We
probably don't remember our first steps - our first "independent"
mode of travel - but likely it is recorded somewhere in a sepia-toned
photograph or a grainy home movie. Most
of us can and do remember other forms of transportation from our youth: Roller skates, Radio Flyer wagons, bicycles,
and most significantly, our first car. It
gave us a profound sense of freedom and an urge - and the ability - to
travel. I still have the first car that
I ever bought. That Inca yellow MGB and
I are becoming classics together. And
that got me to thinking about all the various modes of transportation that Mike
and I (or I, on my own or with my parents) have experienced. They are many and varied.
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Mike (about a year old) and his brother Chris, (about three-
and-a-half) in front of their parents' house, c. 1950.
Mike says he doesn't remember that wagon. |
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Bicycles parked in front of Fort Pulaski National Monument on
on Tybee Island, GA in the spring of 2013. Construction of
the fort began in 1829 but it was not completed until 1845 |
As a kid,
I recall Rex and Damascus, two gentle horses that were stabled at my maternal
grandparents' farm. They added a thrill
to my weekends. Growing up on a farm, Mike
remembers riding with a neighboring farmer who, even in the 1950s, drove a
wagon pulled by a pair of Missouri mules.
Animals are still part of travel and adventure. A romantic carriage ride through the Chicago Loop
in the dead of winter or a carriage tour of Charleston at the first blush of
spring offer more than just sight-seeing.
They provide a whole different glimpse of the cities. In Ireland Mike and I had the opportunity to
ride in a traditional jaunting car (or courting wagon) pulled by a
high-stepping horse. Other cultures
offer some unique opportunities.
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Passing one of the mansions along the Battery on a tour of historic
Charleston, SC in the fall of 2014, our carriage meets one from
one of the other tour operators, going in the opposite direction |
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Mike prepares to ride a camel during our trip to
Morocco in 1993 |
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Yvonne astride a camel during a trip to Egypt
with her parents in 1988. The
Pyramids of Cheops are in the background |
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| Riding in a ox cart near Siem Reap, Cambodia in 2011 |
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| Riding on an elephant near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in 2014 |
Bustling
urban areas where streets turn into mazes sometimes require small vehicles with
daredevil (albeit talented) drivers to navigate crowed cityscapes. Pedi-cabs in Vietnam and China share the streets with thousands of motorized vehicles and pedestrians. In Cambodia, the "tuk-tuk" drivers all seemingly race each other from place to place, and in New Deli, India's version of the "tuk-tuks" careen around corners of narrow streets lined
with vendors' stalls filled with vibrant material, glimmering silver, and
pungent spices.
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| Tuk-tuk parked on the street in Siem Reap, Cambodia |
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A tuk-tuk driver relaxes in the seat of the cart while
waiting for passengers in front of one of the temples
in the Angkor Wat Temple Complex in Cambodia |
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| Yvonne riding in a pedi-cab in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2011 |
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Yvonne rode in these colorful little vehicles in Delhi, India
in 2010. Although they look nothing like the conveyances
in Cambodia, these are also called tuk-tuks |
The
streetcars of San Francisco, subways in Washington D.C., or the "L" in
Chicago are not only practical for quickly moving about the city but also provide
a glimpse into and a sense of the communities through which they travel. The metro in Paris and the tube in London are
practically cities unto themselves, with denizens who spend a large portion of
their lives there. Other specialized
vehicles, whether the iconic black London taxi or a safari-outfitted Toyota Land Cruiser become an integral part of the journey.
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The iconic London taxi on Mike's first trip to England in 1984.
The London Taxi Company, which built the cabs for 60+ years
was rescued from bankruptcy by a Chinese auto maker in 2013 |
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We toured Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia in these specially-
equipped Toyota Land Cruisers in 2014 |
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In Kenya in 2008, our small group of ten toured game preserves
across the country in these two Toyota vans that allowed you to
stand up to photograph animals |
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The grill of each Land Cruiser was fitted with a folding table. On
safari, the tables were used to serve coffee and tea during morning
breaks, and wine and beer during evening "sun-setter" happy hours |
The
romance of the rails! Historic trains
have the ability to move you not only forward but also backwards in time. The Durango
to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in Colorado places you squarely in the golden
era of cowboys and the westward expansion in search of silver. West Virginia
offers a number of historic trains including the Cass Scenic Railroad that
transport you back to the height of the mining era. In Wales, the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland
Railway takes you into the middle of coal and shale beds. Ride the Amtrak Southwest Chief from Kansas City to Albuquerque for magnificent vistas of plains and deserts from the dome
cars. The Alaska Railroad trains that
ply the route from Anchorage to Seward cater to visitors. This is the only
train we've been on that stopped and backed up to make sure all the tourists
got to see the black bears forging in a meadow alongside the tracks.
Once in a lifetime, you get to experience
what we've termed a "Cusco moment." On a trip to Peru, we descended through the
Andes Mountains from Machu Picchu to Cusco, on a night with a full moon. As we rounded a mountain on one of the
many switch-backs on the descent, we were exactly at the height of the rising
moon, and our first glimpse of it was right outside the window of our coach -
close enough, it seemed, to reach out and touch it. Everybody on the train was in awe, and,
literally, a hush fell over the entire train car at the magnificence of the
moment. Even though we weren't able to get our cameras out quickly enough to capture it, it was one of those fleeting moments that stays with you forever.
Still on our bucket list is the
Orient Express and the Trans-Siberian Railway, but we have savored a wonderful variety of train experiences.
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The Alaska Railroad, running south from Anchorage to Seward, along
Turnabout Bay. Because the railroad still has a lot of manual track
switches, trains are limited to a maximum speed of 49 MPH |
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Yvonne's parents, Tracy and Dorothy, joined us for an afternoon
train ride aboard the St Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway
in Jackson, MO in 2015 |
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We spent a fun Sunday afternoon in May 2015 riding the historic
Durbin & Greenbriar Valley Railroad in the mountains near Elkins, WV |
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The Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway has been operating since 1889
climbing over 14,000 feet from the town of Manitou Springs to the top
of Pike's Peak, at times on grades of over 16%. We last rode it in 2015 |
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Also opened in 1889 was the Phillips-Sprague Coal Mine in Beckley, WV.
Now known as the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine, it is open to the public
for tours. We took the tour and rode the mine train in May 2015. |
One may
not think of aerial trams as "traveling", but gently swaying in a
gondola from a cable hundreds of feet above the landscape certainly offers
unique vantage points. Whether it is at
Mt. Titlis (yes, we did buy the T-shirt) in Switzerland or Caracas, Venezuela
or Dalat, Vietnam, or Sandia Peak in Albuquerque or the Royal Gorge in
Colorado, tramways are always an adventure.
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We rode the tram up Sandia Peak while attending the
Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in 2012. Warm and sunny
at the base, it was cold and windy on top of the mountain |
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We rode this tram in Vietnam in 2011. It carried us from the
lovely French-influenced city of Dalat to a beautiful Buddhist
Temple and Monastery high in the mountains |
The
romantic image of Rick (Humphrey Bogart) saying goodbye to Ilsa (Ingrid
Bergman) as she boards the midnight flight from Casablanca has been replaced by
long lines culminating in a TSA screening. There are still a few exceptions, and nothing
says "adventure" like carrying your own suitcase across the tarmac
and walking up the outside staircase to board your flight. We've experienced the thrill and adventure that
a jet-way just can't offer, in places around the globe.
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Our plane waits at the end of a dirt runway in the Okavongo Delta
of Botswana in 2014. We had flown in from Zambia, and spent
three days in a tented camp in the Delta. |
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Boarding the plane to leave the Delta. Most of the pilots were R.A.F. fliers
who had left the service. They all appeared to be in their mid-twenties |
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Flying from Livingstone, Zambia to Lufupa Tented Camp in Kafue
National Park, Zambia. Once airborne, the pilot let Mike take the
controls for most of the 2 1/2 hour flight |
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Arriving at Kafue National Park, we had a welcoming party...a herd of elephants
ambling across the dirt landing strip. Two Land Cruisers from the tented
camp, that had come to pick us up, had to move them off so we could land. |
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After unloading our gear, our pilot got a five-gallon "jerry can" of
gas out of a shack at the end of the airstrip and stood on top of the
wing of his plane to re-fuel it for his flight back to Livingstone |
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A group, including Yvonne, preparing to lift off just as
dawn was breaking, to fly over the Pushkar Camel Fair
in India in 2010 |
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Mike was in one of two balloons that lifted off in the pre-dawn
darkness for a spectacular dawn flight over the Maasai Mara National
Reserve in Kenya in 2008. He took this picture of the other balloon |
Stories of
the sea and of some of the greatest rivers of the world will be the topic of a
future edition of our blog.
"Travel" can encompass a variety of situations and invoke a
number of emotions. But where
"travel" and "adventure" intersect, that's where you'll
find your best Road Stories.
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You never forget your first love or your first car...
and guess which one I still have. 1979 MGB in
Inca Yellow, parked at my Mom and Dad's farm |
