What else can go wrong?

 We have only started this trip, and already we have encountered challenges beyond anything encountered previously. Coming back to our Omaha hotel room at 9pm, we discovered that our 11:30am flight to Chicago for the following mid-morning had been cancelled.  That flight linked up to our 7pm flight through Iceland to Zurich.  The only replacement was an 8am flight, meaning we would have to arise early and be sitting at ORD for nine hours between flights.  That 8am flight was also late.  The Icelandair flight desk did not open until 4pm; thus, we were stuck toting all our luggage around all day long.  When we finally tried to check in, we discovered that we needed a COVID test result (requirement instituted 3 days prior, only after we had already left Colorado) and that the test station was at a different terminal (one of five) reached by a bus followed by vague and complicated directions to a location in the basement; no signs for guidance.  Why wouldn’t the testing station be in the international terminal?  But no COVID test without an appointment, and no appointment until extensive forms were filled out on a cell phone, and photos of your passport and flight ticket were uploaded.  

Not over yet!  After “rushing” on the terminal bus (maximum achieved speed 15mph) back to the international terminal with test results and being checked in just before closing, we sat on the flight for an hour (awaiting crew) before it left the ground.  Arriving in Iceland, our next flight had already departed.  We collect our luggage, pass through immigrations, and head for the service counter to be rescheduled for the following day.  Before leaving the terminal, customs inspection requires a bar code.  What bar code?  We are then directed to another desk to complete another form. Then we board a shuttle bus to Reykjavík, thirty miles away, where we board another bus to our hotel.

Arriving at our assigned hotel after they have stopped serving breakfast, we await lunch and ask for a 3:15am wake-up to get ready for the next flight.  Then we email our hotel in Zurich to inform them we will be a day late. Bedtime tonight will be early.  Time for a long walk through central Reykjavík to try to sort out my system after skipped meals, loss of sleep, and jet lag.  Outside temperature in the 50s with overcast skies and light fog; not a pretty day.

Most all these problems are COVID related; added requirements and diminished staff to supply all needs. This is still a bad time to be traveling.  Other travelers are having similar problems.  An airline counter agent told us that she has had passengers break down crying in front of her from the desperation of trying to download forms, find and input data, and receive a response in time for flight check-in.  All after waiting in a long line.

Raising Children in the Military

 

  Our children grew up in South Carolina, Panama, Alabama, California, Germany, The Netherlands, and Virginia.  For our son you could add Nebraska because that was where he was born and spent the first year of his life.  How do you do that and provide a nurturing environment in all those places and with all those moves?  Change and adaptation were constant challenges to be accepted.   

There is no formula for such a task; however, it starts with parents who believe that our children are the most important product of our lives.   Especially for Dawn, my wife, that commitment had to be complete.  There were no nearby relatives to help.  We didn’t choose to have our children and then plan to turn them over to a daycare center to meet their needs on a routine basis.  Additionally, Dawn was important to my career.  How distracted would I have been when I came home from the clinic, if our home life wasn’t in order?

Our children were a gift, not a burden.  Raising them presented a challenge and responsibility, but we welcomed them to share and multiply the joy in our lives.  Initially, their needs are predominately physical: diapers and feedings, but I discovered even then that the best way to calm a crying baby is to calm yourself.  They sense your emotional status.

                                    1980 Colin & Meghan in Panama

Meghan was born in South Carolina and was only six months old when we left for Panama.   Colin took his first steps on the beach near Charleston.  Living in Panama, we had a maid who came to our home three days per week, but she was there to help with the housework, not baby-sitting.  We did think it important that our children realized we had our own lives; parents are not personal slaves.  The Army gave us a concrete box to live in; Dawn made it into a home.

At bedtime, in the evening, Dawn or I would read them a story every night.  Although we only had a limited selection of books, I would improvise, changing the story, so that one night’s hero might be the villain in the next night’s telling of a tale.  It was entertaining, but more importantly, they learned to love books and reading.  Read enough and you will educate yourself.  In the Atlantic coast jungle of Panama, we were provided only one television station.  For the children, it was Plaza Sesamo in the morning.  Colin became interested in the TV news, mainly international, but we limited his exposure.

There was a playground in our backyard with nearby playmates.  Dawn and I taught our children to swim in the nearby pool.  At first, they were swimming back and forth between parents, then later diving for pennies on the pool bottom.  We took them for boat rides; Colin caught his first fish, and later we got them goggles to look at the fish underwater in the ocean.  Colin remarked that he preferred the deep end of our pool because “there was more water to hold him up” and we did not advise him otherwise.  No fear.

Arriving in Huntsville, Alabama, now they were the new kids with no friends.  We put them both on a summer swim team.  On warm summer evenings, the entire community embraced swimming.  The coach was great, spending time with the young kids as well as his older team members.  As a result, the team had great chemistry; everyone cheering for all age classes, and the team won the state championship!  Colin was now old enough for soccer; loved it and excelled on a team.  Colin and Meghan had friends!  We continued with our evening stories and monitored what they were learning in school.  Huntsville is a location for the US Space Program; many of our neighbors were physicists and engineers; the schools and sports programs were excellent.

The Army had wanted to put us in a 1000-square-foot ‘Crackerbox’ home on base, but I protested it, pointing out that it was the home environment we provided, not my paycheck balance in the bank, that determined the quality of life for our children.  The Army relented when I suggested it would mean my leaving the military.  Dawn had an evening medical transcription job and left as soon as I got home.  No daycare.

Time to move to Monterey, California, for a residency program.  Driving across the US in our two-car convoy (with CB radios) pulling a boat trailer, we tried to make it a vacation.  Settling on a home to buy, the sellers agreed to possession two weeks after closing.  They didn’t realize how quickly we could close.  We wanted our children in a real home before school started.  Now our children were the new kids at school once again.  Dawn found a horse-riding opportunity for Meghan.  Colin got started in karate.  Both were entered on a swim team and soccer teams.

Friday nights, our family visited the local bookstore where both children were encouraged to pick out books of interest.  Meghan, 6 yr. old when we arrived, went for princesses, horses, and fairytale books.  Colin, age 8, looked bored; I encouraged him to check out the adult history section. Bam!  That was the answer.  He brought home multiple books that evening and has been a voracious reader ever since.

The schools weren’t that great.  I discovered that Colin’s teacher was telling her class to work mathematical expressions from left to right; no mention of the rule for ‘order of operations’.  I had a meeting with her; her take was that most of the children in the class were not smart enough to understand the correct method of computation…. so, she was intentionally teaching them the wrong method!  What a low opinion of her students!  When they received low scores on standardized tests at year's end, that would be her doing.

In Meghan’s class, students were encouraged to write original stories; the best of which would be submitted to a district-wide writing competition.  Meghan had a vivid imagination, with excellent reading and writing skills for her age.  She had an idea for a ‘magic horse’ story, and we encouraged her to pursue it.  Each night she would come home from school and spend time in her room developing her story.  She showed the hand-written paragraphs to her teacher and received further encouragement.

The evening of the district-wide writing results came.  Stories were displayed on tables for all to see, and those with awards were given special attention.  But where was Meghan’s ‘Magic Horse” story?  It not only did not get an award; it was not even displayed.  Then we were told that the judge for this age group decided to withdraw Meghan’s story because “no child of her age could write such a polished composition” and she wanted to save Meghan “from the embarrassment of having that pointed out in public.”  The judge did not talk to Meghan’s teacher or us.  She did not examine the rough hand-written draft that Meghan had worked so hard on.  Instead of recognition, Meghan received a figurative slap in the face from another teacher with low student expectations.

I was deeply involved in my dental residency program: literature reviews, treatment planning presentations, research project, lectures & tests, complex clinical cases; the outcome of this program would have significant influence on my subsequent entire career.  Dawn was the manager keeping our lives on track.  I left for Germany to find our new home and start my new job.  Dawn stayed behind to sell our Salinas home and move the children and household goods.

Aschaffenburg, Germany, was my new assignment, but our home was in the small town of Elsenfeld, where I was placed in charge of a 54-unit leased US housing area.  The children and I would be commuting.  Our children’s behavior had to be perfect because their father was expected to set the standard for everyone in our neighborhood.  Nearby Germans would come to me to complain if someone in our housing area did not follow local rules. 

Our US base was home for a mechanized infantry unit.  These are the people who do the actual fighting.  They were part of the “spearhead” in Desert Storm.  Such people tend to be less focused on education, more ‘rough and ready’, and live ‘closer to the edge’ in their personal lives as well.  Teachers at our children’s school were constantly dealing with discipline problems.  The base commander held a mandatory meeting for all parents, attempting to correct the situation.

1989- Colin at the East German border guard station, passport inspection prior to being allowed through East Germany into West Berlin

1989 Meghan at the Berlin Wall, chipping off souvenir pieces before the entire wall came down 

We found a stable where Meghan could take equestrian lessons from a strict German trainer, although it would require a commute.  Colin and Meghan were both on soccer teams.  Meghan’s team beat every other team in a tournament but did not get the trophy.  It was discovered, too late, that the winner was determined by which team scored the most total goals in all matches.  Another team had run up the score against weaker teams giving them the higher total.

Colin had developed a special interest and knowledge of world history and events from his reading and travel exposure.  He was selected to attend a student model United Nations meeting in Amsterdam and again later at Dublin, Ireland.  These sessions involved students from many countries besides the US.  We drove (+ 2 ferry rides) him to the Dublin meeting and toured the island with Meghan while he was attending the conference.

We enjoyed taking German-organized ‘Volksmarches’ with our family and other military friends.  From the beginning of our marriage, Dawn & I had formed a routine of taking a long walk every evening, great for stress relief, exercise, and togetherness.  In Germany, we started including our children on a regular basis, hiking in the Spessart woods near our home.  In the German tradition, our children started calling these mandatory walks our “death marches”, forced on them by 'Dachau Dawn' and 'Insane Wayne".  Such was their sense of humor.

Although our base school was not very good, Colin & Meghan benefited educationally from seeing Europe through travel and history.  The list is extensive: witnessing the Berlin wall being toppled, admiring Michelangelo’s statue of David in Florence, attending the Paris airshow, touring the Dachau concentration camp, ascending the steps of the Acropolis of Athens, walking among the rough columns of Stonehenge, shopping in a souk in Tunisia…. and many more.

Next, we moved to the Netherlands.  New kids in school again, but this was an international school, not just US military.  Our kids came home announcing that when the teacher spoke, the students listened instead of being disruptive.  More time was spent on education instead of disciplinary matters.  Our home was in the small town of Hulsberg; my clinic and their school were at Schinnen.  Dawn searched and found a Dutch family with a pasture and a horse, who appreciated having someone to care for and exercise their horse.  Just the ticket for Meghan and close enough to bicycle there!  She became friends with the family.  Colin was invited and spent several summer weeks at the Norwegian home of one of his classmates.  He still keeps in touch with a few European friends.    

Everything went smoothly until administrators discovered that Meghan’s mathematics teacher was using a non-approved text written by John Saxon, an ex-US Air Force officer now teaching basic college mathematics.  The Saxon approach is to integrate multiple concepts into each lesson.  That was replaced by a different text which presented each concept separately (and was approved by the NEA cabal).  The teacher was fired.  Meghan started having difficulty with the relationships between these concepts.  We were told that she should switch to the ‘consumer’ math class.

Dawn & I had a meeting with her new teacher.  Dawn explained to the teacher that Meghan would continue in the college prep math course; however, we would be homeschooling her with the Saxon textbook.  If Meghan had time after doing her Saxon homework, she would do the school-assigned problems.  With that understanding, Meghan continued through the entire year with satisfactory grades on her math tests.

The Saxon textbook series (we bought the entire series) teaches mathematics by presenting problems of increasing complexity which include previously covered concepts, then adding further concepts in a stepwise manner.  The NEA text presented concepts in a disjointed, one-at-a-time manner.  I homeschooled Meghan in mathematics through high school and provided help for Colin when needed, although he grasped concepts more quickly.  Both did well on standardized tests.

When we started on our military career, we were advised that children change schools and friends somewhat easily when they are younger, but high school is a time of forming lifetime friendships.  We were told, “Try not to move during your children’s high school years.”  I was informed that our clinic would be closed due to a Europe-wide reduction in US forces.  As a family, we discussed the options.  We decided it was time to come home to the United States.

                        Colin & Meghan in high school, Virginia

Next stop, Chesterfield County, Virginia, (just south of Richmond).  After five years in Europe, it was an adjustment for all of us, but more so for Colin.  As an incoming junior in HS, he was a bit lost and depressed, spending time in his room playing video games.  Dawn found the cure for that. (1) sign him up for a driver education course to get his driver’s license.  (2)  Get him started on a part-time job at KFC.  It worked.  He regained interest in outside activities.  By graduation, he was fully involved in school and social functions.

Meghan with her horse in Virginia, both went to college together, but only Meghan came home with a degree

Entering high school as an incoming freshman, Meghan fit right in.  Dawn searched for an activity for Meghan: we bought an Arabian horse, a horse of her own!  The horse was pastured nearby, and Meghan was responsible for all care, feeding and cleaning.  That horse went to college with Meghan.  Throughout her college years, Meghan continued to care for that horse, was able to ride it across open fields, and even had a part-time job cleaning the stable.  It gave her a point of focus and a relief from the tedium of studies.

Both Colin and Meghan graduated from James Madison University in four years.  Unsurprisingly, Colin majored in international affairs and economic policy, now has his master’s degree, and works as assistant director for trade policy at a major think tank in Washington, DC.  His wife, from Spain, has her doctorate in physical therapy.  Meghan, our outdoors girl, gave up her horse after graduating (marketing degree) to work and travel for various outdoor-focused companies in LA and Seattle as well as Colorado.  She now lives near Aspen, Colorado, where she and her husband continue to enjoy all things outdoors.

Both offspring enjoy travel and have been to countries that Dawn & I have yet to visit.  Meghan has been to Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, and Japan as well as Europe.  Her trips usually include skiing, surfing, or scuba diving.  Colin has a similar list but also spends four weeks in Spain each year with his wife & children.

Raising children in the military isn't much different than in the civilian world except that a secure home atmosphere has to be re-established over and over.  The critical element is two parents who care and make their children the highest priority. 

                                            Laura and Colin Grabow

                    Colin, Laura, and Meghan at Colin & Laura's wedding

                Wayne, Meghan, Jason, Dawn at Meghan & Jason's wedding

                 

                               

Flying South to the Amazon, Then Cruising North

NOTE:  Our Silversea cruise was substantially changed (to a less interesting itinerary and different dates) due to new Brazilian COVID restrictions on cruise ships. Thus, we cancelled the cruise and abandoned the original vacation format.  Most of our reservations were refundable; however, airlines mainly gave us credit for future flights which must be used by June 30 or by Dec. 31.  This trip has been changed into three shorter trips: one driving to the East Coast to visit friends in Florida and the Virginia/DC area, one flying to Roatan for a week of snorkeling, and one flying to Bocas del Toro for a week of snorkeling.  With COVID restrictions continuing to be removed, this new schedule may be advantageous and more relaxed.  It certainly is simpler to plan a 7–10-day trip than a 5-6-week trip.

PREVIOUS PLAN:

What can we do next when the cold of winter envelops the northern hemisphere?  Why, of course, head south, but where?  I started thinking small ship cruise.  Dawn & I wanted to include snorkeling.  We haven't been to the Marquesas islands, and there is a small freight/cruise ship, Aranui, which goes there.  However, when I inquired whether they could accommodate my lactose allergy, the French chef onboard said, "Non".  Scanning through other alternatives, I came across Silversea cruises.  Some cruise lines only stop at the bigger cities; we find the smaller destinations more interesting; especially when you share it with just a few hundred fellow passengers instead of the thousands found on larger ships.

Cruises are good for vacations where you want to visit a variety of destinations.  Sort of a scouting trip.  When we travel, we want to make a real trip of it: 3-5 weeks usually.  With COVID, cruising is just getting re-started, but we are eager to get going soon.  The solution was a Silversea cruise from Manaus, a city eight hundred miles up the Amazon, to Fort Lauderdale by following the chain of Caribbean islands (sampling the snorkeling as we go).  But we had also been thinking of Roatan, an island off the north Honduran coast, with good snorkeling.  It had been in the back of my mind since briefly visiting there in 1980.  Why not combine them?

At first glance, it looked like a no-go.  To get to Roatan in one day requires that we leave our home here at 3:30am.  Roatan is isolated with very few flights.  Manaus is also somewhat off the beaten track.  Checking flights on the Kayak.com website, it looked unfavorable; flights from Roatan to Manaus by way of Miami according to their algorithms!  Too time consuming and expensive. The solution was to break it down into steps.  We take an afternoon flight to Houston and spend a night there before flying to Roatan.  After six days there, we get off the island to the nearby Honduras mainland using CM Airline to San Pedro Sula, where we have a five-hour layover.  Next get a flight to the nearest regional flight hub to the south; that would be Copa Airline to Panama City, Panama.  Finally get a flight to Manaus:  That would be Copa Airline again, but that single flight only departs three days per week and arrives at 2:50am!

Given the uncertainties of COVID, our ages, and the region we are passing through (San Pedro Sula has one of the highest crime rates in Central America), we need to put some redundancy into our schedule and slow it down.  Dawn and I have both suffered from lost luggage on previous trips (in the Galapagos and Tahiti).  We will stay three nights in Panama City before flying to Manaus, and we will arrive in Manaus 2 1/2 days before our cruise departs.  One more concern: Manaus is a business center, not a traditional tourist destination, but it will be the transfer point for this new cruise Silversea is putting together.  As a result, hundreds of people will be arriving and departing the ship in Manaus.  There are only about twenty hotels in the city; thirteen are already fully booked- more than six months in advance. After a quick study of what is available, I made our hotel reservations in Houston, Roatan, Panama, and Manaus.

The cruise ends at Fort Lauderdale, and while in Florida we will visit friends there.  Next, we fly to Washington, DC, to see our grandkids; then it will be time (after 40 days) to come home to Colorado.

Silversea stated that this cruise may be cancelled if the COVID protocols for all the countries/islands can't be satisfied.  Which makes it more of an adventure.  Free cancelations, refundable tickets and trip insurance are advisable.  At each stop we will face COVID, customs, currency, and language concerns.  Seldom have I worried about such things in the past, but now the situation is different.     

Our Panama Adventure, 1979-1982

 

ARRIVAL

In Summer 1979, I received Army orders for a move to the Atlantic coast of Panama accompanied by my family.  We had asked for this adventure, a chance to live in a very exotic location.  We would be at Fort Gulick, home of the School of the Americas, which offered US-led training for junior officers from all the south and central American countries.  Nearby was Fort Sherman which provided training in military operations in a jungle environment with its extensive triple-canopy jungle field areas.  We had a large and well-used swimming pool one half block away.  A branch of immense Gatun Lake was not much more than a hundred yards away; you could spend days exploring all its bays, channels and islands.  Ocean-going vessels passed through it as part of the Canal system. Fishing for peacock bass in Lake Gatun is excellent.  There are also crocodiles.  The ocean was just a few minutes away, and jungle surrounded us. 

By 1982, there was no US Canal Zone.  We lived there during the entire transition.  Initially the Zone was its own country, but its stores were starting to close soon after our arrival.  As we left, buildings & houses in the previous Zone were being transferred to Panama. 

When we arrived, the Canal Zone was US soil.  The Canal Zone border was not marked by a fence, but by an obvious difference between the carefully mowed and maintained grass on one side and the trash and weeds of adjacent Panama.  Later, we went through a transition as Jimmy Carter agreed to cede the lands back to Panama with the US-built Canal.  Police then formed joint patrols.  The US security was efficient at catching crooks, and the Panamanian police provided harsh justice.  Older buildings on base were refurbished before being turned over to Panama.  After the turnover, Panama (Noriega) required that the Panamanian flag be flown above the US flag; instead, our base flagpole was removed. When we left, the Zone existed no longer; it was all Panama headed by the dictator Noriega.  Today, those refurbished buildings are decayed shells.

 At the time of our move, our son, Colin, was only a few months past his second birthday, and our daughter, Meghan, was just six months old.  Upon arrival at Fort Gulick, we were temporarily lodged in the “general’s quarters”, used by the commanding general when he visited the area.  These quarters had the appearance of a cheap motel.  My comment when walking through for the first time was, “Is this what I have to aspire to if I make general?”  When assigned permanent quarters, we were required to buy and install our own window air conditioning units (one for upstairs and one for downstairs).  On the day of moving into our new quarters, we were sweating and struggling to get some furniture installed and the A/C running, when tired little Colin cried, “I want to go home!”  We had to explain, “This is home.”

Our quarters were the left half of this building duplex.  The first floor was an open area where we parked our car; I screened in part of it as a secure play area and outdoor shop.

In Air Force housing on the Pacific coast, housing quarters featured central air conditioning, tile floors (ours were linoleum), and a well-kept children’s playground nearby (I complained about broken play equipment at our playground).  At another time, we were able to stay in an Air Force general’s quarters temporarily, which were truly deluxe compared to what the Army offered for their general.

Our quarters were three stories high, part of a duplex built of concrete.  The first story was simply an open area of elevated concrete supports which could be used as a carport with also a small storage room.  The living area was on the second story, with bedrooms on the third story.  Concrete is resistant to the harsh tropical climate.  We had no gutters because conventional gutters could not handle the heavy downpour of daily rains (Rain came in bucket-fulls for about 1 ½ hours and then the sun would return).  Instead, there were concrete troughs placed in the ground to catch the sheets of water coming off the roof.  These troughs then joined into a canal drainage system.

We had two highly productive coconut trees in our yard.  If you want the juice, cut them open with a machete while they are green.  I also planted banana plants (obtained from the nearby jungle) so that we could harvest stalks of bananas at home. (many choices: regular bananas, finger bananas, red bananas, Chinese bananas, plantains).  Our backyard was continually wet at the peak of the rainy season.  Dry season was from mid-December to mid-March.

I planted bananas in our side yard and could periodically harvest an entire stalk.  Wild bananas were not difficult to find also, but bring a machete.

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Very exotic surroundings.  Flocks of parrots were always present.  On our daily walks we saw and heard families of monkeys in the trees.  Occasionally, a beautiful toucan would fly past.  Bats came out at sunset.  Slow-moving sloths might spend days in one tree before moving on.  Coatimundis, relatives of the racoon, were common.  Large iguanas were called “Panamanian chicken” because they apparently tasted similar.  I watched a hawk swoop down and pluck a resting bat out of the palm tree outside our window.  Cutter ants are an amazing phenomenon; They would cut a path across the lawn to a nearby tree; then, in only 1-2 days, they would strip every leaf from that tree and carry it back to their anthill.  Do not stand in their path!  Absolutely gorgeous large Royal Blue butterflies would flit past just out of reach.  Also, an annual migration of large colorful moths and a migration of crabs from coastal marshes to the ocean.  One evening Dawn was driving home when she saw a log stretched out across the road; upon closer approach, she realized that it was a large boa constrictor crossing the road!

Three-toed sloths were common. They would stay in one tree for days, calmly munching on the leaves.

And finally: every quarters came with its resident population of large cockroaches.  You could put out layers of poison crystals, and the cockroaches would bath in it and not be bothered.  We came to an agreement: they would hide most of the day, but at night, the house was theirs.  All perishables had to be kept in the refrigerator, canned, or in well-sealed tupperware.  They could survive by eating the glue from the joints in a cardboard box or labels off canned goods.  I opened our car door and found one sitting on the driver’s seat; waiting to drive? 

Dawn quickly turned our concrete box into a home with rugs, drapes, furniture arrangements, wall decorations, books, and other accents.  She did similar feats for every move we made, giving our children the security of comfortable surroundings.  I bought lumber and screening and converted our open lower level into a screened in play area for the children (plus space for boat building).  We became acquainted with all our neighbors, and the kids played together on the playground.  Periodically we adults would bring pitchers of margaritas to the playground, and we would all play volleyball.

Next door were a Special Forces captain and his wife.  Special Forces are what Hollywood calls “Green Berets”.  Their mission is to work with native groups in foreign countries providing them training in military equipment and tactics as well as general support.  As such, SF are proficient in foreign languages, small unit tactics, many weapons systems, communications, and medical services.  In Panama, SF were allowed to go to remote villages and provide medical/dental services (usually extractions), We, US-trained dentists, could teach the SF medics but not go on these missions because we did not have Panamanian dental licenses!  Our SF captain was often gone for extended periods; his wife described their marriage as a series of affairs, separated by his frequent absences.

Soon after moving in, a young Panamanian woman came to our door asking if we would hire her as a maid.  That was not our plan, no maid!  She became insistent; she needed a job at least three days per week.  She was a single parent with a five y.o. boy.  She wanted $50 per month.  Hesitantly, Dawn agreed.  We discovered how fortunate we were to have her!  Filomena was a wonderful person.  So industrious; so good with the children!  We learned to trust her completely.  Dawn and I took a few short trips and left her in charge of our home.  She temporarily moved into our house with her little boy while we were gone.

Filomena, our wonderful Panamanian maid.  Without her, Dawn & I would not have been able to take off, just the two of us, nearly as frequently for an afternoon of snorkeling.

ON (AND UNDER) THE WATER

With all this water around us, I wanted a boat.  A quick evaluation: no trailers or launch ramps; coral reefs just off the ocean beaches; I would need a shallow draft, cartopable boat design.  I was able to buy some plywood and tools before the Canal Zone hardware store went out of business.  I bought lumber in Colon. I ordered sailcloth and epoxy resin from the States and started building.  It had a mast, daggerboard, and rudder with oars for back up.  It could carry the entire family.  When sailing alone on Gatun Lake one day, a gust of wind broke the mast, and I had to row several miles to get home.  I took our dog, Daisy, and a map, and the two of us explored a remote section of the lake, wending our way between islands.  Dawn, Colin, and I went fishing & swimming from the boat.  Filomena disapproved of my building technique.  For her, the proper method was to cut down a large tree and hollow out the trunk.  The resulting cayucas were common among the natives.

First you build the frame, 15 1/2 feet by 4 feet.

My unfinished boat hull in our back yard.  I built it in our screened-in 1st floor.  It was light enough that we transported on top of our Toyota station wagon.

The boat had a sprit sail; easy to put up and take down and could nest within the hull itself.

A native Cayuca being hewn out of a single log.  Imagine how much work that must be.

One time, Dawn suggested we take our boat and sail down the coast.  Once we got out of the bay and into the waves of the open ocean, I concluded that it was not built for such strenuous conditions, and we turned back.  We were able to sail it across bays or to nearby islands. Picture the most perfect deserted tropical island you can imagine; we have been there.  We would bring a picnic basket, drinks and a machete.  Occasionally, I would find a stalk of wild bananas to cut down and bring home.   The resulting boat served us for our three years, and I sold the boat when we left.

We were able to sail across a bay to this deserted cove with great snorkeling on the offshore reef.  No one else anywhere near here.  When the kids got older, we were able to bring them with a picnic lunch.  We also found an uninhabited island elsewhere on the coast where we enjoyed snorkeling. 

The Spanish fortress at Portobello.  Totally abandoned with the cannon still in place.  When we visited more recently, they now have a parking lot and park office.

This was the native settlement directly adjacent to Portobello.  The fortress wall is at the right edge of this photo.

Our clinic schedule was nine hours per day, five days per week with one afternoon off.  Dawn and I normally went snorkeling on that afternoon off.  The reefs were spectacular with many forms of coral and brilliant colored fish.  Moray eels, with their strong sharp jaws, always scared me.  They could be hiding in any hole.  Once I encountered a big moray eel swimming toward me in a narrow coral channel; I scrambled up onto exposed coral (with attendant scrapes) rather than risk irritating that moray eel.  Another time snorkeling, I was admiring coral formations below when I sensed something watching me.  I looked up to see the toothy grin of a large barracuda just below the water’s surface.  I kept eye contact and slowly backed away.  A neighbor was seriously slashed by a barracuda while swimming in slightly cloudy water.  Sharks kept to the deeper water; I stayed near the shallower coral gardens. 

With a swimming pool just down the block and the year-around warm weather of Panama, we taught Colin and Meghan to swim at early ages.  Colin told us he preferred to swim in the deep end of the pool because there was more water to “hold him up”.  We did not explain otherwise.  Later we bought them goggles and took them to the ocean where they could view the brightly colored fish.  Upon return to the States, we enrolled them on a summer swim team, and they did well.  The team won the state championship (great coach).

Meghan learning to swim at age 2.  We played games with them in the nearby pool.  While standing chest deep in the pool, one of us would toss a child just short of the other parent. We would let our child land in the water and go completely under; then we would pluck them up to our body.  They learned to hold their breath. Later, we had them diving for coins on the bottom. They had no fear.

A Trans-Isthmian running race was held periodically, open to military and civilian teams: 50 miles from Atlantic to Pacific with ten-man teams.  I ran one five-mile leg for our "also-ran" dental team.  Most amazing was the Army team from Fort Bragg.  They flew to Panama in Air Force C-141 transports, parachuted into the jungle for a training exercise, then organized and sent a ten-man team out from the jungle to compete and place among the top finishers.

LOCAL TRAVEL

When we wanted to go to the big city, we went to Panama City.  From there we could take a short ferry to Taboga island for a weekend.  Another option was to drive to El Valle, a resort village located at a higher altitude in the caldera of an extinct volcano. The town of Colon was only a few miles from Fort Gulick; we could go there for dinner at the yacht club.  While eating, you might watch a lizard scramble up the wall. Downtown Colon could be dangerous.  Our duplex neighbor was robbed at noon on the main street of Colon.  She parked her car; bent over to lock the door, and, when she straightened up, she felt a knife at her back.  I always wore running shoes when I went into Colon; I parked in an open area and with cash hidden in my sock, next to my shoe, I headed for the store (usually for lumber) at a rapid pace.

Taken on Taboga island when we visited there with my parents.

The Colon Free Zone was on the east edge of Colon.  This was a large area of warehouses and wholesale sales areas meant for merchant trade.  Somehow, we were able to talk our way past the entrance guards and make purchases at attractive prices.  We bought our Betamax there and had tapes for it.  There was only one TV station to watch.  All military adults in Panama followed the latest episodes of “General Hospital”; the children had “Plaza Sesamo”.  The Free Zone is considerably enlarged today.

As a reward for getting potty trained, we took Colin on a “special trip” just for him.  We went to a beachfront native motel on the Pacific coast.  Beautiful beach to walk on barefoot, watched the sunset, then had dinner.  Back at our room, we discovered that there was a large gap between the top of the room walls and the roof with no screening between.  Night fell; the breeze stopped, and the mosquitoes arrived.  Dawn and I were hot, miserable and bug-bit.  Sometime after midnight, Colin woke up with a cry, “I want to go home.”  In about five minutes, we were all in the car and headed down the road.  This was a jungle road passing through small villages.  Some sort of festival was going on in all the villages; the villagers were up late and partying in the middle of the road, which provided the largest open space in their small villages.  Bleary-eyed we drove through the night, watching for people in the road, arriving home at about sunrise.  In conclusion, a “not-so-special” trip.

Driving east along the Atlantic coast from Colon we could visit the remains of an old Spanish fort at Portobello.  Hundreds of years ago, this was the outlet of a trail for bringing Inca gold from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic.  Cannon were still in place on the walls.  A native village was nearby.  Driving west along the coast, through the Fort Sherman training area, we could arrive at Fort San Lorenzo, another ancient Spanish fort located on a bluff overlooking the outlet of Chagres River, and a thought-provoking look at history.  A yacht harbor has now been built where Fort Sherman was previously.

THROUGHOUT PANAMA

When I was previously in the US Navy, I was trained in navigation.  Afterwards, I studied a book on Polynesian navigation techniques, not using instruments.  Friends bought a 46-foot diesel trawler in Miami and asked me to act as navigator bringing it south to Panama.  I agreed, and it turned out to be quite an adventure. I needed those Polynesian techniques.  I have written of that trip separately, titled “A Voyage to Remember”.  They, Charles and Jean, later invited us to cruise to the San Blas islands with them.  These islands are quite remote; located east along the Atlantic coast; semi-autonomous and inhabited by the Guna Indians.  That trip became another adventure when we ran aground on an uninhabited atoll beach.  That trip is recorded in "Cruising the San Blas islands".

Arriving back at Colon after my voyage from Miami.  Little Colin & Meghan with their dad.  Meghan wanted to go home and get "the yuckies" off my face.

We visited the San Blas islands a second time, with my parents, by air.  The main thrill there was landing on the short island airstrip in a small STOL aircraft.  By the time the plane stopped, we were only feet from the ocean’s edge.  We toured a Guna Indian village.  The tallest of these Indians were only about five feet tall, but they are rugged people, hewing their livelihood out of the sea and jungle with fish spears and machetes.  They live on the islands instead of the mainland because it is safer and healthier.

This Guna (several spellings are used) woman is selling Molas- brightly-colored, woven squares of cloth.

This woman is doing laundry with a hollowed-out section of log as a basin.

Life in a Guna village.  Laundry on the clothesline, large molas, bamboo houses.

The San Blas islands tend to be small but many of them.  Some are densely inhabited, while many others are completely uninhabited and only visited for fishing or to harvest coconuts.

We also took my parents to Taboga island.  They went on their own to Contadora island, a deluxe resort destination farther off the Pacific coast reached by commercial flights. For a final thrill, we negotiated with some native fishermen in a big outboard-driven cayuca (about 40’ by 4’ hewn from a single log) to take us to a remote beach, miles down the Atlantic coast.  They were to drop us off on the beach, spend the day fishing, and finally return to bring us back to their small village.  If they had not returned (and our ability to communicate had been limited), I have no idea how we would have gotten back to civilization.

Playa Blanca was further east along the Atlantic coast, only reached by a 45-minute trip by motorized cayuca. We had some native fishermen drop us off here for the day, but we wondered, did they understand to pick us up at the end of the day?  Darkness comes quickly in the tropics. 

On a less eventful trip we visited the mountainous areas of western Panama, near the towns of David and Boquete.  This is a mountainous, coffee-growing area at a higher altitude near the border of Costa Rica.  The visit was a group trip with friends.  Filomena was at our home watching our children.

OTHER COUNTRIES

Occasionally, a military person could catch an Air Force transport on a space-available basis, flying to an interesting destination.  Dawn and I were able to visit the high country (almost 10,000 feet altitude) around Quito, Ecuador, this way.  Instead of arriving at the passenger terminal, our AF transport landed at the far end of the airfield, and we caught a taxi to our B&B, “Los Alpes”, with a week to explore Ecuador.  The visit was enjoyable; our small B&B comfortable; we had a guide to show us around; crossed the equator and visited a marketplace and native Indian home.  You would see these short natives wrapped in brightly colored garb walking along the road carrying huge bundles on their head.  The end of our visit became an awkward “situation”.  Our AF transport had troubles and would not be leaving.  I had to get back to the clinic and patients.  We went to the commercial airline terminal to buy tickets.  But our passports had not been stamped at entry; thus, we were in the country illegally.  We were taken to an office and closely questioned.  Fortunately, they accepted our explanation, and we were able to board our Braniff International Airways flight.  Amazingly, Braniff went bankrupt that week, and we never received a credit card charge for that flight!

The marketplace in a Ecuador village.  Dawn bought hand-made Christmas ornaments which we still use.

Native women street-side in rural Ecuador.  This is high altitude near Quito; thus, they are warmly dressed.

Visiting a native home in rural Ecuador near the equator but at high altitude.  Out of sight is a loom where she is weaving cloth with ornamental images.  We have other photos, but the house is terribly crude and dirty.  They keep some animals in the house.

An ornamental weaving being shown in a small store.  That is Dawn at the left; note how much taller she is than the natives.

I visited Bogota, Columbia, as part of a military medical mission.  We provided care for the embassy personnel, Marine guards, and military attaches.  Bogota is located at high altitude (8,660 feet); thus, the climate is mild.  Lots of visible wealth. People wearing formal suits; driving Mercedes; living in expensive neighborhoods.  We were transported in a van with an armed driver.  The Columbian Army allowed us to use their local dental clinic, which was better equipped than ours back in Panama.  We were also treated to an extensive dinner at a fine restaurant by our Columbian army hosts.  The city reminded me of San Francisco.  I do not think all that wealth came from growing coffee.  Dawn was also able to visit Columbia with a group of women.  They visited Medellin as well as Bogota.

I volunteered for two other medical missions. In downtown Caracas, Venezuela, we stayed in an upscale hotel while treating the embassy-associated personnel.  The airport is located near the coast; to get to the city you drive upslope to a 2400-foot altitude (slightly cooler).  My most lasting memory is of the many grubby plywood/cardboard shacks on the hillsides overlooking the bustling modern city center.

Our medical group next visited Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  The facilities there were modest.  My dental operatory was improvised in a bathroom.  My dentist seat was a toilet seat (lid down); my patients were laid back in a lawn chair.  We used a portable dental unit brought on our military flight.  We were treated very well by our hosts.  They provided dinner at a beautiful open-air restaurant overlooking the ocean.  One day we attended an air show given by the Dominican Republic air force.  The fact that their aircraft were mostly World War Two vintage made it highly interesting.  In other countries, such aircraft are found only in museums.  

When our tour in Panama was about to end, Dawn wanted to take a driving trip to San Jose, Costa Rica.  I was hesitant.  Our Toyota, exposed to the tropical heat and humidity, had not been properly serviced for almost three years.  The tires were worn.  She was insistent, so we set out. The section of highway was mainly a smooth but gravel-covered road.  After hours on the road, we started hearing a “thump-thump-thump” from a tire.  Stopping to look, I could see the exposed steel cords of a radial tire.  Rubber was slapping against the wheel well.

 I replaced that tire with our spare, but another tire was in almost the same condition.  We drove slowly for the remainder of the distance (with our fingers crossed), arriving at night to find our hotel.  Next morning, we set out to buy more tires.  Calling the American embassy, they gave us a store recommendation.  At the tire store, the exact tire size we wanted was displayed in the front window!  Success!  But not so fast…. From the store clerk, we heard “una llanta solamente”; the tire displayed in the window was the only one they had in stock.  In that part of the world, with the generally rough roads, bias-ply tires are preferred, and we needed a radial tire.

  We enjoyed our week in Costa Rica:  the city, the beaches, the food, trails in the forest. And prices (in dollars) were very modest.  Driving back to Panama, we were stopped by the Panamanian border guards.  It was obvious that they wanted a bribe to get through their border post.  Dawn and I feigned ignorance of their Spanish until they finally got frustrated and waved us through.  We were not some tourists; we lived in Panama!  Our tires held up on the drive back, and we finished our tour in Panama with two good tires, two well-worn tires, and no spare.

MORE RECENTLY

In recent years we have returned on individual trips to Panama, Costa Rica, and Ecuador.  Panama has made much progress.  The US military made a return visit and toppled Noriega’s dictatorship.  People there like Americans for all we have done for the country.  The US dollar is their standard currency, providing stability to the country.  Panama has grown as an international trade center.  Panama City has many new skyscrapers; the old part of the city is being renovated.  The Trans-Isthmian highway has been improved.  A new wider canal has been completed. We saw more vacation beach homes, more yachts, nicer hotels and shopping centers.  Some Americans are finding it an affordable place to retire.

We visited Costa Rica simply to see more of the country.  We flew into San Jose; departing the following morning; first to visit Manuel Antonio NP on the Pacific coast; then to visit the mountains of Arenal-Monteverde.  Our rental car was an under-powered little tin box which created excitement when Dawn attempted to pass on a crowded highway.  Flooring the gas pedal produced no increase in speed and left us in the lane of oncoming traffic.  In the mountains, the roads are an endless series of curves. Fairly peaceful and civilized with great variety of sights.  They complain about the Nicaraguans sneaking into the country and taking local jobs.

Guayaquil, Ecuador was an in-route stop on our way to the Galapagos islands.  It is on the coast with a more tropical climate than high-altitude Quito.  We had a very nice boutique hotel for a few days stay.  It is recommended to allow these few days due to the uncertainty of connections.  And the time was needed (unexpected adventure) due to our airline losing Dawn’s luggage.  We had to do some quick shopping for her, with added difficulty because Dawn is much taller than the native women.  Now, Dawn always packs clothing in her carry-on luggage.

It was our many extraordinary experiences in Panama which made Dawn prefer that we build a career in the military, rather than going into private dental practice.  The choice suited my outlook also.  As she said, "I don't want to live in one town for the next 20-30 years."  I always told our family, "Teeth look pretty much the same everywhere; let's decide as a family where we want to live next assignment."

How did we end up in Arkansas?

  A few years ago, Dawn came home from Costco all bright-eyed with visions of e-bikes, so we rushed to the store and bought two bikes which were notable mainly by their low price and great guaranty.  They were simple and fun to ride.  They encouraged us to go further and steeper when bicycling than we had done previously (we had previously only experienced rather inexpensive bikes, <$200).  Then we took a trip to Montana this summer.  There we experienced trails that significantly exceeded the capability of our simple little e-bikes; in fact, one of our e-bikes stopped working (returned for a full refund).  Additionally, when we visited Eric Eggen he showed us his two e-bikes which were much more capable and confidence-inspiring than what we were riding.

When we got home from the trip, I immediately went into research mode to discover what features a real offroad e-bike should have.  Then I went online to check the inventory of bicycle stores in the area.  Bicycles have become very popular in our COVID-influenced culture.  I was able to find two proper e-bikes, one in Colorado Springs and one in Denver: different brands but similar specifications.  I also had to buy a new receiver hitch bike carrier due to the heavier weight and longer wheelbase of the e-bikes.

These new mountain bikes have full suspension, mid-drive motors, hydraulic brakes, sufficient battery life for about 60 miles, and plenty of gears while keeping the weight to about 50 pounds.  Tremendous fun with measured exercise.  Our goal is not to see what challenging courses and obstacles we can conquer, but to go further and steeper, on what may be rough trails, to enjoy the scenery and chosen level of exercise.

The first Walmart in the town square of Bentonville, Arkansas.  Today, Walmart has taken over the area. very few grocery stores except Walmart.  Walmart has also required their suppliers to have local offices which has caused an influx of business; then other businesses have been attracted by the affluence of the area and the attractive community that the Waltons have created.

It was Saturday morning and a farmer's market and crafts fair were also taking place in the town square.  Still T-shirt and shorts weather; a great day to be out.  Many bicycling trails emanate from this central point.

The view along a bicycle trail just north of Bentonville.  You can choose the difficulty of ride.  We chose rather sedate paths, but other trails included high speeds and "big air" jumps.  Our longest day ride was about 26 miles.

Then we heard about the great bicycling in Northwestern Arkansas.  The Walton family, of Walmart fame, has invested millions of dollars in making their headquarters, Bentonville, into a beautiful and enjoyable community.  The area is in the Ozark Mountains with rugged, forested terrain, large lakes, clear-running streams, and now great biking paths, both paved and single track: with man-made features or through the heavily-wooded slopes of forest ravines.

Why not take our e-bikes on a road trip to this scenic area, not previously visited, and take advantage of mild Fall weather there with the heat of summer gone?  It didn't take much planning to reserve a week in the Bentonville-to-Fayetteville area.  Dawn was able to rent an entire house for about the same as a hotel room: a beautifully-restored 123 y.o. cottage in Springdale near the major bicycle Greenway.

The cottage entry way was too small for our bikes, but the kitchen had plenty of space.

Our cottage was actually quite spacious.  This was in an old, well-kept, central neighborhood of Springdale.  The Greenway, a paved and well-marked bicycle path, connects Bentonville with Fayetteville (about 30 miles apart), and Springdale is at the halfway point.  Did you know that cellphone GPS has a bicycle mode as well as driving and walking instructions?

Flowers from the garden next to our house.  Fall had not yet reached as far south as Arkansas.

Pea Ridge National Battlefield is nearby.  We are at a lookout point overseeing the battlefield.  Here in the wintery weather of early March, 1862, a Union army, 10,500 strong, met with a Confederate army of some 16,000 men.  Both armies had been marching hard (60 miles in 3 days) for days to reach this location.  Although only 400 died in the initial skirmishes, the eventual toll in lives was about 3,400..... a sad commentary on the state of medical care in those times.

Today a six-mile long paved path (perfect for bikes) allows people to tour the battlefield with ten stops with descriptions of the events of the battle.  Much of the expense for these displays was underwritten by the Walton family.

The trip lived up to our expectations, and the weather cooperated.  With Walmart success, the area has continuing new growth and many nice neighborhoods.  Amenities are excellent, scenery is good; people were friendly; and our schedule was relaxed.  Most everyone living there is originally from somewhere else; thus, they are open to newcomers.  A large Hispanic community with other minorities also represented.

Now I only have two states that I have not visited:  North Dakota and Delaware.   

 

Time for a Road Trip

 With international travel at a stand still, we settled for a road trip this summer.  Nothing amazing; just a visit to Montana.  We took our SUV with its receiver hitch bike rack to carry our two e-bikes.  We tried to limit the driving time; then each day we would hop on our e-bikes and explore a park, trail, or neighborhood: a combination of exercise, relaxation, and sightseeing.

First stop, Rawlins WYO, to see Jay & Connie, brother and wife.  We were supposed to meet in the Snowy Range mountains, but incoming rain spoiled that.

Those clouds turned into rain later, but the area is beautiful.

  Instead, the four of us rode the golf course near their home before enjoying a great dinner.  Sheridan, WYO, was our next stop.  Cute town; not too big, and yet the downtown was filled with interesting shops and eateries.  We found a well-delineated bicycle trail to follow through town, dinner at a nice Asian restaurant; then breakfast outdoors on main street, traffic not being a problem.  Then over the border into Montana.

On the bike trail in Sheridan, WYO.

We had brought a large ice chest to facilitate organizing some meals around grocery shopping.  We had lunch on a ridge overlooking Billings, MT, and also took our bikes for a ride.

We are looking down on Billings which is in the "banana belt" of Montana.

  Overnight was in the town of Bozeman.  Our Montana friends call the town "Bozangles" because of all the growth fueled by West Coast newcomers.  The town appears to have a great layout of bicycle paths which lead us through some parks and a cemetery.

We met up with our friends near Helena the following day.  A shared picnic lunch followed by a short bike ride and then we continued on to Missoula.  Missoula is the largest town in Montana; more than 100,000 people.  We, of course, found a bicycle trail to follow in a forested park with a stream before evening came.  Next day we headed for Kalispell; along the way we had great views of Flathead lake; I had never realized how big that lake is.

Five nights in Kalispell allowed us to spend one day each exploring Glacier National Park, the town of Whitefish and the nearby lake, Flathead Lake, and visiting friends near Libby.  Of course, each day also involved exploring on our e-bikes.  Glacier Park was full of visiting vehicles, but our bikes allowed us to avoid crowds on almost-vacant paths along Lake MacDonald.  The town of Whitefish is one of those very scenic, but touristy destinations, full of visitors and interesting shops.  We rode our bikes out of town to the resort hotel on Whitefish Lake where we had lunch overlooking the lake with nearby mountains and ski slopes visible.  Even from our hotel in Kalispell we found a nearby county park encompassing miles of bike trails- single track and forest access trails.

  Woodland Park in central Kalispell.

Going-to-the-Sun highway view in Glacier N.P.  Not really a highway; instead a narrow, curvy road with cliffs on one side- average speed about 20 mph.

Dawn on Lake MacDonald in Glacier N.P.  We rode our bikes along a shore trail and found our own beach.

Now the long drive began.  We planned to drive from Kalispell to McCall, ID; however, a large rockslide on the major highway connecting northern and southern Idaho, ruined our plans and delayed us.  A one-lane, alternating detour with limited hours, forced us to stop in Grangeville; short of our destination.  We were fortunate to find a decent motel room for the night.  Thus, the following day was also a long haul driving all the way to Pocatello.  We still were able to find a nice bike trail along a shaded creek in Pocatello. 

The next day, we "rocketed" back to Rawlins, WYO.  I say rocketed because the speed limit was 80 mph for much of the way (and we improved on that).  Finally the weather cooperated, and we were able to stop at the Snowy Range and walk the trails; view glaciers and small lakes/ponds from the ice melt.  The park was absolutely full of visitors; probably a combination of a beautiful summer day, the weekend, and COVID-19 effects.

Back at the Snowy Range in Wyoming with better weather.  We saw a moose cross the road ahead of us.

Late July in the mountains and the flowers are blooming.

Then it was back driving through the congestion of Denver to reach our home in the Black Forest near Colorado Springs.  Makes me want to move to a less-congested area, but Dawn says we are too old for that, and home is pretty comfortable.

We did enjoy the e-bike-themed trip sufficiently that we have purchased new full-suspension mountain e-bikes now that we are home.  We look forward to more such trips in coming months.  Wondering when we can resume travels overseas?