June '06 Newsletter
June '06 Newsletter |
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While many of you already heard about our trip tribulations while traveling in Turkey, some may not have. In a nutshell, our trip was cut short by more than a month and we had to cancel our planned group adventure. Bob had been having elevated blood pressure problems early in the year and had just started taking a diuretic before we left for Istanbul. It seems that combined with the long flight, possible electrolyte depletion, the difference in time zones, and pre-trip organizing stress, a soaring blood pressure and cardiac irregularity episode began that he couldn't seem to get under control. After fighting it for 4-5 days and after considering the financial and medical risks of being hospitalized in Turkey, we admitted to ourselves that no trip is worth the possibility of fatal consequences and made our way home as quickly as possible.
Three of our group were already in Turkey for the eclipse and chose to stay. Two more couples were within days of flying over and decided to go anyway. These three groups toured separately and all had wonderful adventures. Our other six traveling companions changed their plans. We had planned to meet Susan's niece Heidi and her friend Marty after our group trip. After communicating our problem to them, they went ahead with their plans anyway. At the Sebnem, our Istanbul hotel, they met the Hildners for tea, as they were about to leave for the airport. Heidi is still working in Amsterdam and we are hoping to visit her there before she goes to a new post.
Back on the home front, we rushed Bob to Urgent Care, followed a couple of days later by visits with his regular physician, and a couple of weeks later a respected Phoenix cardiologist. During this time we discovered just how difficult it is to get immediate care in our medical system. If a major health problem ever comes up in your life, head for a hospital. That is the only place you can be assured of immediate specialist care. Anyway, he has now had all of the heart stress tests and it appears he did not have a major cardiac event. His irregular heartbeats have been put on a watch basis with the cardio guy recommending a six month follow up visit, or sooner if things go awry again. He was directed to lower his stress level, continue on the diuretic with an added anti-anxiety prescription, and reduce his blood pressure by working on lifestyle changes. He immediately quit the Black Canyon City water board, a seemingly thankless position which endlessly involves board members and management in local political strife. He also dropped 20 pounds within a month of our return, which helps keep everything in the normal range. Susan is threatening to trade him in for a fatter model if his weight dips below hers.
Back in plenty of time for the Lions Club 21st Annual White Cane Parade, Susan recruited two new clowns to join her little bunch. Three clowns came up from Sun City West to join in the fun. Susan drove our Quad and pulled a trailer with 6 other clowns jumping on and off to interact with the crowd. The other three BCC clowns - a catcher, batter, and pitcher - played water balloon baseball, which was even more hilarious than intended. A local retired man made the troupe a colorful bat with holes in it. The first pitch blasted the batter in the ear and got the judges chuckling. Our act won the first place trophy in the performing category. Not bad for a bunch of clowns! Two more local ladies are interested in joining us for the November Veterans Day Parade. Once we are back from our summer travels, Susan plans to meet with them to help them get outfitted. She is excited about the possibility of starting a clown club in our little town. After the parade some of the clowns and more of our friends and neighbors joined us for a potluck at the house. All had a good time.
Meals-on-Wheels continues to keep Susan busy about one day a week. She likes to drop in there for coffee and chit-chat even when they don't need any help. She still drives down to south Phoenix to volunteer at the church a couple of days a month. She joined our local organization, the High Desert Helpers, and has helped with a couple of their fund raisers. We both went to the local cemetery the week before Memorial Day to help with a clean up. Over 50 folks showed up and had quite an impact.
Bob has been working with his new Canon Digital Rebel camera and decorating our walls with more fabulous photos from our recent trips. He has been working with friends on a couple of phase II group applications for Grand Canyon 2007 and 2008 permits under the new waitlist replacement system. We'll see how that goes. A few months back, we replaced our weight bench with a more complete home gym. Both of us have been working out on it trying to get, and stay, in shape. It was a little easier to motivate back when the temperature was less than 100 degrees. The forecast for today is 113 and it is cloudy and humid. A friend of our used to take Bikram yoga classes, in a hundred and five degree room; he called the course Nazi Yoga. We just finished a mid-day, one-hour, 100-degree plus workout on our back deck and during the summer months this is definitely going to qualify as Nazi Weight Lifting.
In a few weeks we will celebrate Bob's mother's 90th birthday. Most years we have been out of town so we made a point to be here this year. She continues to thrive in her care center, a group home with 10 residents. We will head for Canada the following day to get organized for our Canadian Rockies trip. August will find us in Minnesota visiting Susan's family and canoeing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. We have a new Dell laptop computer ($499.00 plus tax with DVD burner, fifteen inch screen, and a one year warranty, very cheap). With free WiFi networks springing up in libraries all around the country, we will be checking email every few days, so keep in touch!
Next day we flew to Antalya on the Mediterranean coast, where we had arranged a shuttle through our hotel. Lovely flight with window seats on a clear day, so we saw the lay of the land and abundant snow on peaks right down to the Mediterranean coast in late March. Side is on a peninsula which was occupied since pre-Christian times, but abandoned in the 1400s; it started to be reoccupied, by fishermen, only in the mid-1800s. Thus, the square miles of ruins are incorporated as the walls of current structures, and there is but one gate in the city wall across the back of the peninsula, through which all traffic, vehicular and pedestrian, must pass. Next day, the total solar eclipse brought a lot of people to town, all in great good spirits, some charmingly weird. Beautiful weather to watch the eclipse, 40 feet from the ocean, after the orchestra under the arches of the Temple of Apollo quit playing at about 50% of totality. Side is small and thoroughly charming; almost no Americans, though Brits and Germans visit in droves in high season. Vehicles are allowed in the town only for a few hours a day, which makes strolling very pleasant. Lots of publicly accessible ruins outside the wall left just as they are, and the amphitheater which once held 75,000 seats still holds 25,000 for events.
We were three. Ann Hipp, a friend from Hawaii, had come with us early, before the Marley-Groth trip, to see the eclipse. Having arranged a tour with guide and driver and extra space in the mini-van, we invited Andrew Hildner, now between jobs, to join us for the remainder of our time in Turkey. He majored in Roman history in college, and we thought the west coast ruins would appeal. He did, too. He managed to get a ticket and, with about 24 hours to get packed, arrived at our hotel in Istanbul about 36 hours before we boarded the mini-van and headed out of town. Although Bob and Lynn Kerry and another couple planning to do the Marley-Groth trip came to Turkey anyway, communication was such that they had set up their own arrangements by the time we solidified our tour, and they declined to join us. So we set off in a Mercedes-Benz mini-van for 12 clients, just the four of us, the (excellent) driver, and the guide, who turned out to be charming, knowledgeable, and athletic (we chased her to the top of more than one ruin and frequently across the fields to see another temple!). It was nice to have extra seats on which to spread our coats, backpacks, hats, guidebooks, etc., and we got the guide to sit in the back amongst us, rather than sit in the front seat by the driver and use the microphone to tell us what we were seeing.
Next day we visited the amphitheater built into the hillside above town, had tea at a little fishing village, had a picnic lunch overlooking a large unexcavated site (the supermarket where we bought the picnic supplies had a (real) Byzantine tomb in the back corner between the dairy and bakery sections), visited the impressive Fortress of St Peter built by the Knights of St George which commands the fine natural harbor and houses the Underwater Archeology Museum (astonishingly delicate glass jars and unguent containers retrieved from 3000 year old wrecks!), and visited the ruins of the monumental edifice erected by his wife to house the remains of King Mausolus. (Thus, the word "mausoleum", and the second of the Seven Wonders in Turkey. Our guide noted that the only country possessing more than one of the Seven Wonders is Turkey.)
You don't want to drive in Turkey. Might (size) makes right, the well-painted lane markers are treated as the merest of suggestions, and stop signs represent the beginnings of negotiations (sometimes at pretty high speed) with drivers in the other streets of the intersection. And gas costs $10 or $11/gallon. Not so scary as Italy, but scary enough, and there are just enough signs to make you think it's your fault when you miss the turn/intersection you needed. That is, no signs of upcoming exit ramps or intersections, just the sign at the point of execution. Our professional driver got lost/mispointed several times, and there sure isn't any help for those trying to rectify a screw-up. Denizens get along by rolling down the window and asking for directions, which are always given with good humor. Not an option for non Turkish speakers. In town, cars, mini-vans, and busses will happily enter a two-way street barely wide enough for one and then negotiate when a vehicle is encountered coming the opposite direction. The drivers are wizards at backing up in tight quarters, thank goodness. Often, in the mini-van or taxis, we just shut our eyes, pretended not to notice the situation, and thanked the good Lord we weren't driving.
On Sunday, 7 drivers shuttled vehicles to the take-out point while the rest of us set to work putting the boats together. This task was aided immensely by Bob K's battery-powered air pump. No more inflating of boats by hand! By lunchtime, most of the non-drivers were ready for a hike, so six of us set out for a spot on the map called "Point Lookout". It was about 800 feet above river level and afforded a grand view of the first section of the canyon that we would be entering by boat the next day.
The next day's plan called for over 20 river miles. Warm weather prevailed as we bounced through several named and unnamed rapids (Tepee, Little Joe, Five Springs, Big Joe). Mary did the whole run in the IK. Dave tried his hand at the oars of Mike's boat and was reminded about how a big rock can attract a boat right onto itself, even when it's the only rock on the river and the boatman is trying to row away from it. But "HFA" as they say (Had Fun Anyway). A relatively swift current brought us to camp (Harding Hole #1, mile 20) by lunchtime. Hiking opportunities were available in the afternoon, and Cynthia managed to run out to the road and back in time for the Shepherd's pie dinner. Then it was early-to-bed for just about everyone.
The rain let up when we reached our camp at Box Elder #3 (mile 2), which had a beautiful beach. Camp was set up and things stayed dry through happy hour and dinner, but the wind kicked up at dessert time, followed by some heavier rain. Everyone ran for the tents - no party tonight! Fortunately, the rain let up before too long, and a nifty little waterfall was visible to the couple of us who ventured out of the tents at dusk.
By morning, it was clear, and early sunshine allowed us to dry out the gear again. Our last day on the river started with a run through Whirlpool Canyon and then into the wide meanders of Island Park. This took a lot of rowing, with everyone taking turns at the oars. The Rainbow Park boat ramp made a convenient lunch stop, complete with a real outhouse and picnic tables. No more groovers for this group. In the afternoon, we floated through a lot of fun little rapids in Split Mountain Canyon, and took time to look at two different groups of bighorn sheep. Naturally, more photographs were taken. In the mid-afternoon, we reached the Split Mountain boat launch and campground, where our vehicles and a group campsite awaited us. We were able to do the de-rigging at a somewhat relaxed pace since no one had to drive anywhere that afternoon. We only had to gather at camp for the last supper. Yours truly was spotted making entries into a journal, and was quickly tapped to produce the trip report [an excellent one by the way - editor].
Off early to town on Monday morning, we got the laundry spinning, picked up a Deso Gray cancellation permit, did a bit of shopping, visited their library to catch up on email, and wandered through the excellent natural history museum before leaving for the put-in. A captivating photo exhibit of Navajo Reservation life hung at the museum. Comparison B&W photos of individuals from now and 20 years or so ago were inset into color pictures of the mesa country where they lived. After that we took the teeth jarring Myton Road to Sand Wash through gas and oil fields, eventually finding a high campsite a few miles from the put-in where we were hoping to escape the mosquitoes. It was not to be. We sorted our gear and had dinner before they attacked, but attack they did. They buzzed Susan's head all night long and she awoke in her alter persona, Welt Woman.
Morning dawned clear and still so we packed up quickly and were on our way. About a mile downstream we discovered that we were no longer in possession of our brand new guidebook, which had blown into the bushes during the night. We pulled over and Bob braved his way through a dank swamp to make a recovery from the camp we had just left. The sky was overcast and it looked like rain so when we stopped at Rock Creek we just filled our water jugs and didn't hike. There were a lot of groups there, so we continued on to another excellent, large camp just above Chandler Falls. Though we saw many groups on the river, it didn't seem like there was any problem finding good campsites.
An early start took us past Swaseys before most of the campers were up and about. We scared up a number of Canadian geese including some goslings that could not yet fly. We herded them downriver ahead of us and are hoping they were able to regroup after we passed by. Running Tusher Dam was a piece of cake. We slid down the far right side as we have done in the past on high water. We pulled in to Green River State Park well before noon and started phoning around trying to arrange a shuttle back to our truck. Since it was Sunday and Fathers' Day, the pay phone Susan was using ate up a lot of quarters trying to reach shuttle people. We eventually set up a pick up with 
We must receive your deposit and a completed Q/AR form, for you to be considered for inclusion on one of our trips. If a trip is popular enough to require a waitlist, we will use five criteria to determine who goes. Initial preference will be given to those who have a current mailing application on file, have paid any required trip deposit, and have promptly returned the necessary Q/AR. If this isn't sufficient, we then compare trip deposit dates and lastly Q/AR postmark dates.
