12/05 Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia

Our train ended in Karajevo where we were left to wait for a bus.  There was nowhere to hide from the cold so we all had to move around a lot and it seemed like the bus was ever going to show.  We had scattered moments of sleep, moving here, moving there, trying to forget how cold it was.  That was one bad night.  The bus eventually showed up late and wasn’t scheduled to enter Dubrovnik until around breakfast.  I just dazed out looking past my reflection at blackness that was the sea passing by in a blur.   …

09/01 Valencia, Spain

I woke early to the jingling and jangling of the vendors setting up the local market and was up and out in minutes following the caravan of wagons and carts down through the streets to the market.  The strategy was the same, I looked for food and if I could obtain it for free, all the better.  As long as we both got what we wanted out of the conversation, I could play the game.  “You picked them all by hand did ya? Your fingers are too big.  I think this one has been bruised.  …

06/12 Liverpool, England

We were on the road for about an hour after sunrise.   I was passing a small automobile with what looked to be three construction workers on their way to work.  As I sped up to pass them, I caught some of the loose gravel and slid sideways into them.  I’d say we at least traded paint but when I slowed down to deal with the situation they kept on driving.  …

05/30 Stonehenge, England

Like a string of pearls, one complaint began to lead into another.  One minute it’s the weather, next minute it’s the price of food, carrying too much shit and then it was his feet.  “I’m not walking any further, maybe I’ll just fly home”, confronted Jim.  I reminded him that I was not his mother and if he thought I wanted to hear this shit, he had bigger problems than just his feet.  “Nobody’s putting a gun to your head and you don’t need my permission to make choices”.  I explained that I was not budgeted for repeating every other step and had a plan of what I wanted to see and experience and sometimes those things aren’t at the end of a train line.  “I’m committed to go forward and if you find it in your best interest to detour, I’m more than willing to meet you anywhere else on the map”.  “There’s no rule that says we have to do everything together”.  I provided an example of picking up women.  “I expect this to happen along the way and when we reach that fork in the road I’m sure you’re not going to be wanting me hanging around as a third wheel or vice versa.  We’ll just meet up someplace down the road”.  I tried to be a good person and attempt to avoid confrontations but traveling together has a tendency to bring these things to the surface.  Conflicts start and end with words.

Surely I dreamt today, or did I see. I wandered in this forest thoughtlessly
the clever boy that I once knew; with pebbles white and bread crumbs too
left no trail and lost my way, where all my pictures were thrown away

Through the forest, in the middle of a glade, forever nagging to persuade
no plank or bridge was placed in sight, only fists clinched as if to fight
the wind, the wind has caused me harm; you pulled too many false alarms.

10/26 Athens, Greece

One irony in my life is that I had very few women friends.  Most relationships with women were always aimed toward romance and when that didn’t work out or when we experienced an obstacle that couldn’t be overcome, we’d move on.  Mostly I have had male friends, sharing common experience and growing up like all normal boys.  But I’ll have to admit, women make pretty good friends.  Once that it is understood that not everything is sexual, we get along wonderfully.  They make much better traveling companions, easier to agree with, better conversationalists, not as competitive, better sleeping arrangements; they attract a different type of crowd, and if there were benefits attached all the better.   …

08/11 Innsbruck, Austria

We were up early, followed advice we received during the last night socializing and joined the “Club Innsbruck” for a day hike.  A young Belgium woman had crossed our path searching for the same location.  It was early in the morning and we were the first to arrive, so there was nobody gathered outside to identify if we had found our destination.  She seemed very nice but didn’t say much.  It was apparent she was very shy.  They began handing out daypacks and boots if needed.  …

05/23 Londond, England

Over these last few days, I don’t think there has been a single street or ally way we didn’t accustom ourselves to.  Most pubs we stopped in for a pint, maybe even two.  About midday I ended up lying out in the middle of Hyde Park, looking up through the trees, day dreaming under the blue sky.  It was another gorgeous day.  …

06/21 Northern Ireland

It was raining a bit and we had a couple of open containers.  The roads were narrow with no extra space to speak about.   I knew if we got stuck behind another logging truck we could be here for weeks.  Once we managed to pass a couple of these trucks we began to make up for some lost time.  Jim began complaining that his bladder couldn’t take much more of this abuse but before I was willing to pull over, I wanted to put enough distance between ourselves and the logging trucks.  …

06/24 Paris, France

It was a relief to be back on a dry train.  When we reached Paris we found it almost impossible to find ourselves a friendly word from the locals.  It was like the Parisians were trained at youth to be rude to foreigners.  Their rudeness came so easily it must have been a mandatory subject in their schools.  …

06/28 Bodo, Norway

I picked up a pair of apples and a few candy bars for the trek, while Jim checked the train schedules.  “Track four, ready to go” said Jim.  After a minute or two with no train, it dawned on me that Jim most likely misread the schedules and picked the wrong platform.  I retrieved the schedule from Jim’s bag, “I’ll hold the bags, you go check platform six” I bluntly stated.  In the tunnel between the platforms I could hear Jim’s echo, “Its going!!”  …

09/23 Mont Saint Michel, France

At the breakfast table there were rumors of another train strike, so about six of us headed out early to attempt to board the last train prior to any stoppage.  Our destination was Mont-St-Michel.  When the island first came within view I stood there for some time and gazed at its glory.  It had more a look of a cover to a picture book than something actually real, a castle right out of some fairytale.  There were endless fields of mud waiting for the imprint of somebody’s foot. …

09/02 Barcelona Spain

After a morning cup of coffee I took a direct route to the train station and boarded the first train heading towards Barcelona.  I didn’t offer Jim a single word.  He either followed or went his own way and at that point I wasn’t going to give it too much consideration.  I wasn’t interest in continuing the conversation from the night before so sat in my own compartment.  About a quarter of the way to Barcelona a group of travelers from North Africa joined in and donated some hash for the ride.  …

07/03 Amsterdam, Netherlands

There were no hedges, nor fences, in the bare and uniform countryside leading into the Netherlands.  We were heading back into the crossroads of traffic back into the circus they had named Amsterdam.  I could see no natural boundaries that separated the courtyard from the jester.  …

10/06 Pisa, Italy

I was told of a nice beach just outside of Pisa so I snuck in an early shower again and took an early train out.  Tuscany provided an enchanting landscape painted in pastels.  I followed the tourists to the tower in Pisa, gave my two cents and climbed to the top.  With all those people hanging all over it I was surprised it hadn’t fallen and decided to head down before it did.  After strolling through the Duomo and viewing Ramous’s doors I wandered across the river to get a feel for the countryside and sat along the side of the bridge thinking.  Truth, like art is sometimes in the eye of the beholder.   …