May 29, 2019–Day 2 of the great adventure
We were picked up early by Roberto and Fabio.  He was an amazing guide for the day.  His command of the English language was remarkable —he could literally answer any question we threw at him, add SO much information about everything we saw and were going to see, and more.  He identified birds and animals by their sounds, made great lunch suggestions, and really was a perfect way to enjoy this day.

We started off with a train ride from Panama City to Colon.  The train traveled along the canal, through the rainforest, over part of the lake which makes up part of the canal, and all parts between.  Fabio and Roberto did not ride the train but met us at the station as the rest of our day was from there and they drove us where we had scheduled to go.

First stop was the Agua Clara Locks which is a newer channel to accommodate BIGGER cargo vessels.  The timing was perfect as a ginormous container vessel happened to be entering.  Some of these vessels carry 40,000 containers!  That is not a typo!  We watched it enter the 1st lock, watched the gates close (not a typical “V” but just straight out) and the water lowered as did the ship—-amazing!  It entered the 2nd lock and same thing, and also the 3rd.  We left at this point to explore more of the area.  This addition was needed as so many vessels need to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the Pacific to the Atlantic.  While we were watching this, another ship was in the “older” channel.  Most of the economy in this area is dependent on the canal and the shipping industry.  The logistics is hard to even wrap your head around!

We then took a ferry across the canal to our next adventure, to visit the fortress of San Lorenzo.  San Lorenzo was located on a cliff above the mouth of the river that was the trade route most used to get to Panama City.  It wasn’t easy per se but it was easier that’s sailing all the way around South America!  Pirates often frequented the area including one Captain Morgan, known also for growing sugar can and rum in Jamaica.  :). Apparently he had MANY pirates follow him which was unusual and his men attacked San Lorenzo on their way to Panama City.  It was the most interesting drive to get there—-think BUMPY roads and driving all over the road to avoid the potholes and such.  The rainforest is a 2nd generation forest so there isn’t a tall canopy again/yet.  The American military used this area in the 60s to train for the Vietnam war so much of it was destroyed or reduced.  It was still pretty and thick and green!  Lots of birds, and we saw howler monkeys and a the Panamanian white-faced capuchin monkey.  One of the howlers had a little one it held while crawling around.  It was fun and it looked like they were checking us out!  The guide that was leading the other tour at San Lorenzo showed Fabio a picture of a boa (as in BIG snake) they’d seen on the road in; it was gone when we drove back out.

We ate at a marina—-it was a lively place but most of the people there stopped in as they were boating by.  We had sea bass ceviche as an appetizer and squid for our entree.   We then got to drive across two of the gates of the Clara locks!!!!  There is a bridge that is completed but they are working on the roads leading up to it, so we had to take the ferry to the fortress and national park (the fort is in the park) but we could drive across the gates on the way back over.  Fabio saved that bit of news as a surprise.  It was incredible to see another ship passing but from the “lower end”—-85 feet lower to be exact.

What a day.  We ended by having them drop us off in “historic” Panama City so we could wander around.  The architecture here was reminiscent of Europe with its French and Spanish influence.  We walked back to our hotel to get ready for our journey home tomorrow.

Fabio said it was very interesting that we didn’t get rained on either day as it usually rains.  They are entering their “dry” season but that just means it rains less.  :). They typically have quite a few tourists during our winters so this was their less busy season.   Apparently the government tourism division is working on marketing all of what Panama has to offer, not just the canal.  We thought the canal was incredible, truly an engineering marvel.

Here are some pics of the day.

May 28, 2019–the Panama Canal by boat
First a little recap.  We left Indy and traveled to Atlanta.  They always say you need to be at the airport 3 yours ahead if traveling internationally but I was literally through the check in under a minute thanks to TSA pre-check and Andrew was following shortly after.
We grabbed some soup and looked for blue tooth keyboard as we want to travel light and dragging extra devices is just that-dragging.  We even debated on blogging, but decided to give it a go at least to start.  We did not find a keyboard at Indy.

We landed at Atlanta and made our way to the International and lo and behold, we found a keyboard. It pairs with our phones so we can type easier.  It is a “v” shape so is taking a little to get used to but so much easier than thumbing our way through the blog.

The flight was uneventful even though we did get to fly through some lightening while descending into Panama City—very pretty! And a little bumpy.

We filled out the appropriate forms on what we were going to be doing in Panama, and that we didn’t bring things into the country to resell, have LOTS of cash, etc. and proceeded to go through customs and get our passports stamped.  They don’t always stamp them so that is exciting!

We did arrange our Panama excursion via Donna at Jackie’s Travel and were met by our guide, who speaks perfect English, and our driver, who understands English but speaks it less so.  They drove us to our hotel and reminded us we’d be picked up at 5:40!  Early!  We got a little history of the city while we were driving:  2 million people live here out of the 4 million that live in the country; the city is old but as a city with LOTS of skyscrapers, and such not that old, perhaps 15 years; their ancestors is more or less based on the Spanish invasions, but they do have some connections to the Incas vs the other ancient empires; and there are actually 7 languages but all students learn Spanish in school!  We didn’t see our guide today so I am sure we will learn more tomorrow when we see him again.

Today we were picked up by Roberto and delivered to the Canal & Bay Tour company, boarding a boat to take us from Panama City to Gambia.  We didn’t get to do a full canal tour from the Pacific to  the Atlantic as there are only so many of them and the one for this day was full. It was still awesome! We went through several locks as the main part of the canal is really a lake!  So you go in at sea level, the through 3 different locks, go up 85’ and then back down 85’ again to sea level!  Fascinating!  The part of the canal that we traveled on was restricted due to its width so from 4 AM - noon, 40-50 a day traveled towards the Atlantic and from noon until 8 PM, 40-50 traveled towards the Pacific.  It was neat to see them all lined up ready to go. We, along with a really big shop called the Ocean Journey were the last ones of the morning to head north.  Every boat pays to travel through, based on its size, and sometimes smaller ones get bumped down the cue as the bigger ones do pay more!  Our boat was an international mix of travelers all wanting to experience this wonderment.  Can you even imagine how Irvin and his friends from very rural Indiana felt seeing and experiencing this 75 years ago?  WOW.

We did have breakfast on the boat (some sort of wieners in some kind of sauce (weird) but also eggs, fruit, and cake!) and lunch (better choices!).  We did see an alligator along the shore, lots of birds, and ZILLIONS of shipping containers!!  Oh, my!!  This is the “short cut” as it takes on average another 22 days to go around South America!

We were done around noon and Roberto picked us up and delivered us back to the Hotel Bristol.  We crashed and napped as it was an early morning and warm (hot) and then opted to walk and explore and find supper.  We found food and a very persuasive wait team who convinced us to try the fried snapper (Yummy) and some gumbo-looking stuff loaded with squid, shrimp, etc. (also Yummy).  We meandered back to the hotel and found the pool on the 5th floor, outside sort of on the ledge?  It was 9’ x 52’ x 4’ deep and was cool and wonderful..

We then explored a quant little restaurant next door for a drink and dessert and enjoyed the cool breeze and laughing of those around us.  One table was surrounded by older friends, visiting and it looked like catching up.  It reminded us of our friends when we travel!

Tomorrow is another early day and we explore the canal by train, from Panama City to Colon, and then tour the way back with our guide.

It was a great day!  So far we have been careful with consuming water and haven’t seen swarms of mosquitoes!!

Well, we took tons of pictures but will post soon.  For some reason it won’t open that option this evening!

Memorial Day 2019.   RIP.  And thank you for the freedom we enjoy.

So the story continues. Decided a few years back to live the game of LIFE just a little different. Never retiring... but semi-retiring early and enjoy the ride along the way.  Four years ago we went on “summer tour” one.  Marking 10 years since - 2006 - we originally took “Sunshine” to Alaska and back.. with multiple service stops along the way.  2016 - We drove up to Alaska again. This time for a little longer and in a newer vehicle. Camping along the way. All the way to Prudhoe Bay... swam in the arctic. Then down the coast on a ferry. Then drove down highway 1 and took a left at San Fran and headed home...via Houston. 2017 - Year after we went back to Italy to visit Alessio and family... and then did a driving tour of 17 countries in Europe.  2018 - Then last year we did a drive up to (through) New England and on up to Saint John Newfoundland... then back up to the arctic ocean on Hudson Bay.

2019 - This year we originally had planned to complete state number 50 with a trip to Hawaii. And then it hit me me that it would coincide with 75 year anniversary of my dad (and Cheryl’s grandfather) WWII journey.  So we started saving travel points and planned an epic journey to recreate Irvins war “adventure”.

He had joined the army in April 1941.  And he told the story how he tore up his countdown calendar after the word about  December 7 came through.  He would tell a few stories from time to time.  It was sort of like in the movie Dancing With Wolves. Kevin Costner’s character would sit in the tipi, smoking the peace pipe, with the old chief.  Think the quote was “lets just sit and smoke and talk awhile”...  Irv would do the same.... sit in his chair out in front of the garage... would say go get us a couple of beers... and would light up his pipe and tell some war tales.  Memories of that and a little research into the history of his division formed the outline of our trip.

Irvin, and most of the US forces, spent 42 and 43 training and preparing for the major offensive moves in 1944.  The D day landings in Normandy and island hopping in the Pacific.  Irvin boarded a transport ship in New Orleans and started his journey on New Year’s Day 1944... 75 years ago.   The ship headed down through the Panama Canal.

We did start in the same place where Irvin started — he enlisted in Indianapolis Camp Atterbury. But we flew to Atlanta and then on to Panama... versus a train to Hattiesburg, MS for 3 years basic trading and then down to New Orleans.  Stop 1 will be a few days in Panama — boat travel through locks on Pacific side... and then next day train ride across the isthmus to the locks on Atlantic side.  The full transit trips were all booked... so close enough.

We will return to Indy, drive back to Kyana for a the weekend...wedding, some Molly Hatchet, etc.  Then back to Indy, over to watch Max defend his thesis as his final step in his journey to being “Dr. Max”, and then we fly to Oakland to a catch a plane later in day to Hawaii — Irvin’s first island... Oahu.  He landed there in January 1944 and stayed through June.  We will spend 10 days there  , and other islands, 75 years after he did.

Our journey will take us back to San Fran to change airlines.  Then to shanghai  and then Manila.

Irvin left Hawaii  for New Guinea... Cheryl vetoed that part of our trip... sort of hard to get to... and sort of risky she thought.

He spent late June through early December there... and then boarded another transport ship for beach invasion on Leyte in the Philippines. A few weeks after the famous Macathur returns beach landing... that will be our 2nd island.  Then we will visit the Luzon island area to revisit Irvins battles there .. specifically ZigZag Pass where he was injured in February 1945.

We will then make our final island hop to Japan. Irvin was part of the 38th infantry and that division was queued up as part of the second wave to land near Tokyo. We will pay homage to Peace at Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as tour Tokyo.  And then head home...

Cheryl’s wisdom had us use travel agent for Panama and the Philippines.  We will do our normal “wing it” summer tour methods for Hawaii and Japan....  stay tuned... Cheryl will tell the rest of their story one day at a time in her normal blog style...