Oh, the places I've been........

I thought that since by God's grace I have survived perhaps the most grueling week of my young life, I would recount all of the places I have been and the wierd things I did there....... Ready!

Hmmmm, let's start with the Estados Unidos. I've spent more than 2 weeks in, Texas, Taxachussets, Ohio, California, Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C., South Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, and more than 1 week in Florida, New York and Oregon.

South America - Sorry folks; only Mexico. Cozumel, Laredo, Tijuana, Monterey and some little town I can't even remember the name of where someone kept shutting off the power to my roach-a-rama room in the middle of the night and I would have to get up and go turn it back on.

Europe - Germany (My fave!) I lived in Munich and can proudly say that I only got in a little bit of trouble there, but my roommate did end up naked in our living room one night and we never learned how he got home from the Octoberfest! (we never found his clothes either!)
I got a ticket for making too much noise!

Bremerhaven - awesome museums! A wonderful lady kept her restaurant open late just for me. (I think she wanted me to marry her daughter who was, shall we say, aesthetically challenged).

Darmstadt - great schnitzel.

Heidelberg - my favorite city in the world, best wine fest on earth. The castle rocks and we should be ashamed for bombing it during world war II.

England - London. Nothing wierd to eat in either of these two places. The queen has some styish digs, but what's up with the tax on driving?

Spain - Yummy pizza! Majorca, Madrid and Rota.

Italy - Crummy pizza! Sigonella.

Greece - Athens. Pizza from goat cheese! I still can't figure out why Turks and Greeks hate each other over stupid little island with nothing on it.

Asia - Turkey. Lived for almost 2 years here. Ate lots of wierd stuff but wierdest was tripe soup which would clean out your insides faster than George Michael can pass out.
In Turkey:

Istanbul - almost everywhere, including an infamous "international" incident which almost got me thrown out of the country. Never visit the Champs Elysees if it still exists. McDonald's burgers made from lamb - yummy!

Ankara - NOT 'Amkara".

Sinop - good carpets, great bira and wonderful people. Melia Kesim hotel rocks. Watch out for the Raki!

Trabzon, Samsun. Erzerum.

Outside Turkey:
Dubai - best airport anywhere, bar none. They rock!!!! Good coffee

Pakistan - Karachi. Wonderful people, I hope we can help them fix their water!!!

Arctic circle! Yep! Warmer than San Angelo Texas in winter!

How about that! 13 states and 9 countries. Not bad for someone from Toledo.

Wierdest things eaten: Goat Masala (goat brains stewed in curry sauce). Tripe soup (tripe is the guts of a sheep). Termites. (don't ask).

Scariest adventures:

Istanbul, where I was almost murdered.

Some village in western Turkey where I woke up in a field surrounded by massive water buffalo and thought I was going to be trampled to death.

California, where someone bet me that he couldn't make his motorcycle go from 0 to 100 between 2 stop lights with me on the back - he won.

Sinop, where a Turkish soldier pointed his rifle at my head and threatened to shoot me.

California, where I was arrested for public intoxication.

Coolest adventures:

Understanding for the first time that Jesus actually died for me personally.

The monastary at Trabzon where I looked down through the clouds on the village and ate cheese and drank wine. Then I got to check out the graffiti which spanned 8 centuries!

Fishing in the black sea. I got to fish the way the Apostles fished in the first century. We fished at night and waited for a cloud of silver fish to appear beneath the moon. Then we rowed like mad to encircle the fish and then started pulling in the nets until the fish started spilling over the gunwale of the boat.

Scube diving with my wife in Cozumel. Because the asian dude who went with us didn't have any weight and tried to dive holding onto a rock. I'll never forget this guy popping out of the water like a cork every time he dropped the rock!

Flying in a glider. Can't be beat.


This is what happens after a week like I've had!!!!!!