My first adventure in blogging begins on the birthday of W. A. Mozart.  I have a subscription to Sirius/XM radio and every year on the birthday of Mozart they program a marathon of the master's music.  As I type this am listening to the Symphony #38 in D.  Wonderfully melodic piece.

The primary reason for creating this blog is to chronicle my travels; past, present and future.  I have traveled extensively around the western United States since my retirement in 2010.  I will be re-visiting some of those trips, posting images and writing commentary.  In 2012 I embarked upon a major trip to Vietnam.  At the time, I posted images and commentary to Facebook using my phone.  I will return to those posts, edit and expand the text to include more pictures and deeper thoughts about my experience.

I have planned another adventure to Asia beginning in May of this year.  The airline connections are purchased and an outline of the travel is being developed.  Basically, it unfolds something like this: fly from Portland to Seattle, Seattle to Dubai, Dubai to Islamabad Pakistan; travel the Karakoram Highway from Islamabad to Kashgar in far western China.  I plan on spending one week or so in that region before making my way southeasterly to Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.  From Yunnan I will travel the Burma Road into Myanmar then on to northern Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam again.  Flying home from Saigon to Dubai, Dubai to Los Angeles then on to Portland.  I love to travel alone, light and by backpack, staying in less expensive hotels and eating local food.  And meeting people!!  My philosophy is to get there and let the trip open up before me.  That way, preconceived itineraries are not subject to failure and stress and tension are minimized.

I hope this blog will be enjoyed by as many people as possible and that everyone will find my musings interesting and my pictures stimulating.

Rob