Özgür is a friend of mine from Istanbul Toastmasters. I was planning for hours to take this photo at the old Malabadi Bridge, but instead I found myself on the new one. Sorry Özgür, this is one of the few times I’ll say it’s the thought that...
There was a squirrel. He was out hunting for nuts. He saw a nice big one down in the well of a tree. He grabbed the nut. He tried to pull it out, but the nut was too big. It, plus his hand, wouldn’t come out together. So he had to make a choice — let go of...
One of my favorite ways to take a break during the day is to stop at villages I pass through and have a cup of çay. Here in southeast Turkey the small talk during those breaks is often some variation of “tell us about federalism.” So on many days now...
Alper is a friend of mine from Istanbul Toastmasters. At dinner last month he asked me what I could offer the world that few others could. When I told him, he raised an eyebrow and said, "Do you know how valuable that skill is?" For me it was one of those...
Today I started to notice the mountains closing in on me. In about a week I’ll start the climb up onto a higher plateau, the plateau I’ll finish the walk on.
Tolga is a friend of mine from Istanbul Toastmasters. He and I have been friends since my first go-around in Istanbul, in 2008. Today’s walk was 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Çölağan to Bağdere, two villages between Diyarbakır and Silvan.
On the bus today someone asked me what this region was called. There are a couple possible answers, and for those answers wars have been fought, and are still being fought, and people give, and take, lives. I didn’t want to get involved. It’s not my fight....
Today’s lunch was two ice creams, a bag of nacho cheese Doritos, and some water, bought at Ortaçlar Petrol ın Köprübaşı ("Bridge Head"), a gasoline station east of Diyarbakır. İsmaıl and İshak, the owners of Ortaçlar, wanted to make sure I mentioned...
Usually "today is for…" is about a person in my life who has inspired or helped me in some way. Today, however, was for odometers around the world, because today I rolled my trip odometer. The Tigris (Dicle) river marked my 1,000th mile (1,600...
Today’s tour included a climb around on the city walls. Ezgi and I are both a little afraid of heights, so we were both happy to get back on terra firma.
Today I spent the day at Rekabet Kurumu Cumhuriyet Fen Lisesi, a science high school in Diyarbakır. I was a guest of Nazile Çelik, one of the school’s English teachers. Nazile is a friend of Mesut and Hülya, my hosts in Diyarbakır. This particular school is...
Mrs. Jones was my 4th grade teacher. I lost track of her, so I have not spoken to her since I was 10 years old. She praised my drawing of aliens on Jupiter, even though those aliens looked uncannily like Chewbacca with big thighs. She is the reason I know the words to...
When I was 15 I lived in Visalia, California. On Saturday mornings a bunch of us would ride our bicycles to Rocky Hill, one of the foothills of the Sierras. One day Bill Munn came with us. He was a patriarch of the Visalia cycling scene at that time, but he...
Over the past 7 days I have walked from Şanlıurfa to Diyarbakır (185 kilometers, or 115 miles). I suspect I am tired, but I also suspect that if I were tired I would not know it. So I’ll be taking 3 days off. Tomorrow I am visiting a school, and then I’ll...
