Index of Entries, October 25

 Entry titles are listed in order from oldest to newest (top to bottom) in this index; however, the actual blog entries are posted from oldest to newest (back to front).  Thus, the 2005 entry will be at the back end of this blog.  Find a topic in the left-hand column, then click on the corresponding archive year in the right-hand column to get close on a time scale to the desired entry before scrolling up or down for the specific entry.

 December 2005-   Building my first boat, Leaving home and Nebraska (my bio) 

February 2016-     Travel Blog, Croatia preview

March 2016-         Iceland, Copenhagen, Zagreb, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Ireland

July 2016-             Scandinavia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Berlin

September 2016-   Colorado

November 2016-   California coast

December 2016-   Washington DC, Island of Maui

March 2017-        Argentina:  Buenos Aires, San Carlos de Bariloche, Mendoza

May 2017-           Northern Italy preview

July 2017-            Alaskan cruise

September 2017- Venice, Lake Garda, Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, Genoa, Nice, French hill villages,                                        Portugal & Algarve 

October 2017-      Lisbon & Sintra, Washington DC

December 2017-   Eastern Caribbean cruise:  St. Kitts-Nevis, Martinique, Antigua, Barbados, Grenada,                                Puerto Rico

February 2018-     South Pacific preview

March 2018-         Tahiti & Tuamotu cruise, New Zealand

April 2018-           New Zealand South Island, Australia

September 2018-   Road trip to Colorado. Idaho, Wyoming

September 2018-   Galapagos Islands, 2015

September 2018-   Panama 2014 trip

September 2018-   San Blas islands cruise 1981

October 2018-       Krakow, Poland

November 2018-   Zakopane, Danube, Budapest, Azores

January 2019-        European trip preview

May 2019-              northern France, cruise to Med, Mallorca, Rome, Copenhagen

July 2019-              Azores, Maine, Cape Cod preview

August 2019-         Omaha visit

September 2019-   A Voyage to Remember, Florida to Panama, 1980

October 2019-        Azores, Maine, Cape Cod

December 2019-    Puerto Vallarta

February 2020-      Madeira Island, Azores

April 2020-            The Lost Vacation (due to Covid), Switzerland, (now rescheduled)

August 2020-         Road trip to Montana

October 2020-        Road trip to Arkansas

April 2021-             Living in Panama, 1979-1982

July 2021-               Brazil preview (canceled and rescheduled April-June 2022)

August 2021-        Raising Children in the Military

September 2021-    Switzerland:  Lausanne, Interlaken, Lucerne, Zurich

April 2022-             Road Trip to Omaha, Washington DC, and Florida 

May 2022-              Roatan snorkeling, Our 1972 Road Trip

August 2022-            A Lifetime Travel Partner

June 2022-              Bocas del Toro snorkeling, Panama               

October 2022-         France:  Strasbourg, Colmar, & Mulhouse

                                Switzerland:  Basel, St. Gallen

April 2023-             Spain, Canary Islands, France, England, and DC

September 2023-    Scotland, Sardinia

November 2023-    Travel Planning Details

December 2023-    DC, Dubai, Mahe Island (Seychelles)

January 2024-        more Seychelles Islands, Maldives Islands, Sri Lanka

February 2024-      South Africa, a brief stop in Brazil

March 2024-          Snorkeling Sri Lanka & Maldives

April 2024-            Military Travel

September 2024-   Revisiting the Past, Germany

October 2024-      Garmisch, Germany to Hall, Austria

                              Salzburg, Munich, and Onward

                              Istanbul, first encounter

                              Cappadocia, the Balloon Capital

                            

November 2024-    Back to Istanbul and a Cruise

                               Tuscany, Italy

                                Living in the Sweet Spot

January 2025-           New Destinations 

February 2025-         A Time for Reflection

March 2025-             Puerto Rico, instead of a Cruise

May 2025-                 Japan

                                   Taipei, Taiwan

                                    Manila, P.I.

                                    East Malaysia, Brunei

                                    Semarang + Surabaya, Indonesia (Java)

                                    Celukan Bawang, Bali

                                    Benoa (Bali) plus Sumba, Komodo 

                                    Cruising

                                    Perth, Adelaide, Tasmania

                                    Maui

August 2025-            Careers and a Hobby, New Travels

September 2025-        Rewards Beyond Money

                                    Dentistry is about people

October 2025-            England

                                    Arrival at Basel

                                    Colmar, Alsace, and the Vosages Mts.

                                    Montagny les Buxy, and Burgundy

                                    Annecy

                                    Geneva

                                        

Montagny les Buxy, Beaune, and Burgundy

 After a long drive, the Alsace region is now behind us, and we are in the Burgundy wine region.  We are staying at Villa Fugue Blanche B&B which is absolutely beautiful.  They have three rooms to rent and provide superb service.  Breakfast is home prepared with homemade jams and juices. Valerie is an interior architect and Jean-Philippe is a retired corporate manager.  He got burned out from hectic business travel world-wide and now enjoys home cooking.  For Valerie, she has transferred her business from Paris to here and is now more selective in her projects.  As an interior architect, in addition to choosing furnishings and finishes, her range of services includes changing doors, windows, and walls in rethinking an interior.  She has done a very attractive job of updating what were previously two old houses.

You can kinda see how this was previously two houses.  The owners live in the right half and ret three room in the left half.

Montagny les Buxy:  I think that means that Montagny is a suburb of Buxy.  The entire area is covered with vineyards.  

Looking across the broad valley towards Buxy.  During WWII, Buxy was controlled entirely by the occupying German Army, but Montagny was part of Vichy France.  People coming home from shopping had to pass through a German guard post.

No cathedral in this village, but I liked the composition in this view of their church.

We really enjoyed our conversations with Valerie and Jean Philippe.  If you pay attention to international news, you are aware that France has gone through five prime ministers in the past two years.  They explained that the prime ministers each came to the conclusion that France must drastically cut its expenditures.  Too many handouts and subsidies.  However, the national legislature does not want to accept such facts.  This is what happens when the takers outnumber the producers.  Valerie and Jean Philippe say the France is at its absolute low point.  Their total effective tax rate is 65%.  They encourage young people to move elsewhere.  All of this is a lesson for us in the United States.

I do not think that they manage this B&B for its profitability, more likely for stimulation.  Their visitors come from all over the world.  You need a vehicle (or road bicycle) and GPS to find their location in the tiny village of Montagny les Buxy, about 200 inhabitants.  No stores here, you need to drive to Buxy, a slightly larger village, for even basic shopping.  The view from our room is across a river valley with extensive vineyards and scattered villages.  The nights are absolutely quiet.

Yesterday, we spent our time in the town of Beaune.  There is a walled central old town: narrow cobblestone streets, interesting shops and restaurants, old churches, and a famous hospital, Hospices de Beaune, (now a museum). Today, the current Wall Street Journal edition had an article on Beaune as the foremost wine town in the Burgundy region.  Beaune has a wine museum which recounts the history of wine in the region since Roman times.  People here take their wine very seriously.  They claim that the wine from each parcel of land has a unique taste.

We also drive to Dijon, famous for its mustard.  Unfortunately, it was a cool drizzly day, and parking was difficult.  We didn't see much worthwhile there.  The following day we headed south to Tournus and Macon.  We toured a beautifully maintained chateau and had the best meal of our trip, counting both the atmosphere as well as the food.

A chateau maintained for display near the Town of Tournus.

Beautiful gardens including a large shrubbery maze.

Kitchen with a fire burning in the fireplace and a boar's head hung above it.

Bed chamber.  What else did they use this room for besides sleeping?

Meals were a problem; that is, dinner was a problem.  Restaurants in France are only open 4-5 days per week, and they ALL (90%) close between 2 pm. and 7 pm.  Dawn and I hate late heavy dinners.  We were told that one reason that restaurants have such limited hours is because they can't find workers.  Instead, we would often eat our late meal (4-5 pm.) at a Boulangerie and Patisserie. That translates to a bakery and pastry shop.  We could find healthy sandwiches and fruit tarts (for me).  

Everything here was well maintained.  With the shrubbery sculptures, I am sure that takes constant attention.

Another castle in the rea.  This one is not open for tourists, but I am sure its history would be interesting.

Colmar, Alsace, and The Vosges Mts.

 From Basel we moved to a nice hotel in Colmar, France.  Colmar is a scenic, mid-sized city in the Alsace valley, a major wine-growing region.  This region was part of Germany from 1871 until the end of World War I, 1914-1918, and still shows a German influence.  To the west the Vosges mountains rise to 3,000-4,000 heights and were the scene of heavy fighting during that war.  Even today, portions of trenches, bunkers, and shell craters can be found in the thick forest that now cover its ridgeline.

If you enlarge this picture, you will see a cross atop the far hill.  Walking the path to that cross, you will see trenches, shell craters, and bunkers preserved from that long go war.  All the trees you see have grown up since 1918. this area was a barren wasteland when the fighting ended.

A bunker (the barred entry is to protect tourists from potential accidents) whose roof was formed by railroad rails then covered with rocks and dirt.

The area is attractive to tourists not only for its premium wines, but also for its scenic villages which retain the architecture of the medieval period in their central “Altstadt” areas.  Today those old buildings are well maintained with many shops and restaurants, although you may have to park on the edge of town.  I would love to better understand the craftsmanship involved 500+ years ago when this was all being built.

Dawn and I spend our days visiting various Altstadt sites, plus a war memorial, castle ruins, and a nature trail.  In the early evenings, we wander the cobblestone streets of Colmar itself.  We have been to Colmar previously, but we then were recovering from COVID and had limited time.  Strasbourg, to the north is very scenic and much larger, but even more ‘touristy’.  Now we are back to explore in a more relaxed schedule.

We visited almost every small scenic village in the Alsace valley; so many so that in my memory they have all blended together.  Names like: Keyersburg, Eguisheim, Riquewihr, Rouffach, and Guberschwihr.  Although it was now October, plenty of tourists were still present.

This Sherman tank is a memorial to the Us soldiers who drove out the last German troops at the end of WWII.

These boats are called punts.  Instead of being rowed, in this shallow river they are propelled using a pole.

When this street was laid down, there was no thought of the modern automobile.

Arrival at Basel

 Our first day in Basel, cloudy, drizzling, and a high of 55 degrees. But you can’t just sit in your hotel room.  Off we went on a bus to downtown.  We missed a bus connection but made up for it by walking the remaining distance.  Many shoppers out, interesting store windows, wonderful architecture, 'fussganger' areas (pedestrian only), thus, our walk was pleasant.  We were here briefly three years ago and remember a sumptuous meal we shared at an Italian restaurant but, despite searching, were unable to discover it again.

Basel Airport is at the intersection of Switzerland, France, and Germany (just across the Rhine River).   At the airport, if you go out one door, you are in France while another door leads you to Switzerland. 

Instead, we toured the Basel Zoo, small but an easy walk from the city center.  The weather seemed to not affect attendance; plenty of parents with children.  The sea lions don’t mind this weather, but the large African animals are now indoors.  While at the zoo, we received an email stating that our scheduled flight London to Washington, DC, was canceled.  From the zoo we called British Airlines and rescheduled.  Cell phones are amazing. 

Every town or village has a cathedral, many are magnificent.  It demonstrates the power of the church in previous centuries.

W never tire of looking at the interesting architecture from that medieval era, built using no modern construction equipment.

A day later and now the sun is out, and it is warmer.  We picked up our rental car and headed for Freiburg, Germany, an hour away.  A section of the autobahn had no speed limit, and Dawn ran the Volvo up to almost 100 mph.  Freiburg is a popular university town, it was Saturday, and we had difficulty finding parking.  When you are in a city whose streets were laid out 500 years before the invention of the automobile, that difficulty is not surprising.  Finally, frustrated, I googled ‘public parking’, found the names of two companies that had parking structures, downloaded their app, and was able to get guidance to a nearby underground parking lot.

Our Volvo XC40 was an outstanding rental car.  Heated seats and steering wheel, auto trans, 500-mile range on a fuel tank, but the feature that really caught our interest was the 360-degree camera system.  No, it does not have a camera on the roof.  Instead, it has a series of unobtrusive cameras installed about fender level which are tied together with software to provide a view as if you were looking down from above.  With the narrow roads, cramped parking garages, and narrow parking space prevalent in Europe, this is a valuable feature.  Perhaps I should mention that when we were renting the car, the quote for insurance was about $1700-1800 dollars.  We elected no insurance and brought it back without even a scuff mark (as we have on every other rental we have ever used).

 

A photo to demonstrate the crowds present on this Saturday afternoon.

Freiburg has a magnificent cathedral.  Concession tents and food trucks were arranged around it along with a stage and entertainment.  Crowds everywhere.  After a nice meal and exploration of the Altstadt, it was time to head back to Basel.  Tomorrow and for the following 11 days we will be in France. 

England

Supermarine Spitfire, England's premier fighter during the London blitz.  It had a Rolls Royce engine.  The US used that same engine, under license, in its P-51 fighter.

I confess to poor planning for our stay near London.  I did not realize how horrific traffic is in that area.  We chose a hotel halfway between London and Heathrow, thinking it would be convenient to both: it wasn't.  If you want to visit London proper, use the train system.  If you want to visit outlying villages, get an accommodation outside the metro area.  Our hotel was near a park, and we could go for evening walks along a path surrounded by fields and trees, but....  The only nearby public transport was a bus stop.  We had a rental car but had to fight traffic for about an hour to get past the convoluted traffic and narrow streets.

This is a typical street near our hotel.  You travel at the speed of the buses around you.

We did take that public bus one day to visit a nearby shopping mall.  Nice mall, but it took an hour to go the 8-9 miles to get there.  Fortunately, it was a double decker bus, and we got to sit up front on top and enjoy the scenery.

Europe loves 'roundabouts' as a way to avoid stop lights.  They work well with moderate traffic.  Unfortunately, in the London/Heathrow area traffic is so thick that the roundabouts are choked.  The solution has been to place a traffic light at each point in the roundabout where traffic enters or exits.  Now, to get through, what should be an intersection, you have to deal with at least three traffic lights plus the complexity of the traffic circle just to stay straight on the road you are following. 

GPS is a great aid, but not infallible.  A few times our auditory guidance was telling us to turn in one direction while our route chart was indicating the opposite direction.  Exits may be only a few car lengths apart, and if the auditory guide is slow or fast in its announcement, "Turn here!", you will take the wrong exit and need to do a U-turn somewhere down the road to get back on course.  In busy traffic, don't look down at the GPS screen; have someone act as navigator (usually me).   

We were able to leave the metro area to visit the village of Castle Combe, west near Bath.  The village was scenic but small.  You could enjoy all of it in less than an hour, hardly justifying the several hours it took to get there.

Church at Castle Combe village, with a graveyard in the foreground.

We also visited the imperial war museum north near Duxford.  This museum is an actual working airfield where historic aircraft can not only be seen in static displays but also in flyovers, takeoffs and landings.  They have a large group of WWII Spitfire fighters.  There is also a large building where other historic aircraft are actively being restored to flyable status.  World War I is a special interest of mine, and I was able to view examples of some of the most noteworthy biplanes of that era (Spad, Nieuport, Bristol, Fokker, RE8).

German Messerschmidt BF-109 fighter, shot down over England during the Blitz.

Backyard landscaping in Village of Castle Combe, scenic but small. There was no open parking in the village, it was atop a hill several hundred yards away.

Heathrow has a reputation for being difficult to navigate.  The complex consists of five large terminals, each with a large number of concourses and gates.  The concourses are not arranged linearly; may be far apart.  Dawn and I enjoy long walks between long flights, but they have shuttle trains for the less mobile.  We have now been through Heathrow four times with no troubles.  Read all the signs, and don't hesitate to ask for guidance.

Weather was perfect for our visit.  Our hotel itself was very comfortable; near the Thames River, a 200-acre park, with surrounding green fields and a walking path.  The daily struggle started when we left the Syon Park grounds.  

With England's moderate and wet climate, gardens grow well.

Dentistry is about people, not just teeth

 No, this entry is not about travel experience, it is about life experience while providing dental care.  People are more interesting than teeth.  Each person has their own story.  Feel free to skip this one.  We will get back to travel very soon.

Martha Caigambal:

While on an oral surgery rotation in my Comprehensive Dentistry Program, I encountered an especially interesting patient.  Martha Caigambal was an elderly lady with a very complicated medical history.  She was specifically accepted to our program as a challenging learning case and would not have otherwise been accepted.  Our normal mission was dental treatment for active-duty military only.  She was assigned as my patient.

Martha was a family member (mother or grandmother) of a US military member.  She was from the Philippines and a ‘reverse smoker’; that is, when smoking she would put the lit end of the cigarette inside her mouth.  Having spent time in the Philippines, my guess is that the habit originated due the rainy climate there.  The consequence is that the oral palatal tissue on such people is dry and scarred from being subjected to intense heat.  But that was a small part of her medical problems.  I remember that she had CHF, congestive heart failure, and diabetes, plus other issues beyond my memory.  She brought her medications to us in a shopping bag, from which she took pills sporadically.

Dentally, all her molars were beyond repair and needed extraction.  Internal medicine refused to be responsible for her admission; she was admitted by one of our board-certified oral surgeons.  Anesthesiology recommended that we use local anesthetics only; they were worried that if a deeper ‘numbing level’ were used, she may not recover consciousness.  Her heart condition plus bleeding problems were two Immediate concerns.

Nevertheless, they were present with their equipment and an IV started in the OR, operating room, in case of an emergency.  Martha was admitted to the hospital two days in advance, to ensure that her long list of medications were taken properly and that her laboratory values were stabilized and optimized.  Her anti-coagulant therapy was temporarily discontinued.

I am happy to report that her dental treatment was completed without further complication, and healing was uneventful.  I do remember her crying, “You are killing me!” during the surgery.  It wasn't from pain, but from the obvious trauma involved in removing multiple teeth.  Those multi-rooted molars with rotted crowns can be difficult to remove.  The fact that infection had spread to adjacent bone, with some abscess formation, reduced the quality of bone support and made tooth removal physically easier.

Did she subsequently improve her dental hygiene?  Removing those infected teeth had to help her general health status.  She was only accepted for this treatment for training purposes in our residency program.  I remember her name because of the complex medical problems to be evaluated and managed.

 

General Alexander Haig

When I oversaw the Walter Reed Hospital dental clinic in Washington, DC, 4-star retired General Alexander Haig had ‘his people’ request an appointment for dental care at our clinic.  He is a very senior guy, also the past US Secretary of State, and past Supreme Commander of NATO forces.  But you notice, he was “retired”, not on active duty.

Our major Army mission at the Walter Reed clinic was to treat active-duty soldiers (as well as any emergencies that occurred on hospital grounds).  We were also tasked with providing specialty care for US government employees involved in overseas terrorist attacks, i.e. Africa.  Occasionally, under special circumstances, we saw and treated heads of foreign countries who would come to the US for state-of-the-art care (very high security, on a weekend when the clinic was otherwise vacant.)

If a retired General is deserving of appointments, then why not lower-level enlisted soldiers?  What should a changed policy include?  My reply was that our dental clinic did not treat retirees, active duty only.  Haig’s ‘people’ then contacted the General in charge of Walter Reed, and he commanded that we provide an appointment for General Haig.  (Patient standards for medical care were more inclusive than prescribed for dental patients.  I believe they still are.)

My reaction was to contact the US Army General in charge of the entire Army Dental Corps to see what policy to follow.  I couldn’t countermand the hospital commander without the Dental Corps Commander’s backing.  Meanwhile General Haig was already scheduled for his initial appointment.

The awaited reply from the US Army Dental Corps commander, a man I knew personally, came only a few hours before the scheduled appointment.  I could not properly cancel that appointment at the last moment.  Instead, I saw General Haig at the appointed time, did a complete examination, and treated a simple defect in one of his restorations.

Then I explained his overall treatment needs to him.  He had some long-term needs which would require multiple appointments.  Using the most diplomatic words I could muster, I explained that the clinic was focused on active-duty military.  Fortunately, he took it well, stating that, of course, he had the means to afford dentistry wherever he chose.  His concern was for those military retirees who could not afford such options.  He made a parting joke about President Clinton.

I learned in my career (perhaps not soon enough) that politics are universal.  This situation ended amicably.  The next incident I will describe did not end so well.

 

The Retiree from New Jersey

The driving time from New Jersey to Washington, DC, is 3-4 hours, with the route passing by the major cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore.  Thus, I was surprised when a military retiree from New Jersey showed up at our reception desk demanding care for his “dental emergency”.  Our reception personnel, whom I had great faith in, explained our policy of care for active duty, but he was insistent.  In charge of the clinic, I was not going to let our trusted reception personnel take the brunt of his displeasure.  Fortuitously, we had records of a previous visit by this same person.  He had shown up almost a year prior, been seen for a different problem, and, on that visit, was told that he also had a tooth that needed to be extracted.

Now that tooth was hurting.  I explained to him that his situation did not qualify as an emergency.  He would not be seen here.  When a patient is told they need an extraction but then elects to wait until it becomes painful, the pain is the result of their planning.  How many other dental offices did he drive by on his 200-mile trip to DC?  He was unwilling to spend any of his money on his neglected dental needs.  Dental care was worth zero to him, but he wanted us to redirect our efforts away from our designated active-duty mission toward his schedule for his needs.

I was adamant.  I had seen the same thing happen with middle-of-the night patients who came in when it was convenient for them.  They didn’t want to pay, and they didn’t want to take time off from work and lose wages.  This could be true even if it was their children experiencing pain.  But they didn’t mind inconveniencing our dental staff with a night-time visit.

He cussed me out roundly in front of the reception personnel and scheduled patients awaiting care.  He loudly declared that he hoped I would “rot in hell.”  It did not bother me.  I wanted it to be known to our staff that I would support them, and I would support established policies.

A month or more later, I received a letter forwarded to me from President Clinton.  This same retiree vented his written displeasure with Walter Reed, and specifically with me, and sent it to the highest authority he could think of.  I received no reprimand or other unfavorable repercussions.  Just part of the job.

When determining dental care priorities, I never cared about military rank or cost.  I had three rules: 1) Will the patient appreciate and maintain good dental health after the care given?  2) Will the patient show up for needed appointments?  3) Will the patient be available long enough to complete all required steps in the procedure?

I have little regard for those who expect me to care more about their teeth than they do.   

When it was my turn for emergency call and I had come in late at night, often the patient was someone who did not see a dentist for routine care but only came in for ‘emergencies’.  If it was a tooth that needed to be extracted and they asked me to “pull it”, I would generally write them a script for pain medication and tell them to get an appointment.  If they asked me only for pain medication for the tooth, I would usually go ahead and extract the tooth.  I wanted to change their habits away from midnight visits and towards regular scheduled dental care.  Some of those encounters, when asking only for pain medication, were more interested in getting drugs that having their ‘problem’ treated.     

Rewards Beyond Money

 After writing "Careers and a Hobby", I kept remembering the special patients and unique situations that made my dental career so rewarding.  In the US military, dental/medical care is not determined by rank or cost, the question is whether the patient needs and deserves the treatment considered.  I asked three things of my patients: 1) Will you practice good hygiene to maintain the results?  2) Will you show up for all needed appointments?  3)  Will you be assigned at this base long enough to complete required treatment?

Question number one was most critical.  I will not waste my time or the taxpayer's money.  Number two could be impaired by frequent deployments.  Number three is important because partially completed treatment can leave a patient in worse condition than no treatment all.

What follows is a story of one of many patients for whom care provided was life changing, and I will never forget. 

When Dawn suggested that I apply to dental school, instead of medical school, her consideration was that it would allow more regular hours, more time available for family activities.  My reply was, “Dentistry sounds boring.”; I had very limited understanding of dental procedures at that time.

However, I did take time to interview a dentist, with an engineering background, and was introduced to the broader span of dental procedures.  Certainly, the technical complexity and creativity needed in dental treatment, individualized for each patient, made dental practice seem interesting.  After working with patients for some time, the procedures became more routine (still challenging and tedious), and the personalities and experiences of my patients became the central aspect that made my practice rewarding.

The opportunity to apply for a military scholarship was attractive to us, both for financial support and a chance for future travel.  In dental school, some of my classmates derided the thought of practice in the US military, saying that such a practice would mainly consist of tooth extractions on patients with low appreciation for dental health, but that was the voice of ignorance.  I knew from previous enlisted military experience, that such patients could appreciate good care.

Our military service members come from a wide span of backgrounds, including hardship and foreign-born (mainly third world), but their commitment and necessary discipline come from a desire for achievement, improving their lot in life.  They have interesting stories from their personal backgrounds as well as military assignments worldwide.  When military recruitment is difficult, the US Army is forced to accept less qualified candidates for recruitment to meet quotas.

I was serving at Fort Drum, in northern New York State, when one of our dental hygienists called me over to meet a young, enlisted arrival, who had been treatment-planned for full dentures at his initial dental examination elsewhere.  I could easily see why he had been marked for such drastic treatment.

His hygiene was garbage; plaque, food debris, and inflamed gingival tissue everywhere, and every tooth had visible caries, the front teeth looking like apple cores, with the contacts between adjacent teeth rotted away.  The only reason he was scheduled to see a hygienist was that, even when surgery is planned, oral hygiene needs to be at an acceptable level to avoid surgical complications (i.e., excessive bleeding) and post-surgery infections.

Much of the bone in our jaws is there to support our teeth; once the teeth are gone, the surrounding bone atrophies.  Dentures at an early age may mean that later in life there will not be enough jawbone remaining to support dentures.  I have seen it happen.  He obviously came from a sad dysfunctional background.  Did I want to commit him to a toothless future?  Change is difficult.

I try never to judge a person by first impressions (although they are often accurate).  This was what his previous life had given him, but, now with his military life, he had a chance for a new future.  Would he be up to the challenge of changing his habits and accepting responsibility to achieve drastic improvement?

I sat with him and clearly explained why the previous dentist had recommended full dentures.  I explained that, with his absolute lack of effort toward hygiene, any attempt at restoration would be a waste of time.  (Something I had learned early in my career was that the patient must care as much as you, the provider, to achieve success.)  The treatment plan could change if his efforts toward dental health improved.  At this point, he had completely given up any attempt at hygiene.  He was in a world of ignorance, neglect, pain, and shame.  I left him with the hygienist for cleaning and instruction and told her to book his next appointment with me.

When I saw him next, his hygiene had improved little, if at all.  He was still stuck in a cycle of hopelessness.  He hadn’t fully comprehended the alternate future that I was offering.  Difficult oral conditions, copious debris and inflammation, were present, but I was able to isolate and restore a few of his front teeth comfortably, esthetically, and without exposing the pulp tissue while removing deep caries.  I handed him a mirror to view those few teeth which I had carefully restored to an original healthy form.  For the first time, he started to comprehend/believe what I was saying: “If you improve your oral hygiene, I can restore enough natural teeth to give you an acceptable smile.”

Every visit after that, his brushing and flossing efforts were greatly improved.  I had to improvise on many of the restorations because caries were more extensive than commonly encountered.  We had to extract (hopeless) all his molars and two lateral incisors (replaced by false teeth bonded in place), but to appearances, the result was a pleasing and healthy smile.  He told me, “Now for the first time I can go home, see my family and friends, and have a normal smile!”  Think of the significance of that…. Not just his smile, but his life had changed.

A year later I saw him again.  Excellent hygiene and not one defective restoration or new cavity.  He stated that the dental clinic was his favorite place to visit on our Army base.  What could be more professionally satisfying?  With dental treatment, I had been able to improve his entire outlook.

Encounters such as this were repeated throughout my career.  The military is a great place for encouraging change.  The goal was not just teeth but improving lives.  Dentistry is a very personal service.  I view my patients as good people who perhaps need some education, motivation, and treatment to correct faulty habits.  The satisfaction in doing that far outweighed any challenges involved in completing necessary procedures.

Looking Ahead to New Travels

 Currently, we have four future trips to look forward to.  First, we return to Europe for more exposure to some of our favorite destinations.  There are always new regions to visit.  Second, we take a cruise to Argentina and Chile with two more stops on our way home.  We have visited Argentina previously and been to the border with Chile, but most of our stops will be new.  Third, we return to the island of Hawaii for a break from winter weather in Colorado.  Fourth, we return to Japan to see more of the country.  Our stop there this past Spring was too brief to satisfy our interest.

Stay tuned, there is more to come.

  

Careers and a Hobby

 My interest in boats, shared with my brother, started when our uncle gave us a decrepit plywood pram.  It was poorly cared for and leaked.  We sealed the seams with roofing tar and painted it with house paint.  Then we named it “Tar Baby” in honor of the tarred seams.  Later, our family bought a boat for waterskiing, a sport we learned to love.  Next, my brother and I each joined the US Navy Reserves when we reached 17 y. o. and while still in high school.

My Navy service included crossing the Pacific Ocean twice (LST hull, then destroyer), spending most of a year in the Mekong Delta, next providing coastal fire support, and finally cruising north from Vietnam to Japan for ship maintenance.  My nautical education began with navigation school in San Diego and subsequently continued with real life experience and onboard texts as my guide.

USS Askari, ARL-30, on station in the Mekong Delta.  As usual, barges and river craft alongside, our ship providing repair services for all of the Riverine forces in Vietnam.  A converted LST hull, this 325-foot-long ship had a top speed of less than 10 mph.

USS Preston, DD-795, taken October 1966, a year before I was assigned to her.  This was a WWII vintage vessel, capable of up to 35 knots (40 mph) but near the end of her service life.  As well as serving as plane guard for the aircraft carriers in the gulf of Tonkin, its six 5-inch guns were used for coastal fire support.  At 375 feet long, it would be considered small by today's standards.

One early morning, while on a training exercise off the coast of Mexico, I witnessed a rare event of the sun’s rays being bent, diffracted, by the earth’s atmosphere just before sunrise so that, for a few moments, I was able to see islands that were far beyond the visible horizon, more than a hundred miles away.  While crossing the Pacific, we went through the edge of a typhoon, experiencing huge waves crashing over the bow, waves sweeping across the deck, and the entire ship shuttering as the plunging hull intermittently exposed the propulsion screws from the seas.  From instances like this, I developed respect for the unflagging nature of the ocean’s power and its vastness.

With my girlfriend, Dawn, at the beach in Santa Barbara, CA.  She helped me with the model hull testing for my engineering research paper.  (Great partner, still together 55 years later.)

After my release from the Navy, I went back to my mechanical engineering studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  The Pacific Ocean forms one boundary of the campus.  The school has a crew club (rowing), surfing team, and a fleet of sailboats at Santa Barbara harbor.  Taking a sailing class out of Santa Barbara, I was intrigued by the forces in play determining sailboat performance.  Joining crew club exposed me to the influences of wave versus frictional drag.  At the same time, I needed a senior research paper topic for my engineering studies.  Thus, I chose sailing hull design as the topic of my research paper.

I was able to design a system for testing scaled hull models in a calm swimming pool with valid and consistent results.  The drawback was that I needed to construct a series of model hulls with varying parameters to test the influence of design changes and be able to describe them mathematically.  Simple photos would not suffice.  Researching previous hull design information, which was sparse in the published literature, I was able to customize mathematical equations and methods of projection to describe a limited range of hull forms.

An outline of hull measurement methodology: static stability & towed resistance (drag).

My research paper was successful with an "A" grade.  But my search for fulfilling employment as an engineer was not so successful.  At graduation, jobs for new engineers were hard to find.  I was successful in gaining employment, but much of my duties consisted of reviewing architectural plans and financial data, looking for mistakes and ways to increase efficiency or, alternately, ordering parts from a catalog.  Not much creativity in that.

Our engineering department was blamed for project construction cost overruns; in response, I did a comprehensive review of the past ten-years construction bids (for projects built several years later) and results showing that, in fact, it was the marketing department failing to allow for labor price inflation that resulted in the cost over-runs.  The big boss was a marketing guy and did not want to accept my facts.  I was disgusted and started looking for alternatives to these petty office politics. 

Our Morgan 27 sailboat on San Francisco Bay.  A very nice ocean-going boat, but the worst purchase decision I have ever made.  Too many changes going on in our lives at that point to make such a commitment.

I considered pursuing an MBA degree (scoring in the top 1% on the Graduate Management Aptitude Test needed for admissions) but decided that it would likely put me in a realm where office politics were even more central to any success.  Later in my career, I realized that office politics are universal, unavoidable, and a basic aspect of human nature.

I considered a degree in naval architecture, but, at a visit to UC Berkeley, was told that ship design had no future in the US.  Designing ventilation, plumbing, and electrical systems for ships would be a better pursuit.  I considered sailing around the world (even to the extent of buying an ocean-going sailboat), but after reflection, realized that was just escapism, avoiding difficult career choices.  My degree would be obsolete by the time I returned from such a voyage.

I considered medical school, but a suggestion from my wife, Dawn, changed my career path to dentistry, a whole new environment.  My focus became people: biology, chemistry, physiology, and psychology.  In our classes, little was said about the molecular structure of the materials we used; that was for engineers to know.  One of our dental texts included a chapter with sections written by one of my UCSB engineering professors, but it was given little attention.  Dawn encouraged me to apply for a military scholarship, not just for the financial help but also for the travel opportunities it provided.

Our first major military assignment was in the country of Panama, near Colon, on the Atlantic coast.  When friends there asked me to be navigator in bringing the trawler they had purchased from Miami to Panama, I had the chance to use my navigation training once again.  I was very thankful that I had supplemented my Navy training with a text on Polynesian navigation, using nature instead of instruments, because their 'new' boat had little to offer for ocean navigation other than a compass and one chart.  We arrived safely on schedule despite engine problems.

I enjoyed my career in military dentistry, not completely retiring until age 75 (including time as a military contractor).  There were many patients I could list where I was able to not just ensure healthy teeth but improve their lives.  That was always my goal.  Let me give one example: a woman (wife of a soldier) came to our office in the Netherlands in pain with her face visibly swollen due to a tooth which had rotted off into her jawbone (no visible tooth).  It was a surgical extraction with ample drainage of pus, but I was able to treat her comfortably with adequate anesthesia.  After she departed, I told our receptionist, “I want to see the mouth that kisses her mouth.” (her husband).

Because her husband was a member of the US military, I was able to order him to come in for an examination.  Sure enough, he had significant dental problems also.  Neglecting your dental health can be grounds for separation from the military.  We treated both parents empathetically, comfortably, and were able to bring them into healthy, confident smiles.  Not just treatment, but education and motivation.  Then, they voluntarily brought their children in, and we were able to correct all developing problems.  We replaced fear, ignorance, neglect and shame with dental health and a confident future.  What better professional reward could I have?  This sequence was repeated with many other patients.  Being in the military, cost (other than not wasting taxpayer money) was not a factor.

Can I tell one more story concerning the Army commander’s wife in Germany who was a dental phobic?  I diagnosed a dental problem of hers before even seeing or talking to her (but I had treated her husband, the base commander, and he brought her previous radiographs to me).  His wife was talking to my wife by telephone one day, concerning base activities, when she mentioned that she had a minor toothache.  My wife whispered this comment to me.  I told my wife to ask her if the discomfort was on the lower right toward the back of her mouth.  She replied to my wife, "How can he know that!"

As a phobic, she had a past of visiting dentists only when forced by circumstances.  She would then, at the end of any visit, take with her all records generated, not planning to return.  I had carefully reviewed all her previous radiographs (provided by her husband) before filing them and had noted a developing defect in that lower right area.  After her toothache was comfortably treated, she came in for a series of cosmetic dentistry appointments, completely overcoming her phobia and improving her smile.  How about another…. enough said; I could go on and on.  Dentists tend to get little respect, but on multiple occasions I have witnessed the dramatic improvement in a person's entire life outlook from a healthy, pleasing smile.  That is all the satisfaction I need.  

Designed and built here in Colorado for daytrips and waterskiing.  The freeboard is probably greater than if I were designing a boat for a warmer climate.  The altitude for boating here can reach 10,000 feet.  We have full canvas enclosure when needed.

Was my engineering background to be forgotten?  No.  I went back to my senior engineering research on hull design using mathematical concepts.  Over the past fifty years, I have built 14 boats using my mathematical design approach and expanding on it.  While in dental school in Omaha, I built a canoe for the small nearby lakes and rivers.  While in Panama, I built a cartoppable sailboat for the beaches, and shallow reefs there.  While in Alabama, I built a twenty-foot, two-masted sharpie sailboat for the large reservoirs in that area.  During a ten-year period (residency, Board exams, clinic management) I was too busy for such projects.  Part-time work and then retirement have given me more time, and a better workshop, for my design ideas including two outboard runabouts.

A small kayak for my wife; the 13th boat hull I have designed and built.

Boat #14 is currently being constructed: slightly longer, lower and narrower than boat #13.

I have enjoyed all of it: studying navigation, engineering, dentistry, woodworking.  My father, a high school graduate, taught me by example that being a professional does not require a college degree; it is your attitude toward the task at hand that makes you a professional.

Life is a process of learning and becoming; dreams evolve to plans, then to realization, while facing the challenges of new situations along the way.  We learn, grow, and find meaning as we explore the world around us.

Tasmania II, more photos

The dense forest at Mount Field NP, SW Tasmania.  You could imagine a dinosaur appearing out of this lush forest.  Instead, it is the home of platypuses.

Russell Falls at Mount Field, NP.  A well-groomed trail zigzags upwards from the parking lot to get here.

A kind lady asked us if we would like our photo taken in front of the falls.

After hiking to Russell Falls, we hiked further up the forest path to the Upper Falls.  Even further up, we encountered a substantial grove of massive trees, about 250 feet tall.  How do you take a picture of such trees when you are surrounded by them?

Mount Wellington as seen from our hotel in Hobart.

Cataract Gorge, Tasmania, on the edge of Launceston.  If you don't want to walk the gorge trail, you could take the river boat up until encountering rocky rapids.

April in Japan, we saw the Spring blossoms and flower pedals on many trees.  A month later, we are seeing the Fall colors on leaves in Tasmania.  This photo was taken at the park above Cataract Gorge.