Tag Archives: Zippy

Zippy: 40,000th mile.
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Give or take 100 miles, Zippy has carried us 40,000 miles around the world. He was allowed his wish, and said he wanted to play in Saigon traffic. We gave him his wish. Claire is amazed at how many near misses Zippy had; she could fee the heat from the motorcycle mufflers. Imagine what this would be like if all these motorcycles were cars! I would have liked to have been here when they were all bicycles. Well, on second thought, maybe not.

We could have never dreamed of this day when we rode away from our home in Dungeness, Washington. We are thankful for the adventures, the new friends, and the direction our lives have taken. It is amazingly appropriate that we reached this milepost in the city where Claire was born, 45 years ago.

We have a date with the mighty Mekong tomorrow. We first saw the muddy waters of the Mekong in Yunnan province China, still high in the mountains. It will be a very different river in the delta as it nears the sea. Read the rest of this article…

Lucky’s Blog: “Close Call, I Was Scared!”
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Claire and Bob Rogers got lost in the jungle in Laos, and Lucky, their stuffed panda got scared. They wer in an area not yet cleared of anti-personnel ordinance from the Vietnam War. This time they almost went too far with this adventure stuff.

The first day they got lost. It was really hot. Some nice villagers took them to the head man and he said they could stay. We slept under our mosquito net. They ate some funny food. The village stayed up late watching Bob and Claire. They even watched them brush teeth. The head man said they’d not seen foreginers before. Probably because other foreigners are not stupid to get lost in the jungle on a bicycle!

The second day the village men told us how to get un-lost. But they had never been far from their village, so they were wrong. We were lost all day. They had to push Zippy in the mud and through stickers. We didn’t see any snakes. There were mosquitoes and deep water. They fell lots, and it hurts my fluff head when we fall! Bob makes loud words when we fall. Zippy is hurt, but he can still go.
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Lucky Visits the Plain of Jars
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There were all these big things made out of rock in Laos on the Plain of Jars. I got to look at the jars and saw myself in the water. Lorenz and Alex from Germany laughed. The other two nice people from England were Will and Jo. They introduced me to Eeyore. He is in a famous book called Winnie the Pooh, who is a bear. Eeyore is not a bear. He is a donkey. He is the nice people’s traveling companion. Just like me! We had a visit about our travels. He has his own web page. He doesn’t have to share one with his people, like I do. Read the rest of this article…

Zippy Draws A Crowd
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Chinese do not like to be photographed as a part of a crowd, and yet they always like to be a part of a crowd. I wonder if it has to do with how much they are under surveillance, or think they are? Read the rest of this article…

Meeting the Yangtze
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We saw the Yangtze overwhelm our aquamarine river, with a hard line of flood brown. With the load of sediment being carried by the Yangtze, here in the mountains with little agricultural land to contribute to the load, I wonder how long the impoundments behind the Three Gorges Dam, will last before filling up the impoundment? About a week ago we were within 100 kilometers of the true headwaters, much higher in the Himalayas.

We were in a spectacular gorge all day. This is a land of precipitous mountains, still thousands of meters high, and rushing rivers cutting deeply, quickly. We expect to see the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge in a few days, but I can’t imagine it being more spectacular than the ones we have already seen. Read the rest of this article…

A New High: A Layered Meaning
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Stupa at first pass into Tibetan lands

Creating challenges for ourselves, and facing them together strengthens the bond of our marriage. Couples often allow the romance fade as the years progress. It’s easy to become immersed in career, children, differing interests and circles of friends, and put the partner in a secondary position. We said some vows nearly twenty years ago, and our habit of creating challenges for ourselves, and meeting them as a team, has helped us keep those vows, and kept the romance alive. We may seem crazy, but the rewards of our mutual struggles are great. Read the rest of this article…

First Pass, Chinese Cycling Friends, and a Long Tunnel
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We caught them 1,000 vertical meters later at the entrance to the summit tunnel to great exclamations of pleasure and another round of picture taking, with Zippy at the center. There were police and army personnel all over the place, protecting the tunnel no doubt, and we had to show our passports to be allowed through the tunnel.

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