Finding My "Hometown" ...

I lived near, and experienced Mt. Fuji, when I lived in Japan ... I could see it from our Base. I have even been to the top of it twice. Once on my "little" Honda 125cc Trails Bike (really!) as far as I could drive it, the Marines had a tank, "practice area" (or whatever), on the "back side", and then, I just walked up the rest of the way, and another time, yeah, I just drove up to the top on "the other side" like a regular, you know, tourist! Duh?

Took my college photography class down here once a semester ... You know, back in the day! Just because I could, and yes, RAIN or SHINE (or both!), you know, like when I got THIS shot, from inside my car! Or the college van, can't remember which! But yeah, once it started raining that night ... No worries! We just went inside for a little snack!

And I have now lived here, just down the street, in my little apartment, longer than I have lived anywhere in my life.

Hudson, North Carolina.

Not bad for a kid born in Riverside, California, that moved nine months later, on a train, no less (or so I was told!) and I learned to walk up and down the center aisle, all the way over to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, which yeah, is right outside Washington, DC, where my father, who was in the Army, was stationed until we moved to Greece for two years, where I went to Second and Third Grade.

And yeah, I can even remember the night we learned President Kennedy was assassinated ... I remember the crowds of people out walking in the streets.

After Greece, yeah, my parents divorced, and my mother, and us kids, moved to Pulaski, New York, right up there on the Southern shore of Lake Ontario, up near where her and my father both grew up, and still had family living there.

That was where I graduated from High School, and worked a couple of years for a local Landscaping Company, and then, yeah, wired up Traffic Control Signals, of all things, before joining the Marines in 1976, where I lived in Japan for two years, before spending my last six months right here in North Carolina, at Camp LeJeune, you know, in the "real" Marine Corps!

Even had "Cold Weather" training up near where I grew up, yeah, up at Fort Drum, way up there in Northern New York!

Then I returned back home once I got out of the Marines, to attend college (thanks to The GI Bill), where I met a young lady, and after our three-month Honeymoon Tour, ahh, on "our" BMW motorcycle, I might add, she joined the United States Army, where we lived in Florida, Georgia (two different bases!), Germany, Illinois, Korea, and then Kentucky, and ... Yeah, I think that was it, before moving here to Hudson (I liked The Blue Ridge Parkway!), after "The First Gulf War", once the Army "Reduced their Forces", and my then-wife was let go ...

She re-joined, ahh, like Ten Years later, after 9/11 ...

Long story short, yeah, she found working with her Commanding Officer, that didn't take the Summers off on motorcycle trips, and made way more money (more than double) then a Middle School Special Ed. teacher, was much more to her liking ...

Silly me.

But yeah, AFTER selling my motorcycle, to save our marriage, that I didn't know was already over, they took off together, and I found that taking pictures for travel companies, was, ahh, almost as much fun as photographing motorcycle tours!

Almost (ahh, not even close)!

I found taking pictures for VIKING RIVER CRUISES, BACKROADS, and a few more travel related companies, that I can't even remember the names of at this moment, worked for me! I still enjoyed my SUMMER VACATIONS, and my cameras, and yeah, I still taught photography at the local Community College, ahh, just up the street, and yeah, I still travelled the world, trading travel for photographs ... And airline tickets!

Somehow! It was crazy!

Even worked out a way to travel around the world, the summer I turned FIFTY! Yeah, "Around the World in 64 Days", by connecting River Cruises in Europe, and China, with a "little train ride" across Russia", that I paid for myself (hey! I was working TWO jobs), then a week in Hawaii, where I rented a motorcycle, for a day trip around the island of Oahu, even slept on the beach, before returning the bike the next day, and then going back to my hotel room for one last night!

That made it my 50th state, you know, that I had driven in on a motorcycle!

One "DREAM" obtained.

Like, during the summer of my 50th BIRTHDAY, come on!

What a WILD Summer Vacation that turned out to be! Around the World!

Loved it.

I then continued to teach until I retired twelve years later, oh, and then the Pandemic hit, which pretty much ended my "Free Trip Thingy", but yeah, I still travelled the world on my own!

Every Continent, ahh, twice, and yeah, all the places I had "missed" along the way!

Yeah, once I retired, I got to make it over to South East Asia, and Vietnam, which played such an important role throughout my years in school (ahh, like the whole 1960s and early 1970s!). I graduated in 1973, like, a year AFTER the war had officially ended!

I wanted to see, and experience, although years later, "The Hanoi Hilton" for myself ... And crawl through some of those "tunnels" I had heard about in Boot Camp and at Infantry School ... And in the movies, of course!

Remember, I was a HISTORY Major in college, before all this PHOTOGRAPHY stuff ...

And even a second trip down into the Southern Ocean!

See, I had missed The Falkland Islands, and, my favorite, ahh, SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND, the first time I made it down there!

Who knew?

I had watched too many of those Art Wolfe, "TRAVELS TO THE EDGE" DVDs, and just had to make one more trip down to Antarctica, and the Southern Ocean, once I retired!

I had to experience The FALKLAND ISLANDS, and SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND for myself! And yes, I'm glad I did ... Getting that close to the world's largest flying bird, yeah! The Wandering Albatross, made the trip just that much better!

Spectacular.

A nice way to "KICKOFF" my retirement, that was for sure!

Remember, I got into teaching ahh, "late", like, TEN YEARS LATE, so yeah, I am just glad I FINALLY got the chance to "get down there", and do it up right!

Antarctica is something, no question, and well worth the trip "Down there", but yeah ... If you ever have the chance, remember, ahh, SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND, and THE FALKLAND ISLANDS ... Just saying.

And yes!

SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND was my FAVORITE! No question.

No humans have ever settled there ... Just scientists and wildlife specialists study there. And those birds with their TWELVE FOOT wingspans, that nest, like, right there in front of you! Up close and personal ... Remember, no humans have ever lived there, so yeah, they have NO FEAR of humans!

Or cameras.

Oh, and of course, the SEALS, which reminds me, YES!

Loved the "Elephant Seals"!

Well named, and that's all I'll say about them!

Like I said, if you even have the chance ... You can thank me later.

Now, get out there, and see what you can "add to your life" by PUSHING A BUTTON, or two ...

You never know.

That said, no. I haven't experienced any Elephant Seals, or Wandering Albatross down here in Hudson, North Carolina. Just saying ...

But I'm always looking, and wishing, and dreaming! And hoping ...

Good luck with that.

Get out there!

See ya!