“So, are you ready?” My father asked me this question two nights ago as he collapsed into the couch next to me. My nose was pressed into a map of Iceland, where I had been uttering low guttural sounds in various attempts to pronounce the names of small towns along the Ring Road. With an… Continue reading Deep Breaths
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Queensland Cowboys
April 10 – May 8 Queensland, Australia Through the dense understory of fan palms and fig vines, there, right there in front of us, was the unmistakable blue skin, red wattle and bright black eyes of Australia’s largest flightless bird: the cassowary. In Daintree National Park, Far North Queensland, we were visiting the ancient and… Continue reading Queensland Cowboys
The Red Road Through the Never Never
Karijini National Park, Western Australia March 30 – April 3 Ryan was beginning to think he was going blind. It was approaching four in the afternoon, and he had been behind the wheel since seven in the morning, with one stop at a fly-bitten outback roadhouse for over-priced gasoline and a couple of meat pies.… Continue reading The Red Road Through the Never Never
One Eye to the Indian Ocean
Kalbarri and Coral Coast, Western Australia March 21 – 29 At long last, we emerge from the island continent of Australia. With some 5,096 road miles logged, it seemed fitting that we were rendered incommunicado for nearly all of two months. After all, with fewer than 21 million people spread over 3.5 million square miles,… Continue reading One Eye to the Indian Ocean
End of the Line
Bali, Indonesia February 26 – March 20 All of the sudden, it seemed perfectly fitting that we would end our seven month tour throughout Asia right where we were, in Bali. I tried not to tell myself that it was because we were exhausted. That after barreling through China, India, the Himalayas, Southeast Asia and… Continue reading End of the Line
Under Pressure
For those concerned readers of ours who may have come under the impression that our little traveling band’s definition of a pastime these days solely consists of the following activities in any particular order; A) scaling treacherous mountain ranges in their tourist off-season, B) traversing the uncharted forests surrounding contested international borders, or C) circumambulating… Continue reading Under Pressure
Unleashed On Laos
Luang Namtha Province, Northern Laos Jan 27th – 31st Half a dozen kilometers outside of the town of Luang Nam Tha in northern Laos, Oliver stood in the patchy light that pricked through the rattan thatch roof of a Lenten communal hut and was surrounded by more than twenty of the village children. Some of… Continue reading Unleashed On Laos
Devil in the Details
Rajasthan and Northern India December 7-21 So many things have been said about India. Prior to our departure, a cacophony of voices expounded the horrors we would surely encounter in the Subcontinent. Per Dr. Brennock, retired infectious disease pathologist-extraordinaire and Mission Viejo’s talking head on travel medicine, India was reason alone for Ollie’s costly rabies… Continue reading Devil in the Details