Oh, Wow!  I can feel it coming on.  I am seeing visions;  I am am having flashbacks; I am being transported into strange, but wonderful and exciting land.  I seem to have an affliction. I think is can safely be diagnosed as “Travel Fever”.

Traveling….anywhere….here in the U.S.A. or around the world…..has long been one of the things that I like to do most. If I were rich, I am sure that I would probably be sitting in some strange, exotic, foreign land almost all of the time……and for the most part, I really don’t care where it is……just somewhere else. It is rather strange how I got caught up in this desire to travel. Back in the “old days”, I really didn’t go anywhere. I had no desire to……until one night in May, 1962. I was living in Hutchinson in a cramped two room apartment. The school year had ended, and one night one of my friends from my home town of Sterling came down to my apartment. We were sitting around talking. The subject turned to the World’s Fair which was currently underway in Seattle, Washington. Somehow, suddenly…..spontaneously…..we thought it would be a great idea if could go see it. No….we were both perfectly sober. And….No…..those who know me are aware that I am not a “spontaneous” person! It is just not my nature to do things on the spur of the moment…..without thinking about it…..and especially without making almost minute by minute plans. But…..Yes….I was still very young then…..still almost a puppy…..although an almost grown puppy. I did stupid things back then….did things sometimes without thinking of the consequences….sometimes without even knowing what I was really doing. Maybe that is why I have changed so much today…..driving friends insane with my constant need to plan every event in my life with great care and in great detail. Not that taking a trip to the West Coast was stupid. It is just that this was the first major solo trip of my life……and it came about almost by accident…..without prior warning. Within a few hours….literally…. we had packed my little red Volkswagen Bug…..and we were on our way. On our way to the West Coast…..on our way to Seattle…..where ever that was! We had no plan. How could we? It was only a few hours earlier that we had decided to make the trip. But, obviously, we headed in the right direction…..because we did eventually end up in Seattle…..and at the World’s Fair. I would say that details of the trip are sketchy……but that wouldn’t be quite true. Most of the details are simply non-existent! We picked up maps from service stations…..they were free back then, believe it or not…..and we must have planned our trip on an almost minute by minute basis. We had no tent. When evening came, we found a comfortable spot off the highway…..almost always near a stream or a creek or a lake…..unrolled our sleeping bags…..started a small fire where ever we could…..and went to sleep under the stars. Many mornings we would wake up covered with dew, our sleeping bags almost drenched from the nighttime condensation. I often wonder how many times we trespassed on private property. But….nobody seemed to care…..certainly not us. We took a bath in streams or creeks…..ate sandwiches…..carried a cooler with some ice and water…..took enough clothing to last for two weeks…..listened to the car radio. We thought….and felt like….we were big dogs. Two or three nights we slept on the beach…..something that is illegal today…..and maybe was back then, too. We gathered some drift wood, started a fire, and enjoyed the sound of the crashing waves as they lulled us to sleep. Offer me a million dollars to reconstruct the route we took as we traveled both to and from Kansas on that trip. Go ahead…..offer! You are safe. You are not going to lose any money. I have no idea how we got there…..and I have no idea how we got back. But…..I do know we made it. I have pictures to prove it. Speaking of pictures. They are the only reference I have to indicate where we went….the territory we covered. Although I have no clear recollection of the places…..we visited Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, the Pacific Coast….both in Washington and in Oregon…..Reno, Salt Lake City and Rocky Mountain National Park. Like I said…..I know this only because of the black and white pictures that I took.. We spent two or three days visiting a cousin in south central Washington. He had a dairy farm at the time…..and he raised hops. We spent most of our days moving irrigation pipes, feeding hay to the cattle….whatever else needed to be done. And….we had a blast doing it. Only three places come to mind when I try to recall this trip: The Space Needle, the Pacific Coast, Salt Lake City…..and my cousin’s farm, of course. All of these were a “first”, of course. And, two of them I never forgot! The Pacific Coast….and Salt Lake City. This was a great trip….even if I can’t remember the details. It probably was the event that turned me on to travel! And….I liked it! Then….one day I got a letter from my local selective service board inviting me to become a part of the U.S. Army. To say that I did not want to go to the Army is vastly understating the situation. But….this was one of those “command performance” sort of deals. So….I went. And….I liked it! While I was stationed at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, I had a very desirable job. I was administrative assistant to the commander. I was happy there….and my boss was happy……and I was also good at my job. Then one day, I got another invitation…..an invitation to give up my desirable job on the outskirts of Indianapolis and go to South Vietnam. I wanted to decline the “invitation”, but Uncle Sam insisted that I honor the invitation. So…..I went to South Vietnam. And…..again…..I liked it. Again I had a very desirable job. I was secretary to the Adjutant General of the U. S. Army in Vietnam. A very good job. I liked my job…..my boss liked me….and I did a very good job. While I was in South Vietnam, I was given the opportunity to take several short trips in Southeast Asia…..Hong Kong, Manila, Bangkok…..while some of our airplanes were receiving maintenance. These places were exciting and fascinating….a world that I had never known before. And, I liked it. When I left the Army, I had a wonderful opportunity to return to South Vietnam with an organization called the International Voluntary Services. After a year of teaching English in a provincial capital called Phan Rang…..I was promoted to the position of Chief of Education. In this position, I had as many as 72 teachers working under me. Part of my job was to visit them in their local town and give them support. I spent three years in this position….and during this three years, I was able to travel to many of the countries in Southeast Asia….Hong Kong, Philippines, Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Taiwan. There may have been others, but those are the ones that come to mind. I had been bitten by the Travel bug….I had contracted Travel Fever……and I never recovered from it. It was these experiences that hooked me on travel. I recall that very first trip to the Pacific Coast with a great deal of fondness, nostalgia….and wistfulness…….and for several years, I limited my travel to places in the U.S.A……mostly the Oregon Coast…..and points in-between. During these trips, I became much more modern and sophisticated in my travels. I now owned a tent…..and I added a camper shell and a foam rubber mattress to the back of my pickup. Now I could travel in style and comfort. Well…..relatively. It was better than sleeping on the ground under the stars…..sort of. In fact, I have been to every state west of the Mississippi River……and most of them to the east, too. The next major event in my life was hosting my first foreign exchange student…..a student from Germany. I made my first trip to Europe in 1995….and I have returned there….mostly to Germany….almost every year since then. Sometimes more than one time a year. My first “grand tour” of Europe was in 1995…..in the summer time. Although I have made return visits to Europe three or four times in the summer, I quickly discovered that traveling in the “off season” is much cheaper. And for a not-too-well-paid school teacher, that was very important. For the next several years, most of my trips were made during whatever vacation time we had in the school year…..most of the time during cold months….but with a few summer trips thrown in now and then when I could afford it. After I retired, I discovered that the month of April is the most ideal month for me to travel. After a rather long string of rather unsatisfactory “house sitters”……I had a dog….and I also burned wood, at the time…..I almost became reluctant to leave home. Would these house sitters take adequate care of my dog? Would I come back home to find that my house had burned down…..reduced to a pile of ashes? My last wonderful dog, Abby, died in 2004. And while it was a wrenching experience for me….it left me free to travel almost any time I wanted. By April, it was warm enough to simply lock the house and take off. So far, I have visited eleven countries in Europe…..with several more on my “bucket list”. I spent the summer of 1989 working in Yellowstone National Park…..and the summer of 2006 working in Big Bend National Park. Both of these jobs were interesting and rewarding experiences…..although in vastly different ways. During my travels, I have seen sites, experienced things and met people that I never even dreamed of before I served in the U.S. Army. It is one of those blessings in disguise that people talk about, I suppose. You never know what you are missing until you try it….and I am glad that I tried it. It is a lot better to be hooked on travel than a lot of other things that I can think of. An extra added benefit of my travel experiences has been the decision to host a wide variety of foreign travelers, that I met through a couple international hospitality organizations. Some stay for a couple days…..some for a couple months. I have hosted a strange and exotic bunch of people: Europeans, Asians, Africans, Americans. Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims. And also a couple of communists from China….thrown in to make the mix more diverse…..and to add an element of political intrigue….although neither of these guys could have cared less about such stuff. Not were these guests interesting people from whom I have learn much….although I rarely agree with them….but hopefully, they have learned equally as much from me……and I have made some life long friend. And now I also have a place to stay (for free) in my future travels. Until now, I have visited twenty-one different countries…..and I hope that I can visit at least that many more in the future. In my way of looking at things….travel is never time spent unwisely….and is a good investment for the money spent. So why do I travel? I don’t know. Maybe it is because I feel that it enriches my life. Makes me more aware that there is somewhere else besides Kansas. Maybe it makes me appreciate coming back home to Kansas after spending time in places so vastly different from the life I lead here in my rural Kansas setting…..and, I always do. But, more than anything else, I think it broadens my life. It gives me a perspective of the world that I would not and could not have if I had not traveled to these places. Now I have a “feel” about how these people live….what kind of life they live…..what kind of problems they face. I have learned not to stereotype all the people of different nationalities, races, cultures, religions, and ethnic backgrounds. Just like here in the U.S.A……here in Kansas….there are “good” people, and there are “bad” people. We have mostly law-abiding citizens…..but we also have criminals; we have those people who spread love…..and we also have people who spread hate; we have people who practice the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”…..but we also have our share of bigoted people who preach love and peace……but in their daily life are intolerant, vindictive, dogmatic, hateful and racist…..mostly in the name of religion or politics. As I have traveled in the U.S.A. and around the world, I have found that the vast majority of people are dedicated to providing a good life for their children and family. They go to work in the morning, do their job, and come back home to rest and to enjoy their family. And, I have found that they…..just like us…..want to live in peace. But…..on a more personal level: I doubt if all the traveling I have done has made me a “better” person than anybody else in the true sense of the word. After all, we are all about the same, no matter where we have been or what we have done. But…..to me, at least, it has vastly enriched my life. I know there is life beyond the boundaries of my township or even my state. And, I have a much better understanding of how people live and what they are like because I have been there….I have seen it…..I have walked among them…..I have experienced the culture and the life style. I have met the people. I have observed their behavior. When I say that I have eaten Chinese food….or Italian food…..or Mexican food…..or German food. I really have. Not in a Chinese buffet…or a Pizza Hut….or a Taco Bell….or an Olive Garden…… But, I have sat down in native eating places…..far off the beaten paths of tourists….and have eaten food prepared by natives…for natives. I have stood in front of….taken pictures of…..explored…..buildings and monuments that most people only see in pictures or on TV travel shows. I have walked the avenues of great cities. I have sat in the neighborhood bars with the local people. I have lived in their homes. I have watched their TV programs (although somebody had to tell me what they were saying). I have traveled for miles on city buses, crossed countries riding second or third class on trains. I have taken automobile trips through the countryside….through the small villages and towns where foreigners seldom venture. I have witnessed local and national celebrations and holidays. I have been present during political unrest and revolt….as well as riots and demonstrations. It is more of a personal thing, I suppose. I found out long ago that nobody is really very interested in where I have been…..and certainly not looking at the 12,000 pictures that I have taken. I think my life is richer, more fulfilled….and that I am more empathetic and sympathetic to the lives, feelings, cultures, and ways of living of people in our rapidly shrinking global village. Yes…..long ago I contracted Travel Fever……and I don’t know what the cure is. And, I don’t want to know. It is the best kind of affliction that I can imagine. In fact, I would like to pass it on to everybody I know.And I do not want to be cured. Because….I like it.