Brace yourself, I finally went out and got a scanner.

So now I can post a shit load of cool pictures from to old days, when I traveled a lot with that old black, easy to tote, slip in yer pocket and forget, Olympus stylus. Damn, I loved that camera.

First, here's a cool old shot of a Deer camp in Texas the 1920s.



My great grandfather is in this shot somewhere, maybe the guy that's looking at the camera, behind the guy that's directly in line with the tree trunk on the left. Dig those leggings on the guy in front. Cool! Also note the two Black guys brought along to do all the cooking and cleaning, and skinning the deer. Obviously, a different time. Someone was lynched about every 2 1/2 days in America in the 1920s, making sure that White privilege like this was maintained. The history teacher in me can't help but see this in the picture, but the outdoorsman in me loves the shot for the feelings of camaraderie that are evident. Different times, but some things don't change. The woods still bring my buddies together for great times.

Remember the post a while back about the trip to Europe in 1970? Well....



Here's a few shots of the tour to Pompeii. This place blew my mind. An actual Roman city, buried by a volcano 2000 years ago, and then uncovered so that it's secrets could be revealed.



And here are a few pictures from 1990, when I got back to Pompeii on the first teaching gig with the navy.



I was on the USS Thorn, a destroyer parked in the bay of Naples. I only had 4 1/2 weeks to teach a semester, so I had to teach every day but Sunday. The first Sunday that came along, I became a tour guide, taking my room mates to see the stuff I remembered from before.



Here's the shot of me, standing in front of the statue I talked about in that other post. I'd seen this statue of an archer, I think Diana, when I was a kid. It was quite cool to find it again. Later, on another Sunday, I took them to the other famous city buried by Vesuvius in 79AD, called Herculaneum.



Here's a shot of me standing on the road going down into the part of the city that is exposed. If you get a chance to go, Herculaneum, which is under the modern city of Herculano, is much easier to see than Pompeii. It's much smaller, and you can easily see it all in an afternoon.

One of the last tours we did on that trip was to Rome for a huge audience with the Pope, John Pail 2. He spoke for an hour or so, and then walked up and down the isles to let people get close to him. I got close enough to take this shot.



I always liked this guy. He and Reagan and Thatcher were the team that drove the Soviet Union into the dirt, and ended the repression in Eastern Europe. The Wall had only fallen 6 months earlier, so it was a heady time. After the audience, we walked over through the Forum, and over to the Colosseum, only to find it closed (always closed on Wednesdays).



I found out later that if you wanted to get in to the Colosseum, you had to take the regular tour to Rome. It takes you everywhere for 10 minutes, and then leaves you off in the Forum, so you can walk through it and then visit the Colosseum. I remembered that on later trips, and acted as a tour guide for the guys on those occasions. Love the hell out of this place. Really thrills me to be there. I've been very lucky to get to go back so many times.

After I got back from that first trip, in the spring of 1990, I went on a canoe trip to the Buffalo National River. Here's a shot from that trip of me runnin' one of the best stretches of rapids on that river, affectionately called Hells Half Acre.



That's me in the back, steerin'. Thing is, the water was so high that spring, the rocks were mostly covered up. In earlier years, and with lower water levels, the current would have been taking us into the rock that the guy was standing on to take this picture. I used to have dreams about that rock. Nightmares. Very scary when I was just starting out. By this time I was a pro, and this kid had begged me to let him sit in my front seat, knowing that I knew what I was doing and probably wouldn't get him wet. I'm still pretty good at keepin' folks dry, but shit does happen. Huge fun. Beautiful days.

Here's a similar shot from about '93, taken in the same rapids, only with lower water, with the rocks exposed.



I think I'm sayin' somethin' like "Yeeeee Hawwww!" The rapids are caused by a few rock shelves that stretch across the river, like steps in a set of stairs. The river falls over them, and if the water isn't high enough, your ass will get stuck, turn sideways, and fill with water... and it's COLD water. Happened to me the very first time I floated the river. Was in an aluminium canoe, and it was raining. Can't think of a time that was more fun.

We got stuck and filled with water and had to drag the canoe to the bank and bail. Scared the piss out of me at the time, but I'd do anything to get a chance to go back and do it again. Nothing like the first time. The older guy in the front above was also supposed to stay dry on the trip, but it didn't work out for him. Later on we hit a tree trunk in the river head on. I stayed in the boat and kept it steady as we slid up on the trunk, but this guy lost his balance and slid ass over heals backwards into the water. When he came up out of the water and looked at me, still in my seat, I asked him "What the hell are you doin?" Good times.

After I went on another cruise, back to the Mediterranean, I came home and in October I went on a backpacking trip to Devil's Den state park in Arkansas.



Damn, I was skinny back then. Lots of time on a stair machine and navy food (not that that's a bad thing), and no snacking for month's at a time. I should go back to that diet.

Well, That's enough for now. More to come later. It's 330 and I have to get up to go to work at 630. Be seein' ya. Hope you enjoyed em.