Böcker av Robert M Weir

Apaches, Navajos, Puebloans, Paiutes, Buddhists, ecologists, nomads, wanderers, movie makers, futurists, atomic bomb builders, lodge builders, and aspiring immigrants from the Caribbean, South America, Central America, and Africa. These are the people who I invite you to meet through the stories in this book.They are people whose history and present are intertwined in the rugged, breathtaking landscape of the Four Corner States: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.These states in the Southwest part of the United States have a unique connection. One corner of each touches a corner of the others at a perfect perpendicular angle.The site where they join is marked by the Four Corners Monument, operated by the Navajo Tribal Parks. The monument features a round, metal plate, issued by the US Department of the Interior, that bears two intersecting lines and the names of the four states.This is set in a large concrete pad with grooves that extend from the lines in the plate. Here, person after person squats or stoops and has a photo taken with a hand or a foot in each state. That's nice. But come inside, read the stories, meet the people.

What a glorious adventure: competing in a regatta with some of the most majestic tall ships in the world. Twenty-one vessels from 15 nations. I was aboard Kaliakra, a Bulgarian barqentine, standing my watch with experienced seamen and young cadets. We partied in Volos, Greece, raced on the Aegean Sea, motored through Turkey's Bosporus Strait, raced on the Black Sea, and partied in Varna, Bulgaria. We lived the maxim: Ya Gotta Regatta! Words: 28k; Photos: 85

This eBook is rich with surprises. On Hawaii, I unexpectedly enjoyed "the Dao of cacao," sailing a catamaran and frolicking with dolphins, a musical love party, hiking the Honopu Ridge, and meeting native Hawaiians who want to secede from the US. In the Philippines, I lost my credit card to an ATM, visited the tiny home of a delightful squatter family, and took an unplanned time out on a lovely resort island. This is, indeed, a lovely report on spontaneous adventure.

I'm a fish. Not a drinker but a Pisces. And I love the water. Fortunately, I was born and raised in the Great Lakes state of Michigan. And I've sailed on those magnificent water bodies: across Lake Michigan at night; on Lake Huron in the Port Huron to Mackinac sailboat regatta, including on the tall ship Schooner America and fast, fast trimaran Earth Voyager; on Pride of Baltimore II on Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence Seaway, including through the Welland Canal; on Lake Huron's North Channel, "the Mediterranean of the Great Lakes." I've written about the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, the major Great Lakes regattas, and the Chicago NOODs. And it's all been fun! Come, experience these tales, and swim with me.Pages: 92; Words: 30k; Photographs 27

First day: some elevation gain. Second day destination: Keylong (elevation 10,000 feet), a good place to acclimate. Third day: 17 hours to Leh (elevation 11,500 feet). Our "road" the infamous Leh-Manali Highway. Narrow, few guardrails. Mud, rocks, water cascading across the road, avalanches, mudslides, dust. Elevations of more than 17,000 feet. Countless trucks, buses, military convoys; cars, motorcycles, bicyclists; vehicles lying at the bottom of ravines. Sheep, goats, horses. "Handiworkers" who repair the road by hand because heavy equipment is practically useless. Our average speed: 10 miles per hour. But the majestic scenery was beyond belief. It was an experience!

What's a great way to get from the USA to Spain? By water. How? On a tall ship. So that's what I did! From Barbados to Malaga with a stopover in the Azores. Aboard Royal Clipper, the world's largest and most luxurious tall ship. Sixteen days at sea. Great company, great conversations, great experience. With some really good times in both Barbados and Spain to boot: outdoor movies, swimming, history, culture, and joy that comes when we are receptive and adventuresome.

I once asked a writing instructor how to write about a place I had never been to. The instructor replied simply, "You go there!"My friend and client Rosalie Giffoniello wanted me to help her write her memoir about her encore career ... to provide educational funding for children who live in the slums of Kolkata (Calcutta), India.In her manuscript for that book, Reclaiming Lives, she had already written great copy of the people and their emotions, but the story needed a description of the place. So I went there.This book, then, is a compilation of my interactions with Rosalie and her teachers and the students as well as adventures in this densely crowded megapolis that I created on my own.Read this book and you will see scenes, people, culture, schools, and religions of Kolkata that you will never find through a travel agent or tourist guide. You will be there! It is the 17th in the entire "Journey ..." series and the sixth and last of the "Under Angels' Wings" subset theme.110 photos, links to five YouTube videos.

Ah, the joys of traveling in uncommon ways ... St. Petersburg: Arrival by cargo ship (not airplane), unique passage through customs; stayed with a client; three tours by citizens (not tour guides)-better that way. Pushkin: 300th birthday celebration with parades, music, carnival; lodged with a delightful family who I met there, inside view of the community's artistic culture and friendship. Moscow: terrific, one-day, whirlwind tour where I saw much thanks to a young Muscovite I had fortuitously met in Spain six weeks earlier.