This photo was taken Friday morning, after I broke camp (I panicked because I heard a flock of sheep coming — the sheep never showed up, but I broke camp and got an early start to my day).
View from the south side of Sertavul Pass. In the distance is the Goksu river valley, the river valley I’ll be walking out to the Mediterranean. It took all of a day or two to go from looking down on these hills to looking up at them, but it’ll take me a...
The south side of Sertavul Pass has a lot of houses made out of rock, tin, and flimsy wooden branches. I don’t know who lives in them or what they do or when they do it, but yesterday at least all the houses were empty. It was kind of creepy, seeing all those...
Finally reached Sertavul Pass yesterday. 5400 feet (1650 meters). End of Karaman province, beginning of Mersin province. Reaching Sertavul was a major milestone, because it marked the end of my days on the Central Anatolia plateau.
This is the road to Sertavul Pass. That section off in the distance is the last part of the climb to the pass. On that climb, the truckers weren’t going a whole lot faster than I was.
Wednesday night was my last night camping on the Central Anatolia plateau. The night started out with a full moon and a completely clear sky, but by morning clouds had rolled in. I was glad to get out of there before it started snowing. This photo was taken Thursday...
This is a snow-capped mountain, the name of which I don’t know. When I passed by it a few walking days ago it was shrouded in fog and I didn’t see it. Today it’s nice and clear out.
The territory between Karaman and Sertavul Pass changes quickly. The earth can’t decide whether to be a flat plain with little foliage, or a mountain with lots of evergreens.
This is my least favorite road surface for walking. I’ve only run into it a few times, so it’s no big deal. But man, it hurts to walk on. I suspect it’s the cheapest surfacing option — let’s just lay down some tar and throw some rocks on...
In this video I say I’m walking out of Mut, but I mean I’m walking out of Karaman. I’ve got Mut on the brain this morning — Mut is the next town up the road, three or four days from now. All day I’ve been saying Mut when I mean...
Across the street from the Karaman Ogretmen Evi (Teachers’ House) is a small restaurant called Kubra, named after the woman who runs it. Kubra is a family-run restaurant with just two tables inside, and about four in the patio outside. Kubra serves about the...
A few weeks ago I spoke about the walk at Istanbul Toastmasters… Personally, I think the most interesting part is hearing what questions people ask. That starts at minute 14. Mom, you are mentioned at 24:20, and again at 25:50. 😉 At 25:44 I mention moving off...
This is an old video of me rehabbing my right foot back in September. I basically camped out in this park and, for three days straight, did nothing but walk around the park working my foot back into shape (I took this video on the second day). When I walked into the...
Me on the left, Ismail on the right, and one of Ismail’s friends in the middle. I had met Ismail earlier in the week, at the auto repair shop, on my walk out of Konya. Ismail is the guy I overheard telling others in the restaurant about my walk, and who...
Ali is an old friend of mine from Istanbul, the friend I’ve been staying with this week. Ali is one of the smartest people I know, and, shall we say, unique.
Me, Deniz, and Jeremy. Istanbul’s Kanyon Starbucks on Thanksgiving. I know Deniz from Istanbul Toastmasters from back in 2007. She was a founding member and the club’s first Secretary. She has since started other Toastmasters clubs and gotten approval from...
When I am in the USA Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. It has the family and culinary focuses of Christmas, but, if you turn a blind eye to Black Friday, much less of the commercial hype, and, unlike Christmas, it is not preceded by a full month of...
