AUG 12, 17 .. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE .. PART VII .. THE TRIP IS OVER .. LETTING IT GO ..

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,

“To talk of many things:

Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —

Of cabbages — and kings

And why the sea is boiling hot —

And whether pigs have wings.”

Jabberwocky, from Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll, December 1871

“The time has come,” Your Captain says..

To put-to-rest my trip into Russian Siberia. I began the trip on Tuesday, August the 1st and ended it on Monday, August 7th, this year of 2017.

I have chronicled the trip on this website (Dot.net) and on Blogspot .. calling my Posts .. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE .. Beginning with Part I and now ending with this Part VII.

To satisfy myself that I have indeed completed the chronicle, I have carefully looked-through the one thousand, eleven hundred, thirty three (1,133) photographs that I snapped during the trip.

And?

Yes!  I found one special photo that I DID NOT Post.

To do this one special photo justice, I will include it as the final photo in a series of photos that I snapped en route North from Ulaanbaatar to Sukhbaater, Tuesday, August the 1st.

On this, the first day of our trip (with the word ‘our’ I am including Saina, Deegi, Cindy, myself and, most important, all of you reading along with me here), we stopped at a new-to-me special children’s zoo on the highway.

Two children captured my heart. A small boy and his younger sister. I have the feeling that they were not children of tourists. I believe that their mother is working at the Children’s Zoo.

The first thing about them that attracted me to them was his T-Shirt. Patti and I have been, for three years now, following the Golden State Warriors Professional Basketball Team. So I wanted a photo of his T-Shirt.

As I now again look at these photos, maybe, just maybe, I captured her little heart. She sure was looking-me-over.

Then the two of them got up and together, with her on her little tricycle and her big brother pushing her, the two of them went for a little ride.

Both of them were really-working. The dirt was strewn with small rocks and it was difficult going for both. Patti, when I was pushing her in a wheel-chair some years ago in Hong Kong, KNOWS what it feels like when a wheel hits a rock and jars the occupant. In the above photo, her front wheel is about to hit a rock!

A long ride, they finally got out onto the pavement.

They have completed the home-stretch.

Now we come to the final photo below. Looking at the little girl, I your Captain knew how she felt.

Back in the late 1960’s into the early 1970’s, when I was working full-time as a professional mechanic in big time automobile racing in the U.S., we would have to take the racing car(s) from our home shop to the racing track where we would be racing that weekend. The trip from South Carolina out to California was a long haul. Drive out, race, drive home. To do this the truck driver(s) would have to drive a long round trip. To stay awake and alert, they would ingest what we called ‘California Turn Around Pills’.

A ‘California Turn Around Pill’ would allow them to..

Drive to California.

Work the race.

Drive back home.

Then sit down and cry.

Exhausted from the trip, no where else to drive to, but unable to settle back down.

That my friends is exactly what my Young Lady below is feeling.

Her trip is over and there is nowhere else to go.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is now over.

However, as with racing, there was always the next race. This upcoming Friday, August the 18th, if it be God’s Will, I’ll board a train and begin another trip into Russian Siberia.

And..

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE .. IRKUTSK.

Will begin.

I hope for the little girl and her brother, there will be other spins around the Children’s Zoo grounds.

With Love ..

Cap

• ← AUG 11, 17 .. FROM RUSSIAN WITH LOVE .. Supplemental PART VI .. IVOLGINSKY DATSAN
• AUG 13, 17 .. EVERY COMBAT TEAM NEEDS SEVERAL VERY SPECIAL MEMBERS.. →