to slow down and find something to say.

In any event, since this will actually be posted some future date in time. I probably need to update my cellular capabilities.

Sydney

from Journal entry of  Sept. 22

I am in Sydney airport. I just drank a Regular Latte from Gloria Jeans. It was quite good. The 14.5 hour flight from LA was reasonable. I spent about 10 hours trying to sleep and actually slept 6 or 7. People kept stepping on my feet, talking loudly beside me and ,in one case, dropping something on me. The person beside me, David, is going to the same conference I am going to, Amaroo. He has attended for many years and spoke enthusiastically about it. I'm waiting for my flight from Sydney to Brisbane. I'm glad I stayed in L.A. an extra day before this part of the travel.

 It's 9.30 a.m. here on Saturday. At home, I think it's 7.30 p.m. on Thursday. It's confusing to me. I left Wednesday night and arrived here Saturday morning. I get a day back on the way home. How does that work? If I get a newspaper on Friday morning and look up how stocks will do the next day and then call back to the States and place a trade, will I win? I'm looking forward to checking into my hotel and cleaning up.