Our overnight passage from Ancona, Italy to Patras, Greece in our little mini cabin, listening to the drone of the ship’s engine all night, reminded us why we have never taken an ocean cruise. Returning to our truck, while we waited for a few semi tractor-trailers to move out, we brewed a fresh pot of […]

We had been playing Blog Tag with Rob and Nina Blackwell for months as we made our way across the US, shipped to Belgium, and proceeded to drive through Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Meanwhile, Rob & Nina had started in Vladivostok, Russia and had come over many of the roads we would […]

Having spent a couple of days exploring the excavated ruins uncovered after the Vesuvio volcano wreaked its wrath on Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD, we felt obliged to see what this monster looked like up close. We made the fortunate choice to NOT drive The Turtle V to the trailhead on the mountain. Hopping […]

While nearly everyone has heard of the horrible tragedy of Pompeii, (If you haven’t, read our last blog.), several people had told us that the town of Herculaneum on the coast was equally astounding. Comparatively small with a population of approximately 4000, Herculaneum covered an area of about 50 acres of which only 11 have […]

Heading south from Rome we were basically looking for a nice place to spend Gary’s birthday. The ancient city of Pompeii had always been on our list of areas to visit. Monika had been there with her parents many years ago and had fond memories. Pompeii rises on a plateau of Vesuvius’ lava overlooking the […]

There are a few Cities in the World that truly stand out; San Francisco, Istanbul, Beijing, London, St. Petersburg. Rome, living, breathing and constantly changing, saturated with history, much of it dating BC, is surely among them, but after the Coliseum, the Forum and the Vatican, there is the City itself. It was sound advice […]