FiddleheadTravels

I have more suggestions for saving money.

Walk to work or ride a bicycle or motorcycle.   (not just to work but the grocery store, the PO, bank, etc.)

Wear long underwear all winter long and turn the heat down.

Plant a garden and grow mostly vegetables (flowers are nice but my Thai wife taught me that you can’t eat them)

Save all the aluminum cans that your friends throw out, they are worth money.

Turn your water heater temperature down.   Make it so that using ONLY hot water is just right for you.  (and turn it on “Vacation” when you leave for more than a day)

I buy many of my clothes at thrift stores.  (I’m skinny and there are many choices for people with a 31 inch waist)  Plus it’s a good way to support a cause AND save some of the waste going on.

Have a yard sale. Learn to cook. (not with the microwave) Make gifts instead of buying them (chance are they’ll be more appreciated anyway) , be smart about your cell phone (and the bill), use the library, exercise more, turn off the lights when you leave the room.

Pack your own lunch.  That’s an easy no-brainer.  Sure it takes time but saves a bundle.   Also brew your own coffee in the morning rather than stopping at the convenience store to buy it.

Drink bottled water that you filled up from your tap at home.  No need in most of our communities to buy something that’s  no better than the almost free water out of your tap.   Paying $1.50+ for water is something I never could feel comfortable with.   I know that the airlines force you to buy it anymore. (i used to just dump mine out and refill it from a water cooler but they didn’t even let me do that last time.  No empty bottles either.  That Sucks!

I have a friend who goes grocery shopping only once a month now that gas prices are so high.   He stocks up on everything big time.  Make a list.  Know what you are going to buy and don’t buy on impulse.  Buy generics, use coupons, know where you shop and what’s on sale.

If you travel to Europe, check out Airhitch.  They’ve been around a long time and it works.
Also, look into becoming a courier for cheap flights.   I paid $400 round trip to Thailand from NYC.

Use your wood burner to heat your home if you have one.   IF not, think about putting one in if your zoning laws allow it.  (it helps to have a friend who owns some woods and lets me go cut some dead trees)

The biggest one of all: Don’t (no matter what!) use a credit card if you cannot afford to pay it off entirely when the bill comes.     If you can’t do it, cut them up, they’re not for you!

And the 2nd biggest: Use Google.  There’s so much free stuff out there including an education.   Just takes Google to find it.   You can shop for better insurance rates, CD rates, prices on long underwear, even heating oil.  The list is endless. (and easily done)

Change your lightbulbs to flourescent ones.   I’m all for anything to cut my dependency on oil, coal, fossil fuels in this day and age.    I noticed last Christmas that there seemed to be a contest going on as to “who could put the most lights on their house!”     Hey, it’s wasteful.   If you want to get into the Christmas spirit, make some cookies and pass them around to your neighbors.

Learn about your insurance coverage.  I once had a pair of skis stolen and my insurance company paid me $500 (I used the money to help payfor an airline ticket to Brazil,  and got another pair at the thrift store), also, if you need life insurance, buy “Term” and not “whole life”.

About 2 months ago, i posted a blog entry for: Tips for Driving your Car or Truck Check it out for more savings.

It’s not hard to do any of the above.   I’m thankful i was brought up learning to be frugal and have enjoyed my life living this way so far. 

Luckily i was in the Navy and got on the VA health care program.   So far, i only have used the free physical every year but it’s there if i need it.

The next few years should be a challenge for all of us, aye?     Simplify!

I don’t like that word “aliens”. I always think about something form outer space. Let’s call them illegal immigrants, aye? I’m talking about the people who come across the border from Mexico with hopes of finding some better paying jobs in the US.

I don’t know how much it happens. I do know that some of the work these people do is necessary and difficult. For example: picking fruit and vegetables and general farm labor, especially in hot climates. This is hard work but sometimes the only way to get things done is by hand and I know Americans don’t want to do it. Also, landscaping, food service (washing dishes, busboy, cooks), construction jobs in hot climates. This is not only tough work in hot climates but low paying jobs also. I worked on farms, it’s not easy and I don’t have the strong back that it requires anymore. Yet, i love to eat fruit and vegetables.

So, what are some things that can be done about the problem? Obviously, we can’t feed, hospitalize, educate, and/or transport these people who come here illegally as most of them do not even pay any taxes.

Here’s what the govt. of Thailand does about the Burmese laborers who come over here to work and send money home: (legal or non legal is the same rules)
Burmese cannot ride on a motorcycle or inside a truck or car (they get shuttled around by their employers in the back of a truck OR they walk)
Burmese cannot talk on or use a cell phone
Burmese cannot own land (neither can anyone who is not Thai)
Burmese are NOT allowed out after 8 PM (unless accompanied by their employer
Most of them live in makeshift shacks built from discarded building materials with NO running water or electricity. they rarely talk to anyone except when necessary

Of course, many compare this to slavery and perhaps rightly so. But they still come here in droves as it is still better than in their country.
I don’t know what the answers are, but education is a key one for sure.

I live in a different country than i was born in.  I live in Thailand where the government is making it harder and harder for us expats to stay here also.  Every year the hoops you have to jump through are higher and harder and there’s more of them.     They only want the rich expats and are making you tie up a lot of money in Thai banks at very little interest to enable you to stay.

So the problems are not only in America.   I hear the same from my Swedish friends, and the UK has too many immigrants also.

These are tough problems that once again I attribute to simply too many people on the planet. I think perhaps the Chinese idea of one child per couple is not a bad one, aye?
You can’t blame people for wanting to speak their own language. I was at a party with many nationalities last night and the Russian’s stayed in their own little group. WOW, they have some hot women! (of course me and my friends spoke English. The Thai’s had to also if they wanted to communicate with us and sell us their wares)

These problems are all over the world, not just in Florida or San Diego or Brownsville TX. Answers are not easy.

Rainman has just left for home and it is quiet enough to write a bit. Pink Floyd on softly, birds chirping outside, no plans till tonight when we go to the monkey temple and gambling.

It does feel good to be back in Nepal, a place that I fell in and out of love with so long ago. Now I see why I liked it and disliked it so much. Gelzen’s house was so warm and incredible last night with all of our such great friends in one place. And seeing Gelzen’s father and brother again after all these years. Friends like that are one in a lifetime. The Sherpa culture has impressed us all and reminded me of their goodness again. Seeing the kids playing so strong and no one yelling at them for their play. And Ice Cold Beer! Haven’t had that since Thailand. Gelzen showed us the new house he decided to build and started 3 months ago. It’s going to be beautiful and house 2 or 3 families. 3 bathrooms and kitchens. Wow.

So Nepal is going through a very rough time and it’s hard to get the truth. The newspapers seem full of lies and everyone you talk to their own story. We only really saw tons of soldiers on the move.

We missed the battle in Beni by 24 hours and would’ve probably been very very close to the town when things went down there. Conflicting reports have it that from 3 to 500 Maoists were killed and 157 Police and some 51 civilians but no tourists. Then we missed the shooting in Ulleri on our downhill end of our trek (last day) when 1-3 Maoists were captured and at least being held prisoner in a cave. Once again, I we saw was a division of Nepali Army dudes climbing up the steep steps that we just came down amid discussion on whether it was the steepest descent any of us had ever done. 6,000 feet of down in one day with the steepest part just after Ulleri where these guys in full camo had to go up in the heat of the day carrying weapons and gear.

But the hike really was excellent with great people and a great head sirdar; Kaji Pasang Sherpa, Gelzen’s best friend and a man I respected much from our last hike 4 years ago here in Nepal.

We also were lucky enough to have arrived just before the busy “2nd” season in Nepal, the spring season. Between that and with the war going on, we did one of the most popular treks in the world with a minimal amount of tourists out there with us. I say that even though there were about 40 people going over Tharong pass (the high point of the Annapurna Circuit at 17,599 feet) on the day we went over.

But a beautiful day it was with spectacular light hitting the tops of the peaks nearby when we were halfway up. The weather stayed great all day and I enjoyed some offtrail on my descent preparing myself of the planned climb up to Dhampus peak that I hoped to attempt in 3 or 4 days.

We stayed at the heavily talked about “Bob Marley Bar” in Muktinath on the other side and ate Mexican food for a pleasant change after all the Dal Baht we ate on the Bhuddist (eastern) side of the circuit. This is the main thing Nepali’s eat and is a simple meal of white rice, crushed and soupy lentils, curried potatoes with green vegetable, and pickled turnips. The locals eat this huge meal with their right hand, which we tried back in Kathmandu and found a bit too messy. But we did eat Dal Baht a lot on the 1st half of the trek. After the halfway point, I was a bit tired of it and strayed more towards the western food; pizza (a chapatti with ketchup and sometimes cheese), friend macaroni (like it sounds but with curry), veggie burgers (usually without any bun), French fries (excellent but again always with curry) etc. But the best food we all agreed on was the momo, which is a lot like pierogies but stuffed with veggies and curry and steamed.

The highlight of the 20 day trek for me was definitely when we met our other 2 Sherpas, Dorje and Lakpa who carried all kinds of heavy gear up to Marpha (5 days up to meet us) and then we left the heavily touristy “Annapurna Circuit” and climbed very steeply from 9,000 feet up to 14,000 at Yak Karka where we stayed 2 nights acclimating in our Himalayan style expedition tent and ate the Sherpa food they cooked for us.

What a beautiful spot Yak Karka is with the 4 peaks of Nilgiri always right there less than 2 miles away and 24,000 feet +. Then on our second full day up there, I started up about 7 AM with Kaji Pasang with a 2 man tent to our high camp at 17,000 feet at Dhampus pass. It was a rough night sleeping that high and I had headaches all night and had concerns that I wouldn’t be able to go higher. Kaji really took care of me and after a light breakfast of tea and a snickers bar, we started our climb to 20,000 ft. Dhampus Peak.

Four hours later, we reached the summit after some awesome knife edges full of snow with spectacular views in all directions. We were just across from Dhaulagiri which is one of the top 14 peaks in the world at 8,000 meters +. (over 27,000 feet) My lungs held up well at the altitude and the last 10 minutes actually felt easy as I was on a great natural high, finally reaching my goal of 20,000 feet to celebrate my 20,000 mile of backpacking. It’s very hard to explain the feeling up there and I must say that if I was still in my 30’s, I would be taking up mountaineering to feel that way again.

After the climb, the descent was easy and we made it back down to our high camp in 1 hour, had a big lunch, broke camp and headed back down to the others at Yak Karka, when we got there, we found out that they descended back to Marpha and although it was a very long day to that point, I was eager to tell them about my day and we descended all the way down to 9,000 feet and got to Marpha around 6 PM.

The rest of our trek was anything but uneventful as we were told we could not proceed to Beni as planned because there was a huge battle there in the ongoing war between the Maoists and the Nepali Army. We heard so many conflicting reports but it turns out that there were over 250 people killed and it was the biggest battle of the ongoing 5 year war. We missed it by 24 hours. So, we changed plans and headed up instead of down for a 6,000 foot climb in one day to Ghorepani.

Now this town looks back on many of the mountains we just walked past and one of the best views on the “official circuit” We were ready for town and the next day we headed all the way down to the end of the trek and got a taxi to Pokara, the 2nd biggest town in Nepal and one we liked so much with all of it’s western food, shopping, and a carpeted room with hot showers!

So that’s about it for the Nepal trek although there was so much more sightseeing and shopping back in Kathmandu including my being bitten by a monkey at the monkey temple there. Now I am back in Thailand with my girlfriend who says I smell too much like curry even though it’s been 3 days since Nepal.

ps. a video of this trip was completed in 2005 and is offered at: http://fiddleheadpa.safeshopper.com/50/cat50.htm?609

If you are planning a hiking trip to Nepal, this would be a very good introduction of the country, it’s history, culture, religion, and hiking opportunities and requirements. Good luck.

Beach Tour ‘99 (Our Adventure on the Pyrenees High Route)

The Pyrenees High Route extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea along the ‘Crest’ of the Pyrenees

June 23rd, 1999 Arriving in Paris after air hitching from JFK in New York City on a shoestring budget, my friend Pieps (Brian Piepergerdes) and I spent two days hitchhiking from Paris to Amsterdam to meet the third member of our hiking group, Puff (Jason Rhodes). After a few long waits between rides, we talked about buying a car, as we wanted to do as much as possible while in Europe. After rendezvousing with Puff, he agreed, so we set out to see if this was feasible and found out that Holland< (the Netherlands) is about as good a place as any for a foreigner to buy a car. So, we met two Moroccans, and they set us up with our BELLA! (1986 Ford Fiesta).

After five or six days (maybe it was seven, I don’t remember) in Amsterdam, one of my favorite cities, we set out to see the sites! We spent a week driving the coast of France and crossed the Pyrenees, for the first time. The Pyrenees are the mountains that separate France from Spain and also the homeland of the Basque people who are one of the oldest civilizations in Europe. The Basque language is an inflected language whose origin is still somewhat puzzling. The fact that it is not an Indo-European language, and shows no resemblance to languages in neighboring countries, has led to the formulation of a variety of hypotheses to explain its existence.

But we had a few things to do before we started our hike. We drove our “Bella” into Pamplona Spain during the San Fermin festival, also known as “The Running of the Bulls”, which starts on the 7th day of the 7th month at 7am and lasts 7 days. We saw the bulls run, and also saw about 1,000,000 people intoxicate themselves! After two days we headed back to France to a friend’s house near Biarritz and the western end of the Pyrenees (where they meet the Atlantic ocean).

In the touristy town of Hendaye, France we started our 39 day hike along the backbone of this beautiful mountain range. There are many trails in the Pyrenees, but the three we were most concerned with were: 1) the GR10, which is a trail paralleling the border but keeps to the French side, 2) the GR11, the GR10’s countertrail on the Spanish side, and 3) the High Pyrenees Route (HRP), which tries to follow the border, or frontier whenever possible.

We soon found out that there are many people in France who hike from hut to hut (as we call it in the White Mountains) or, Gite to Gite in French, with nothing more than a daypack.

Since we were attempting to hike as much as possible on the HRP, (which actually follows the GR10 for the first few days), this was a little too touristy for us, as the trail went into and through a town almost every day.

But the Basque people were great. Each town had a court similar to handball, that they call pelota. The advanced game is what we call Jai Alai and it was cool to see everyone playing this game, even little kids (one day we got in a game with some 10-12 year olds and they beat us pretty badly).

The Basque area of the Pyrenees are not as high as the central Pyrenees (2,000 meters vs. 3,000 meters) but are still very steep. The climbs along this whole hike were very steep.

I had hiked the Long Trail in Vermont to get prepared for this hike (one of the steeper trails in the US) but was still very surprised that the Pyrenees climbs and descents were even tougher.

Two times on the Pyrenees hike we went through our packs to lighten our load and send things home! We ended up sharing cameras, stoves, cook kits, and tent, mainly because the steepness of the trails.

The guide book told us that the Pyrenees block the rain coming down from the north, and sure enough, the first 15 days, while we were in France, it rained almost every day.

So after we were lost in the fog too many times, we headed to Spain for some dryer weather. There is less civilization on the Spanish side and also fewer resupply towns, so we continually had to go back to France for food.

Talking about food, one day on our hike, we came around a beautiful cirque and there was a rock shack in the calour (sp?). We hiked to the shack to find that 2 shepherds live there with their goats, sheep. pigs, chickens and, well, it was a regular farm up there in a very beautiful location.

We bought some goat cheese and it was some of the best cheese I have ever tasted.

In the central Pyrenees we headed to a one of the most beautiful parts of Spain called Ordessa Canyon!

The canyon starts near a small town called Torla, which ended up being our favorite trail town. Narrow streets carved out a small, quaint town, with a lovely pension (hostel) called “Albergue”.

Owned by two Frenchmen, who became our good friends, we stayed here two and a half days and I ended up playing guitar in the bar at night for drinks for all of us! Ordessa canyon and Torla were definite highlights for us even though they are not on the HRP but a side trip (recommended).

Continuing east we met one of the few thru hikers on this trail a few days later (we met about five people, besides ourselves, doing the whole Pyrenees). This French woman had skipped the Ordessa canyon and told us about the tough times she had trying to get through the fog along the border. She needed her ice ax (which we didn’t carry) and highly recommended we stay on the Spanish side for a few days.

Two days later, we had the steepest descent I’ve ever done; it was a 1600 meter (5,000 ft) descent in one and a half kilometers (one mile) of trail!!

About three quarters of the way through the hike we finally hit some level ridgeline walking above tree line (more like what we had originally expected), and we started seeing some of our first wildlife (deer, wild sheep and goats, and even one day a wild cat like creature)!

The Pyrenees are reported to have only three bears left, brought in from western Europe even though they originally were indigenous to the Pyrenees.

Finally we got our first view of the Mediterranean and the beautiful French town of Banyuls, where our hike was to end! We still had a day and a half descent through some awesome vineyards where the grapes were just perfect for eating. As soon as we got to the town we went right to the beach and dove in! Aaaaaahhhhhh!

We used two guidebooks for the hike. One was a guidebook called “Trekking in the Pyrenees” by Douglas Streetfield-James ISBN 1 873756 21 6, published by Trailblazer. This book is mainly about the GR10 in France and is very informative. It also suggests and describes many side routes which we ended up taking including the Ordessa canyon section in Spain. The other book is the HRP high route guide and has been translated from French and is a little tougher to follow, but absolutely necessary.

For maps, we used French IGN series maps that were readily available in most of the towns we went through. These are excellent maps, but not very GPS compatible as the French (who always seem to have to do everything a little different) use the Paris meridian instead of the Greenwich meridian! And they don’t always overlap into Spain very far. We used the IGN 50,000 scale maps and there are 12 of them for the entire Pyrenees.

When we needed the Spanish maps, which were 40,000-1 scale (not quite as accurate but at least they use the Greenwich meridian), we found them in stores in Spain. We did have a little trouble finding some of them later on in the hike. Unless you are using mail drops (we did not) they would be too heavy to carry all of them.

All three trails are marked on all of these maps.

Here is a photo of the kind of campsites that we could pick because most of the hikers we saw in the daytime would go down to the villages to sleep at night.

Interesting story that happened to me on the AT in Connecticut back in 91: (or maybe it was ‘95?)

I was staying near the shelter just after Kent, CT named Stewart Hollow Brook Lean-to and this guy was staying there with his 3 kids, the youngest being a little girl about 4 or 5.

While I was setting up my tent to spend the night, I noticed they were planning an evening campfire and gathering firewood near a makeshift fire ring they had just built.

When the ridge runner came along and saw the ring and preparations, he said: “Sorry sir, but I can see what you are trying to do here and we have a law in this state that says: No fires in CT. He was very polite and the guy said he was sorry and hadn’t known.

Then the little girl was trying to figure out what he said and she blurts out: “but, Mr. Ranger, how are we going to cook our marshmallows” (with a real sad look on her face) Well, the ridge runner (college age) was pretty hurt at that and he was in a tough spot to explain this to the little girl.

Then I said: “maybe the nice ranger will let you cook them on my zip stove” . He looked at me with a big grin of “thanks” and said that would be OK with him. So,that’s what we did. Built a fire in my zip stove and they had a great time cooking, burning, and eating their marshmallows.

The zip stove is a nickname given to a stove called “Sierra Stove” that burns wood. It has a small electric fan that helps the fire that you build in it’s chamber to combust rapidly and burn quite hot.

I used a zip stove on 2 of my thru hikes and it saves the need for looking for and buying fuel in towns. It also allows you to boil unlimited amounts of water for purification, or boiling beans or real rice (more nutritious than minute rice), as well as many cups of tea or coffee and cleanup afterwards with hot water. You can make many friends on the trail by shouting, who would like a cup of boiling water? (or who would like to cook marshmallows in a “No Fire Zone”

The disadvantages are the smoke that it produces, the problem of finding dry fuel when it’s raining, and the fact that your cooking pot stays black from the soot, so it must be kept in a separate bag to keep your other gear clean.

One of my journal entries from Feb. 2004 from Thailand:
Well, I’ve been here a month now and here’s a recap of what’s been happening.
1^st of all, I’ve got to say I had the most enjoyable flight ever coming over here. The United Air flight from NYC was only about ½ full and I had 3 seats to myself.

We left at noon and headed northwest which took us up through Canada and over the Hudson bay, then eventually over northern Alaska. Well, being the end of January I never would’ve expected to see anything but dark over these cold places. But when I opened my window shade, I discovered that it was light out all the way!

In fact, it was noon everywhere as we took off from NYC at 11:30 AM and landed in Tokyo at 1:30 PM so we basically followed the sun all the way. Well this lead to some of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen from an aircraft. From 35,000 feet I was looking down on these huge crevasses in the Hudson Bay that must’ve been miles across and seeing blue ice way down inside them.

Hours and hours I watched the landscape unfold and it was apparent when we hit Alaska as he mountain range there was huge and again we flew over these mountains for hours and hours and only for about 30 minutes did I see some signs of manmade roads there. I shot some video through the dirty double Plexiglas window but it doesn’t compare to seeing what I saw on this flight. White, wilderness with no sign of man for hours and hours.

I watched fascinated while the other passengers where content to sleep or watch the 5 or 6 movies that were showing on this long flight. You could almost see the Arctic circle as we came back over water that wasn’t frozen ice south of Alaska and heading down to Tokyo.

After a 3 hour layover in Japan, I boarded a 7 hour flight to Bangkok and arrived in the long awaited heat of 80 degrees F around midnight.

My stomach was starting to get butterflies as I was getting close to my home of last year and my beautiful girlfriend waiting for me in Phuket. (only a 12 hour bus ride away) I tried to sleep in Bangkok that night but really didn’t get much sleep as my body thought it was noon.

I boarded the night bus to Phuket to arrive at 6AM in familiar surroundings of Phuket town where I spent 5 ½ months last year and was among friends again. But most of all it was Thum, my girlfriend who I was coming to see:

I arrived in Phuket on Superbowl Sunday and watched the game at 6 AM and was surprised to see a football game with absolutely no commercials! We saw a lot of shots of the fans and players on the bench, but nothing was cut, not even the exposed boob at the halftime show.

The PS2 where I stay has a great pool and I took full advantage to get used to the heat after the cold days treading through snow getting ready to go back in Schuylkill Haven.

Thum and I spent the next few days riding around the island of Phuket on my Honda 125 CC motorbike that I always rent there. These jungle roads winding through the mountains and hills of Thailand are perfect for bikeriding although it’s important to always remember that they drive on the left.

We left southern Thailand a week later to meet up with my friend Rainman from Vt. who arrived on his flight from Boston.

We spent a few days again in Bangkok before heading out to Ko Chang, the 2^nd biggest island in Thailand next to Phuket. We got bungalows on the beach about 40 metres from the water for about $5.00 a night. These are basic bungalows but plenty of comforts for us, a bunch of long distance hikers happy in the shelters on the Appalacian Trail as well as our tents in the Sierras of California. Here we had beds, showers, bathrooms with a beautiful view of the Bay of Thailand near the Cambodian border.

View from my bungalow on Ko Chang

After enjoying the bars, food, and views on the topless beaches on Ko Chang, it was time for Thum and I to leave Rainman in the tropical paradise and head north to finally meet her family in the northeast part of Thailand near the Laos border.

We took another 12 hour night bus ride to Chaiyaphum district and the world suddenly changed again. Instead of Taxi’s, we now dealt with 3 wheeled motorbikes called Tuk Tuks driven by maniacs in these sometimes seemingly ancient vehicles held together with baling wire and high hopes.

Now if you happen the read the news in Thailand, one quickly was aware of the headlines every day of the dreaded chicken flu that was sweeping southeast asia and killing not just chickens but people too. And the papers were saying not to worry, that almost all the chickens in the infected areas had been killed. Well, I don’t believe that these people were even aware of this problem as there were chickens everywhere and they didn’t look very young or sick.

When we finally got to Thum’s mothers home, I quickly found out that there were about 40 chickens living in and around the house. These people are too poor to be killing one of their main sources of food and no one ever mentioned the chicken flu here.

Thum had to interpret everything as I had been studying my Thai language books knowing that not many people spoke English up here, but now I discovered that they speak Lao and don’t understand Thai very much at all. The school kids as always would like to try their words out on me, saying hello, goodbye and nice to meet you. But that’s about it.

I spent a week up in Chaiyaphum partying, swimming, singing, playing music, drinking and making many new and great friends.

It was tough to leave but we had plans and had to head back down and rescue Rainman from his life on the beach back in Ko Chang.

This is one of the many stories about $5 Frank from Fayetteville, WV.

He owned the Fayetteville airport there for many years and flew tourists for as cheap as $5 to sightsee the famous New River Arch Bridge in the area. This is the longest or deepest arch bridge in the world and closes down one day a year so that parachutists and rapellers can jump off the bridge to the rapids on the New river below.    This is the same area where they hold the famous “Gauley Festival” every September.

Since we took up whitewater kayaking in the early 80’s, we have taken many of our friends for $5 Franks great rides as well as the rest of his entertainment.

Frank has written poetry and even a book of short stories over the years as well as his many devices scattered around the airport and in his spare hangar for entertaining tourists. These include a gallows, stockade, electric chair, coffin (in which the body pops up when you look in) and also artwork done by Frank himself. All of it is pretty cheesy and done in a taste to make you think it’s not quite on the level.

Now Frank was about 70 years old in the early 80’s and quite hard of hearing. He wore an old fashioned huge hearing aid and always asked you to talk into it’s earpiece which was not always near his head. For example, when he was flying in the plane, he would ask you to speak down towards the console area between the front seats when talking to him.

He rarely stopped talking once you were in his presence and recited poetry, told stories about the Rockefellers raping WV and the preachers trying to shut him down as well as his plane wrecks.

We bought his book more than once over the years to get it autographed as well as find out more about him. You never knew what was true and what was made up to scare you. He rarely took us up flying without asking if you wanted fly UNDER THE BRIDGE and even dipped the plane like he was going to. This always got the newbies blood flowing a bit.

Well of course there are many fine stories about Frank’s rides, told by us and others but this is my favorite:

We went back once again around 1998 with a new friend who had never been on one of Frank’s famous rides. Frank had to be in his 80’s by now and when we got there, there was a line of about 6 people in front of us so we expected a long wait.

While waiting, another plane landed and a young man got out looking a bit shaken up. A little while later, Frank’s plane came in shaking from side to side and bounced pretty hard on the runway a few times. He often did this to scare people but it looked a bit more erratic than usual.

There was a walker (aluminum crutch device with 4 legs) sitting out near the runway and he turned around and parked the plane next to the walker, the door opened and Frank comes out, grabs the walker and heads over to the crowd. He was shouting “who’s damn plane is that parked on my airport?” He asked this a few times, louder and louder each time. Finally the young man who flew the plane in came back and said, that’s my plane and………before he could say more, Frank screamed at him “Get that thing off of my property” The man was saying “Excuse me but……………” “I said, get that thing off my property, NOW!” Frank didn’t seem to be putting on an act this time and was getting quite red in the face. He came right after this man hobbling as fast as he could on his walker. When he got in front of him, he threw the walker aside and said once again. You get that plane off this property or I’ll kick your ass. The man realized he couldn’t do much and tried to explain that his plane had problems and he needed to get it fixed before leaving. Once this information registered, Frank immediately turned around, facing the small crowd and said, “OK who’s next?”

Well the people in the front of the line wanted no part of a ride with this redfaced, old man, who was in the middle of a temper tantrum. Since we had been with Frank flying many trips before, we weren’t afraid to fly with him as he often scared most people. So, we said, ”we’re ready Frank” and skipped to the front of the line and out to the runway.

We all got in and Frank left the walker in the same spot, and got in last and immedietly started the plane and taxied to the end of the runway without making sure anyone was ready.

Now my buddy Henry who is quite a character himself had decided he would love to sit in front for once as that was the honor seat because he was the only person that Frank would attempt to listen to as his hearing aid was near that seat.

With Frank still red in the face and breathing hard and still cursing the young man, we turned around, went down the runway and took off. Frank just started talking a mile a minute as usual and headed out towards the bridge without even asking us where we wanted to go.

When he got near the bridge, he banked a hard turn and started saying something about this was the time to take your pictures. Before he could finish his statement, Henry’s door, on the right side of the airplane came open. And Henry’s seat belt was the only thing holding him from falling 2,000 feet to the river and cliffs below us.

So Henry reacted by grabbing Franks seat. Of course Frank was so riled up, he didn’t notice the door being opened and was shocked that someone would grab his seat. Especially after all the commotion that just happened on the ground. Well, Frank wasn’t happy about this.

He started yelling at Henry to get his hands off his seat so he could fly the damn plane. Henry was in shock and there’s no way he was going to let go. Some yelling went on in the plane and we don’t know if Frank understood any of what we were all saying but someone finally convinced him to look and than he finally saw the door opened.

We had to turn around and head back to the airport like this and as we landed, Frank once again started in on this other plane being there almost as if he had forgotten it happened.

When we finally taxied up to the walker again and got out, Henry got down on his hands and knees and kissed the ground. Frank ignored him, walked over to the group of people seeing all this and said “Next?” And seem bewildered when no one came forward to go for a ride.

Frank died that winter and it’s really sad that WV lost one of our favorite natives.

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We just finished our gig and spotlight in the big time! The blues band that I play in usually called “The Groove Doctors”, but for this particular job, we were known as “The Rockin Angels” as our friend Patrick from Singapore got us the job and “The Rockin Angels” is the name of his club in Phuket town. We like the name and may even change to it permanently.

So, he came out and played with us one night and told us we had the job. Now “Carabao” is the biggest rock band in Thailand and we couldn’t believe we were to play opening act for them, but Thailand is the land of opportunity to me this year and I got pretty excited about it. Then a friend of mine came to me 3 days ago and told me there are 12 trucks over there already unloading tons of equipment. So, Roger and I took a ride over to Patong the day before the job to see this huge operation. I’ll try to explain what I saw: Next to the beach, where the ripped an old hotel down, there was about 7 acres of land. They had built a stage aprox 65’ across by 30’ deep. Beside the stage was a string of huge speakers strung up about 35’ high and then about 8 huge bass cabinets on each side. Next to that was scaffolding set up about 50’ high that we found out later was for the big TV screens on both sides of the stage that would eventually have OUR faces and band live broadcasted on them. (we never got to see ourselves but our friends all said it was very cool!)

So, they were hooking everything up and testing it out. I couldn’t believe how clear the music was from 100 meters back as well as right in front of the speakers. On the stage itself was one of the biggest PA systems I had ever played through in my past facing the band for our state sound. Plus in front or to the side of each person, was 2 huge monitors. The Mackie board aside of the keyboards was 48 channels for the on stage mix!

I had 4 keyboards including a Kurtweil piano, and 3 Korg synthesizers.

Plus I had a small PA system behind me just for the separate keyboard mix. All the guitars (we had 3 in our band but Carabao has 5) had twin Marshall amps. There were 5 wireless mikes plus 5 regular mikes. (We were told they’d all be hot if we wanted to run around and sing from wherever.) For power, they had 70,000 watts per side for the mains and 24,000 for the stage mix. The speakers were from an American Co. called EAW out of MASS. EVERYTHING was brand new! The speakers and the power amps cost $500,000. The company that put it all on, P-Audio sound equipment out of Bangkok, chartered 2 747’s to bring 700 people down from Bangkok and put them up in that new hotel we had a room in which was just built and owned by the then Prime Minister of Thailand. (Taksin)

Then yesterday, I was a nervous wreck as I don’t know all of our songs very well and the band doesn’t practice much. But it’s blues and as long as I know what key it’s in. I just decide which keyboard I want to play. Also in 2 songs, I play acoustic guitar. We got to the job and they had a beautiful room, next to the pool in the newest hotel in Patong “Graceland”. We went up for our sound check at 5 and the grounds were empty but many Thais lined the beach watching over or through the fence. We spent about 45 minutes on sound and then went right into our set.

We had to keep telling the people that it was a free concert and eventually they drifted in. By the end of the night, it was estimated to be around 8,000-10,000 people there. We started in daylight and once it got dark, the lights were incredible. I counted 240 lights above us under the canopy, plus 10 of those robot strobe machines that are computerized. Plus out in the crowd was 2 towers of lights that looked like a circus or carnival. Later, these things spun around. There were 4 cameramen shooting the video including one guy up on a boom that was hovering and moving about 3 feet over the crowd’s heads.

We played for 1 ½ hours and then it started to rain and everybody left. After a while it stopped and another band (Thai) came and played 4 songs and it started to rain again and emptied out. Finally Carabao came on and played for about 1 ½ hours and the place was totally packed! We stayed backstage for the whole event and got drunk and even got most of our friends back there. It was amazing in that they were checking every little bag coming in but we were allowed to do whatever we wanted and not only they never checked our bags, the cops were asking as when Caribao was coming on.

So, it was my first experience in the big time and I really enjoyed it. Our lead guitar player from Wales (excellent musician) told me I should pick up my acoustic whenever I wanted and just run around. So, I ended up doing just that in one song that I didn’t know too good and just turned it down and ran around getting everybody loosened up.

Last night we played our regular Sunday night gig in the local bar here and sounded the best we ever did because we were very relaxed and laid back. The pressure was off.

ps. our band “The Harmony-Catz” and acoustic band with 3 part harmonies in most songs, just finished our CD (Aug 2007) and you can hear exerts from it by clicking on the link at the right “Harmony Catz” under “blogroll” and then looking for the button at the bottom of that page. Enjoy!

Mostly through the seventies and 80’s, I played in a rock and roll band.   Many interesting stories have been told over the years,  I’ll try to keep it clean and tell you a few of them.

      The time we had an attempted robbery on our speakers WHILE WE WERE PLAYING!     We were in the middle of our 3^rd set at Mc’Bride’s in Orwigsburg when Scott stopped playing and got off the stage in the middle of a song!    We kept playing for a few more seconds and then stopped as he ran out of the back door, yelling as he sprinted.     Turns out he saw heard the speaker stop working, and looking over that way, saw a young man handing the speaker out of the window!   He got up and gave chase and the would be thieves dropped the speaker in the parking lot and ran away. 

Scott came back with our speaker and we checked out the scene to find out that while we were playing,  they broke the glass in the window, removed all the pieces of broken glass from outside, climbed in, removed the speaker cable and tried to steal the speaker.   Now, this takes some balls, aye?   To steal the band’s equipment in the middle of a set.   You’d think they would know that the lack of music would be noticed.  

And that reminds me of another story relating to thievery while we were playing.   

     One time we were playing at a bar in Middlecreek, Pa.  And the club was just adjacent to the creek there (amazingly named Middle Creek!)    The bridge crossing the small creek next to the club was considered too dangerous for heavy traffic and was thus closed and barricaded on both sides.    It had been sitting like this for a few years and we used it to our advantage as the back state door was right near the bridge.   So, we (as well as all the bands who played this particular club) would park the band truck at the end of the road.   It would get parked in later as the club used the old road as part of it’s overflow parking lot, but we didn’t care as we were usually the last to leave.  

      One Sat. night after finishing our gig to a great crowd, and sticking around, slowly packing up and drinking some more before we headed home,  we finally got around to loading the band truck about 4 AM.   We even carried some of the equipment out to the dock there before noticing that our truck was gone!    The barricades on both side of the bridge had been moved and the truck stolen in this way.  (Again, this was while we were playing!)     Well, we were amazed to say the least.   After calling the police, we found out that the truck had been found demolished about 6 miles away after hitting a huge tree head on.   They had the homeless man in the hospital on drunken driving charges but he had not yet told them that the vehicle was stolen.    Needless to say, we didn’t get any money from the guy and had to go out and find another band truck before we could play again.   

I usually always drove the band truck, which was an old bread truck (square) that we built a wall in with a bench so everyone could go together.   We didn’t always go together but the option was there.

So, one time, Henry was working on some equipment and kept the truck at his house for the week.      When it was time to leave on Friday, he had to drive it over to our drummer’s house who lived on a hill and go inside and get him.    

 He shut off the engine as we didn’t trust the handbrake all that much.   So, when he started it, he decided to catch it in gear rather than use the starter.   (I’m not sure why)    Well, the truck was fully loaded with all of our gear and a big pa system and he left it drift away down the hill and popped the clutch.    A huge lurch and a bang later and he realized something was drastically wrong.    When he got out, he saw that the whole rear end had dropped out of the truck and was lying on the ground.    
Now, we had to start playing in about 2 hours so we had a real problem.   He called up the club and we were just getting there.     The club owner was a bit upset and finally someone came up with the idea of getting the truck towed to the club.    The tow truck had to drive at night,  and we ended up being about 1 ½ hours late to start the gig.  

     The next week was spent by most of the band members tramping junk yards and crawling in snow, ice and mud removing and installing a rear end to our truck.     Many curses to Henry and no, we never let him drive the band truck again.  

     Another time there was a high speed police chase in our town with some robber (a true cops and robber story) and it ended with the reckless driving of the criminal slamming into our band truck.    A few pieces of our equipment got damaged in that one.   I think we got some insurance money out of it but it was quite nerve racking to look in back of my house one night and see about 10 police cars with lights blazing away.    

Lots more band stories and the like to come…………….

Enjoy the following favorite quotes of mine, mostly pertaining to hiking and travelling as that’s what I like to do.

WORDS OF WISDOM from the trail.

“Believe Nothing! No matter where you read it, or who has said it,
even if I have said it, Unless it agrees with your own reason, and
your own common sense!” Buddha

“Either you think you can, or you think you can’t, either way, your correct!” Tom Mount

“Minds are like parachutes, they function only when open” Unknown

“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” Confucius

If you’re concerned with your elevation and you’re not lost, you are not focused on your hiking. Pieps

To hike with an injury, try this little trick: Put a generous amount of red cayenne pepper on your toilet paper before using. Pieps

Free is better than cheap! Rainman

No matter how hard you try, tin foil will NOT burn! Rainman

Hikers Best Friend: BEER
Calories, Carbohydrates, and Pain Killer, all rolled into water! Rm

The mind and the body do not necessarily have to follow the same path! Unknown

No matter how many libations you bring into the woods, it’s never enough! SidNTV

Walkin’s Walkin! Rm

A hungry hiker isn’t hungry for long! Pieps

The secret to success is to hang around someone who doesn’t know the difference (Charles Shultz)

He who requires little , has everything anonymous

You laugh at me because of the way I look, I laugh at you cause you all look the same (bumper sticker)

Pain is just Weakness leaving the body (Lone Wolf)

Downhill is free speed ! Ken

You’ll get there when you get there. Tom Horn

Live right and you’ll feel right. Bucky

In the backwaters you find fish that can’t swim in the mainstream Eric

Go fast, when something gets in your way, turn Diamond Dave

If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space. Bumper Sticker

On a long journey, even a feather has weight! (unknown)

If we stop, we stand rooted like great mountains, but if we walk, we sail through life! (unknown)

“The fool who traveled is better off than the wise many who stayed home” – Rashi, philosopher

No man goes so far or so fast as the man who doesn’t know where he is going!

People think we rough it out here.” Fiddlehead