15 October 2004 Maryland I often find myself looking at maps, retracing my journeys during the past nine months. Has the traveling changed me? No. However, my opinion of France has changed: I want to get back there! I'ld love to revisit Britain, too. I also have a fondness for Rome ... not the Eternal City but the folks I met in the neighborhood near Termini. In some ways I thought my travel bug would be satisfied; instead, the bug is still alive and well. That surprises me. I want to see more of Europe and America.

I do have a few regrets. I wish I would not have been so nervous in Russia. That sounds strange given the news reports lately, but I probably was too guarded and quick to judgement. I should also have been more courageous all around. I found some situations intimidating. Traveling alone was a great and wonderful challenge, but I could have explored the culture of each city a bit more boldly and intimately. I probably focused too much on the sites and less on the people.

I do not regret traveling alone. Oh, there were extended times of lonliness, but it was a daily test of confidence to set out on foot, train or bus to find my way around. It gave me a sense of conquest. Where I felt the most vulnerable was in Russia. No doubt because of its strangeness, but I was in the care of someone else all the time. It would have been impossible to reach the ancestral villages without Saken, and I would never have ventured very far afield in Moscow. I guess that is all forgiveable, but I was a bit too timid many times. On the other hand, getting around safely and reasonably effectively everywhere else was a success that I found gratifying.

12 August 2004 Hays, Kansas The plains have never looked better! Ample rain and almost freakishly cool temperatures have transformed the dire Spring desert-scape into a blooming meadow.