Travel

Autobiography of George Thomas Clark

September 10, 2022

Autobiography of George Thomas Clark has just been published. In lucid prose George Thomas Clark recalls the challenges of growing up in a family beset by divorce, depression, and alcoholism, and the compensatory joys of playing basketball and other sports. Though academically promising, Clark loses discipline as his drinking and substance abuse worsen and he…

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Panama City Squeeze

September 4, 2012

At the international airport in Panama City scores of designer stores form glittering hallways to tiny bathrooms where long lines point to few urinals and but two stalls each hosting a toilet sans seat. I tried several such places before asking an employee, “Don’t you have any larger bathrooms and with seats?” The man was…

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Winton, Not Winston, in Quito

August 16, 2012

A travel newsletter I subscribed to occasionally offered stories by a guy named Winton Churchill. Oh, a wise guy, I concluded. Despite groaning about his humor, and perhaps his stability, I did conclude Churchill knew plenty about computers. He’d worked for Apple, knew Steve Jobs, toiled for other Silicon Valley concerns, some of which flamed…

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Bag in Stall

August 11, 2012

In a crowded holiday airport he long waited for a stall and was thanking god when, fast as he blinked, a hand reached under the door and yanked his bag.

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Drink Vacation

January 1, 2012

had too much last night or wouldn’t have left underwear stacked in motel rushing to early mexico city flight * * * proud had attracted beautiful senorita in loud bar but regretted smile disappeared shortly before she did

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Dining at the Hotel Ritz in Madrid

August 10, 2011

The double-deck tour bus with top open had just completed its modern Madrid route north of downtown on shady Paseo del Prado into the chic Salamanca neighborhood where renowned Real Madrid plays soccer in a massive stadium and the most exclusive shops are found, and then back down Calle Serrano past several elegant foreign embassies…

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Getting to Madrid

August 9, 2011

My journey to Madrid began on a Sunday morning as I drove from blistering Bakersfield down Highway 99 toward Los Angeles and punched sports talk radio but heard an ESPN guy strain to be funny and cool but sounding lame: most jockeys lack comedic skills and can’t sustain the purported subject matter of their shows.…

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Preps Speed in Beautiful Fresno

June 16, 2009

Don’t roar by Fresno on Highway 99, especially if you’ve just come up from Bakersfield.  Head east on Highway 180 through a growing city then turn north on 186 until you exit and move into leafy suburban Clovis highlighted with custom homes and spotless stores and offices.  Then follow temporary signs where to park for…

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Fantasizing on Highway 99

April 26, 2005

Pretty soon you’ve got to drive from Bakersfield to Sacramento.  You are, of course, thankful you don’t have to start further south in Los Angeles and thus crawl up and down scorched and barren mountains that separate the city of glamour and poverty from the rest of the state.  Your journey, instead, will take you…

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