FINIS ... parting comments

BY THE NUMBERS...

Miles - rough calculations

100+ - boats
175 - walking...just short of 6 miles per day... just under 10 per day the last week in Japan
xxx - transit - bus, trams, subways... lost track! (pun)
500+ - van - by driver with guide = 3 teams - Panama, Leyte, Luzon
800 - 2 round trips to Indy (the grands!) + 1 round trip from there to university of Illinois (Dr. Max !)
1500 - rental cars = 5 (1300 Hawaii plus 2 stops in San Fran)
1500 - train (mostly Japan - bullet! -  plus Panama)
30000~ - plane = 20 flights (4 different airlines... thanks mostly to Delta and Southwest points)

~35000 miles total travel

Plus one 500 mile race = Indy 500 !!! VROOM

20 different overnight locations  (3 of those on planes)
6 states (including adding / completing #50 overall)
4 new foreign countries (now 24 for Cheryl and 27 for Andrew)
1 new continent (almost 2.. some people count each side of Panama Canal as North and South America)
2 oceans - Atlantic end of Panama Canal and a big chunk of the BIG Pacific

No breakdowns.
No lost items or getting lost... couple of steps in “wrong” direction maybe occasionally - but every flight, train, bus, subway, boat, etc on time and right direction
No robberies.

One bad “Maggie Knee” injury / flareup... slowed us down just a little (sorry, Cheryl - get well soon)

40 days and 40 nights

2019 - the journey

FROM THE HEART...

Another complete immersion therapy session with the love of my LIFE®.  This journey of love keeps evolving and just keeps getting better and better.  I could not be without Cheryl. (Or at minimum I would still be heading the wrong way on a subway somewhere beneath Tokyo) We had our moments of disagreement, etc... (don’t think that can be avoided when you are rarely more than an arm length ... hug...apart for 40 days/nights).... but in general pure bliss.  The rest of the year we live with a repeating 5 days apart and 2 intense days together... so it is even more sweet when we can be together for that long... we found our way literally half way around the world together.... thank you, Cheryl...I love you.  see you again next year!

AND ONE OVERALL “TAKE-AWAY”

We are more alike than we are different.

We are more alike than we are different.

Delta airlines CEO opens the safety video on flights with this statement.  Don’t think he invented the phrase or concept, but it hits home.

Between the past 4 summers of journeys around the world / in and out of multiple countries / cultures/ languages / places / back alleys / hole in the walls/ off the beaten paths  / etc ... and my work role that puts me in front of multiple groups of varying people constantly each year....  this concept hits home.

No matter where you live. What color you are. What nationality you are. What religion you are. What occupation you have.  What gender orientation you are. What background you bring with you.   People are people.  And we are more alike than we are different.

The political and religious leaders of the world may aim us into directions that cause us to differ from time to time on some concepts / beliefs, but... we are more alike than different.

That Japanese solider back in 1945, thousands of miles from his home, dug deep in his foxhole a few feet of jungle away from Irvin was not that much different.

We are more alike than we are different.