Round the world with David and Ann

For the last four months I have been going around the world and Ann joined me for the last two. The next series of posts on the blog will report on the stages of our adventure. We enjoyed our travels and we hope you enjoy reading about them.

GALERA TO HAWAII


I started the journey by touching base with Chris(eldest son) and family in Windsor. I continued on by visiting Don and Kathy Thayer in Carson City, Nevada for a few days. Don and I have played backgammon on itsyourturn for many years and this was a wonderful opportunity to meet. I was heading for Hawaii to meet Kosta Yushchenko who Ann and I first met in Greece back in 1993 just after the collapse of the USSR. He subsequently emigrated to Canada and dreamed of taking his yacht to the South Pacific and asked me to be a part of it. At nearly 70 years of age such a chance was unlikely to come again so I accepted so I was heading for Hawaii to help crew Nitidus on the leg South from Hawaii to Tahiti.

18 November 2011  Galera - Windsor
                                                           I left home early in the morning with a harem of girls intent on shopping when they had got rid of me! The queue at the Monach desk was horrendous, they charged a fortune because I was overweight, the queue for the plane was equally desperate and the flight was late anyway. Not an auspicious start.  The girl at the coach desk booked me on the next coach to Heathrow without demur which was helpful, and I finally got to Slough and the train over the river to Windsor. I arrived to find Chris and the girls at home, and Emma in Yorkshire helping her father to move house.

19-21 November 2011  Windsor
                                                   Chris and I played tag team on the girls who were delightful and infuriating by turns. An on loan Labradoodle called Popcorn helped all parties maintain equilibrium and sanity. On Saturday we all went swimming and Ashbury ventured down the long waterslide with me but got dowsed at the end. However all was well, a bit shocked but keen to go again.
Sunday, Sierra and I went for a lovely walk by the river and she got to go into a super-market on her own to buy apple sauce for the evenings' roast pork.She was excited with the milestone in life, and it was lovely to see.
Monday I took the girls to school and  amused myself around the town.

22 November 2011 Windsor to Los Angeles 
                                                                     Took a taxi to T5 for the BA flight to LA. The online check in didn't like my Spanish issued US visa but the girl at the desk cleared whatever the problem was. The flight was long,but smooth, the food was good and the seat comfortable. A coach to the hotel, room fine, US hamburger for supper and an early bed.

23 November 2011  Los Angeles to Carson City

Don and Kathy Thayer with Chelsea and Derby

                                                                                  American fry-up for breakfast. Coach to the airport so not seeing much of LA. Book in and pass security. God knows what the US unemployment figures would be like if they relaxed airport security. It is run by an organisation called Transportation Security Agency TSA alias Thousands Standing Around! Natty little plane to Reno with fine views of the Sierra Nevada. The plane was early but made contact with Don through the offices of a very helpful lady in a tourist office. Then it was on to Don and Kathy's house in Carson City. I was introduced to Chelsea and Derby and ingratiated myself by taking them for a walk with Don on a local golf course. Kathy came home from work and we went out for a Thai meal.

24 November 2011 Thanksgiving in Carson City

Don in front of one of his restaurants at Lake Tahoe

  Don and I were off early to Heidi's at Lake Tahoe for thanksgiving greetings to staff and a very substantial breakfast of omelette, lots of coffee and a biscuit that was more like a bun! Then we were off to Emerald Cove and Eagle Falls. Ice and snow underfoot and small flurries in the wind. Short walks so great for the dogs.

Emerald Basin, Lake Tahoe

 We then drove round Lake Tahoe which was larger than I expected and very pretty in a grand, scenic way. On the way home we stopped to walk around Spooners Lake which was freezing fast and the coots were working hard to keep a bit of open water.

A Thanksgiving dinner with Jim and Rona(?) who are also Ba'hais like Don and Kathy, completed a memorable day.

25 November 2011 Carson City

                                                  Out to breakfast again but this time to Heidi's in Carson City, and an embarrassment with a tap. How many ways can there be to turn a tap on? After breakfast we all went for a drive over the Donner Pass and into California. The Donner party were caught in snow in the1850's trying to get to California, Most of them perished and the survivors resorted to cannibalism. No such problems for us and we dropped down to Auburn for a walk over the American River.

The walk at Auburn

The view downstream from Sutters Mill

Some of the fantastic scenery in the Sierras

From Auburn we went onto the site  which started the 1849 Gold Rush. It is now a Heritage site with lovely walks along the river, very different to what it was then. And then back through the Sierra on a spectacular drive for a supper of cold turkey. 

26 November 2011 Carson City

                                                  A slower start today and then Don and I went to Virginia City in his bright yellow Corvette!

I got to drive

Virginia City, so legend has it, bankrolled the Union in the civil war with silver from the Comstock Lode. In it's  heyday it was a rumbustious mining town of 24,000 inhabitants. It is now down to about 1,500 and makes its' living from fleecing tourists in various saloons, bars and ticky tacky shops. We viewed the Suicide Table which lost it's 4 owners so heavily that they were either lynched or committed suicide. We drank beer, well I did anyway, in the Bucket of Blood Saloon and generally had a good time, then it was home for an afternoons feet up in front of the TV and an evening out at Reds BBQ Restaurant for a Wild West meal. Another very satisfactory day. 

The Bucket of Blood Saloon

Don in Virginia City

27 November 2011 Carson City

                                                                                    This morning we all went North of Reno to Pyramid Lake. The country was dry and bleak, and I was assured, typical of the North and East of Nevada. It was widely separated N-S ranges of mountains and wide sparsely populated valleys of sagebrush and tumbleweed. The area around the lake was a Piute reservation so there were lots of restrictions what could be done where. We walked the dogs by the lake and they enjoyed the outing. The lake is clean and blue but does little to alleviate the general brown starkness of the countryside. We then headed out into the campo between the lake and a salt pan to an area with strange mushroom shaped rock formations. They had concentric rings of different crystal structures in the domes, and brown amorphous stems. I stupidly forgot my camera.

 On the way back we went to sports store in a shopping mall. I got a good deal on some sunglasses and everyone else in the world seemed to be shopping for America.

28 November 2011 Carson City to Kona, Hawai

                                                                            A slow start and a stroll along the Carson River with the dogs. It is a pleasant local amenity with nice views but Don says that the river still has way over safe levels of Mercury which was used to extract gold during Carson City's mining heyday and it is still around. 

Don and Chelsea by the Carson River

Don then took me to the airport in Reno, I headed for the check-in and he went back to work on a problem at one of his restaurants in Reno,

 I thought that it was a great visit with no serious surprises on either side. I hope that they will manage to visit us in Spain so that I can try to repay some of their amazing hospitality.  They say that they will so I look forward to that.

The flights back to LA and onward to Hawaii were without incident or significant memory but the next day AA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection!  After a few anxious moments Kosta appeared in a big SUV and we circled round to pick up Julia and Genady. We then headed back to their flat for supper and collapsed into bed.

Kosta, Genady and me at Kona