Dedications and Introduction

As the first entry in this blog, I thought this message should give the background for why this has blog has been created. It was because two people made changes in my life. First has to be Roy Beasley, who became my closest friend over 20 years ago, educated me on life and events outside my small town background. That set the grounedwork in my mind that travel to lands speaking something other than English might be interesting. Then I met a guy from Newcastle upon Tynes who talked me into taking the first step outside the United States. That guy was Bob Appleby. He and his wife offered the safe-haven needed for Roy and I to literally spread our wings and fly to another country. That trip became the first of what has now become a semi-annual event where I visit locations around the world.

The travel destinations are generally the same: Singapore, Batam, Dubai, Baku, Tampico. But there have been a few side-trips. And in the upcoming year it seems I may be adding Khazakstan and China to my visits. Wherever I go, it seems I always find many things to like, some things that make me scratch my head, and rarely something that I really dislike. I tell it all in these blogs. 

You saw the adult content warning when you came to the site. I want to explain. I ais m not going to worry about restricting what I write and I like to write about everything I see and think. So I put something down you wouldn't want a child to see. If that case, then don't let them on this site. And watch what they do with the computer at other times too.

Anyway, my plan is to post my previous direct mail-out blog files here first, then add the new materials from this last trip after that. So you will see all the old stuff as well as the updates.