Dan Kistler Studios

The word from Rhodes

Right now I am sitting outside a small hotel in Rhodes Town, the new part of town listening to a group of Greeks discuss something it sounds very deep about and with an iPad. No idea what they are talking about but I am surprised to see the iPad being used here.

Spent the day driving one side of the island. The day started off with a surprising question coming from the man who rented me the car. He asked me if I could drive an automatic? An automatic? A very rare car indeed in Europe.

Well drive I did. Over hills and through tiny little towns where the main road appears to become a side alley and where tour buses will run you into the walls if you are not careful. Tour bus drivers show no fear, have no fear and drive owning all of the road.

The topside (north) of the island is very windy, rocky beaches, a couple of castles scattered here and there and does not appear to be in Greece until you are at least 30 minutes outside of Rhodes Town. Before that it could be any seaside resort town in the world. Beach, busy road, and big hotels on the other side and lots, and lots of traffic. Drove all the way to the end of the island where the wind surfing is great. All kinds of people out and about trying their skills at all kinds of wind surfing.

The excitement of the day was on the way back when the gas light came on and I realized the nearest gas station was on the other side of the mountains and there was no way we were going to make it. With the needle bouncing on the E we found a small village where most of the road to the village was downhill. Coasted up to the pump I am sure on fumes.

With the tank refreshed we continued back to town to return the automatic car. I have to admit that after driving a stick for a week in Turkey I kept finding myself searching for the clutch that was not there. Can I drive an automatic? You bet but for the twisty, winding roads of Greece bring on the stick!!

The word from Istanbul, Turkey

This is my third trip to Istanbul and this time it feels almost like home. I know my way around and don’t feel so lost all the time (of course I know only a fraction of the oldest part of the city). And this time it is really, really hot and humid. But the fun part is to see what has changed, what is new, and what has gone away. Gone are the token booths for the tram and the subway. Now you need exact change. Gone are the newly snipped boys at the Blue Mosque (that must happen only on certain days). New are the number of Arabs visiting the city. Apparently August is the month for visitors from Arab countries. Lots and lots of women dressed from winter weather, head to toe in black or at least a full length coat. Makes me hot just looking at them. I saw on woman today waiting outside the Four Seasons hotel (very upscale place) wringing her hands waiting  for someone. I could see she was very uncomfortable with only her eyes showing and her hands. All the rest was black.

New to Istanbul are more tourists than ever before. More reconstruction to the Hagia Sophia. Have discovered new streets to explore with lots of shops and restaurants.

Good to be back in Europe (almost in Asia). Reminds of how much I have forgotten to slow down and enjoy life. You can spot the people from the US a mile away. They are the ones that are in a rush to get to something so that they can hurry to get to the next something. What is the rush?

A new sport and fear of spiders and bugs

I have discovered a new sport. It is called dog chasing and dog catching.

Here is how it goes. You let the smallest dog you have out of your house. Before you know it the tiny little thing in halfway down the driveway and heading for the road. You give chase half expecting to catch this tiny little dog before it can get to the road. HAH! Tiny little legs equal fast, super fast in fact. So you really turn it on only to find that this little dog has a booster rocket hidden on its body and zip it is gone. I turn on the the road and I see this squirt bouncing up the road along the fence going about 30 mph and laughing all the way.

The dog gets to the neighbors backyard and runs around in circles just having the time of its life and suddenly it darts into the woods. The woods. Remember this is southern Illinois and it is July which means the woods is like the jungle of the Amazon, the humidity is around ninety percent, and the woods are full of big fat spiders. But you have no choice but to dive right in and start chasing the dog. Which means you go head first through web after web getting covered from head to toe in spider webs and the spiders on them. Every now and then you have to stop to listen for the dog which at this time has stopped and is hiding about ten feet from you but since this dog is the size of a fat squirrel and brown there is no way to see it. Then the dog shoots off down the hill and you give chase plowing through more webs covered with bugs and spiders, breaking off branches of all kinds of bushes and weeds all of which in the blur of running look like poison ivy and half of them are covered with thorns. Finally you see the dog heading uphill and for some reason you think that you can cover that ground faster than the dog which has been running now for about 25 minutes. And just as you reach for the back of the dog the afterburner goes off and the dog shoots forward like it was shot out of a rocket. But finally the little legs are wearing out and you dive for the dog and capture it. Then you get to carry this sweaty little dog back to the house three miles away and the only way back is through the woods. By this time you don’t care if you have to go through the web of the monster spider of Southern Illinois. You have caught the dog!

So if you have a fear of bugs and spiders and want to get into shape just let that little dog out and go for a run in the woods. By the time you are done spiders are nothing at all.

5310 miles

So far this summer I have put 5310 miles on my motorcycle traveling out to Washington and Oregon. Along the way I have learned a few new things.

1. Do not go to Yellowstone National Park in the summer. If you like to wait in line, fight your way through traffic, and you like road construction then by all means go. The traffic was fierce everywhere in the park. The lines were long. Crowds everywhere. And of course silly tourists who stop in the middle of the road to look at a deer. Wahoo!!

2. Road construction in Wyoming and Montana is done very differently that in the rest of the country. Instead of doing it in pieces or one side of the road and then the other they just tear it all up and turn it into a huge dusty muddy mess. This way is much more fun especially if you are riding a motorcycle. They have a pilot car that drives you through the construction zone through huge holes, rock, sand and mud pits. So much fun on the bike. You don’t know if you will actually be able to make it to the other side.

3. Nebraska is flat but they have lots and lots of rest areas all across the state.

4. No matter how fast you go 93 degrees is super hot.

5. No matter how many layers you have on 45 degrees is cold.

6. Trucks out number cars on the freeways by a factor of 2 to 1.

7. Wind farms are showing up everywhere in the west. Along so many ridges in Wyoming there are scores of huge wind generators and loads of them being trucked out west.

8. Some of the smallest bugs make the biggest splats.

9. Jackson, Wyoming has horrible traffic in the summer.

10. 650 miles in one day is too much.

Seeing the country from a motorcycle

I have now put almost 4,000 miles on my Goldwing riding between Illinois (the middle of nowhere) and Oregon and Washington. This country is huge with so many spaces that make you feel like a bug or a grain of sand or less. I passed through a part of Wyoming yesterday with not a single car in sight in both directions with a view of at least ten miles in both directions. Nothing but sagebrush, blue sky and the road. For a moment I felt as if the bike was not moving at all even though I was going 80 mph. There are so many reasons to ride and to see the country from the seat of a bike (motorcycle or bicycle). In the car you are simply watching. On the bike you are participating with your surroundings. Not always in a good way such as when the millionth bug has found a way around your windscreen and smacked you in the face, splattering yellow gooey guts all over your face or when the pig farm makes you gag and your eyes water. But you are a part of that place for an instant. For me a car is like a magic steel tube that floats you from place to place. You have no idea what it is like outside—hot or cold, dry or wet, beautifully smelly or stinky—you are cut off by steel and glass. No so with the bike. So get out and ride, leave the car in the garage or better yet sell it and buy a bike and experience life on two wheels.

The Ride - day 2

Missoula to Jackson. A cold start to the day with the temp just over fifty. Warmed up some later in the day but the wind picked up and really took a bite out of the sun. I traveled to Red Lodge, Montana and went up and over the Beartooth Mountains. (see photos on flickr.com ) Beware of road construction and grumpy flaggers. Almost all the signs are down so there is little to tell you what you are seeing. And the best part was not accessible because of construction.

Down the other side I went and entered Yellowstone at the Northeast entrance. They had no power so I could not pay. The ranger gave me a map and sent me on my way. Three hours later and after fighting through horrible traffic and endless road construction I found myself at Old Faith lodge for dinner. Funny thing is I did not take a single photo while in Yellowstone. Not one. The lines everywhere where huge. There was a traffic jam around Yellowstone Falls that would have made NYC proud. Don’t go to Yellowstone in July unless you have saved up a year’s worth of patience. I left the park and drove south to Jackson once again freezing as the temp had once again dropped below fifty. The ride to Jackson was made worse by some totally stupid driver who was driving 35 mph with his flashers on and holding up at least 35 cars who could not pass this flasher-driver. Did not get to the hotel until after 11 pm and after having four bottles of green tea for the day did not sleep until late, late after midnight. Nothing beats a motorcycle ride. And I found that screaming at stupid drivers actually can keep you warm! Live and learn.

The Tetons

I am posting this out of order as day three of the ride was partly spent getting up close to the Tetons. Not a single cloud in the sky. The sky bright blue and huge. The mountains brought visitors from all over the world as I heard Italian, German, and about five other languages spoken today. The turnouts full of cars. Bikers of all kinds everywhere. And traffic and road construction was something to be lived through.

After driving all over the park I headed south out of Jackson and followed the Snake river for a good deal of the day. Traffic here was much less and I found one of my favorite roads. Highway 89 from Hoback Junction south to Geneva is a jem of a ride. It follows the Snake river through a narrow gorge and valley. Salt River pass is not large but I caught it in good light and the greens in the valley were from a bright yellow green to dark blue greens in the trees. A good day for a ride.

Posters of the day.

The Palouse and Lolo Pass

Day one of the trip back to the midwest.

Left Spokane after a day of wind storms all over the area. Spokane on Monday was one huge dust cloud. But that cleared up and Tuesday was clear and cool. Which made for a cold ride even with the sun out. But the air was clear and you could see for miles from the top of Steptoe Butte in the Palouse south of Spokane. From there I hit Lewiston, Idaho and headed east over the mountains on Highway 12 over the Lolo Pass. Lewis and Clark passed through this area over 200 years ago on their way to the Pacific. A great road and a beautiful drive along the Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers. At times I had the road to myself with no other cars or people in sight. The Warms Springs at mile marker 151 was jammed with people so I zipped by and will come back for a visit some other day.

The only downside of the day was the entrance into Montana. At the top of Lolo pass I was greeted with a huge sign that said STOP HERE ON RED and in back of the sign was two huge red lights. I felt absolutely silly stopped on a completely empty road in the middle of the wilderness. After a about five minutes another car or two showed up behind me and then up from the other side of the road pops the Pilot Car! But it does not swing around to lead us through what must be construction but drives off to the rest area off to the right. And the crazy thing is the five cars the PILOT CAR was leading up the hill follows the damned thing over the the rest area. And then they all get out of their cars and have what looks like a party! All the while us idiots are still waiting at the light! Montana I am sorry to say does not know how to do road construction.

Posters of the day.

Spokane

Had a chance to go down to the Riverside State Park and the river. Watched ospreys dive on the river and catch fish. Watched rafts shoot the rapids and hiked around on the rocks.

Posters of the day.

Eastern Washington

For the past few years I have come to Washington state to visit my dad in late September. And at that time of year Spokane is drier than 100 year old newspaper left in the desert. Feels like if you think about fire you could start one and the entire place would go up in flames. I am here in June this year and it is green here. Green and wet. Strange but great. So there are flowers and green stuff all around. So here are the posters of the day.