Omar

This is the part of the journey I had long planned: to visit my great friend and colleague from Abu Dhabi now living in Tracy, California. Omar had previously worked at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City as a clinician and married and was now living in California when I first met him. He linked up on LinkedIn and when I saw that he had worked on informatics and the electronic health record I thought perhaps I could get this guy to come back and work for me as a physician Informaticist. But first, I asked the chief medical officer of SKMC, Dr. Abdulmajid, about his opinion of Omar. The response was immediate! He's excellent! That was true, then, and is true today!

Omar is the smartest, wisest, most innovative, and talented Informaticist I have met, myself included. I spoke with Omar on the phone, and his sincere, understated, and kind approach to life and work was immediately apparent. I hired Omar, and he joined me at Abu Dhabi Health Services; SEHA, to help level up our informatics team. He was very organized, knew how to use SharePoint to track order sets, and Clinical Decision Support rules, was facile with pivot tables, understood how to get things done and thus was a key to many successes experienced there.

Part of this trip is to make connections with important people in my life. Omar was on the list from the beginning. I drove to Del Via regional Park and set up camp. Omar brought two of his daughters, Nuha and Rania, seventh and fifth graders respectively. They had never been camping before and we decided to let them experience camping but they could go home to their beds 45 minutes away. The girls were pretty shy, and unfortunately, Joyce is not here with us because she would've immediately engaged them in some fun things in her unique way.

We started off with lunch, listening to some of the birds nearby and an annoying ground squirrel. I was hoping to use the kayak on the water, but it didn't pass inspection because it was still wet from the previous trip, so we went to the boat docks to see about renting Unfortunately none were available. But the girls were enthusiastic about going fishing. They had never done that before.

So we went back to the camp, grabbed the fishing tackle, then off to the west beach with fishing tackle in hand. They quickly caught on to casting both bait, and lures. Nuha did get a tug, but the fish were lucky today, and we didn't catch any!

Back to the camp, where Omar's special Middle Eastern chicken for kebabs was marinating. We started a fire with Rania lighting it. The kebabs were amazing. They were served with special Afghan bread brought from the market. We sang some songs and tried to coax Nuha into also playing and singing, but didn't get very far with that! Turns down, she already knew "Country Roads!"

Of course we finished with s'mores s'mores and s'mores!

Among Giants

 Standing in the quiet of the old growth redwood forest is a spiritual experience.  There is a moss and lichen softened hush and then you hear the living breathing sound quietly of the forest.  The movement of the snake, a brown creeper chirping in the canopy, a gentle creak when the wind moves a tree too close to another, a ground squirrel stirring.

The redwood trunks can be massive and they can grow 300 feet and live up to 2000 years.  They often clone themselves using burls and so one root ball/lower trunk can eventuate into numerous trees.  Fallen trees are far 'taller' sideways than my 6 feet 2 inches.  They host whole villages of other life including lichen, moss, other trees, birds, reptiles such as lizards, salamanders, frogs, ferns, flowers.  A fallen tree can 'nurse' with its decaying wood, a hemlock tree.  When the sequoia is finally decayed, the hemlock looks like it is standing up on its roots with open space where the nurse tree once existed. 

I visited the "Grove of Titans" and Stout Grove nearby my campsite at Panther Flats.  I hadn't exactly planned ahead to see these specific wonders, but was reviewing my RV Life Trip Wizard App and another camper user recommended these.  The late afternoon shadows contributed to the ambience. 

Being among the Redwoods is great for the soul.  Not so great for Starlink, however.  So for the first time, I had to deploy my "mobile unit" in order to work.  It was a great trial since it was only a 6 hour day on a Friday.  I had purchased an Ecoflow Delta 2 power station when I was near Paulsbo fur just such an occasion.  With it I could move to the more open day use area of Panther Flats along the crystalline Smith River to power my computer, monitor, and starlink.  I have a chair and table but used a picnic table.  I also have a portable screened pop up in case I need shade, but the tree above the picnic table sufficed. My Teams background looked artificial!

Mobile Office

The Smith River provided a bubbling accompaniment, and later allowed for some casting (still can't call it fishing!). I was joined by Watersnake (Narodia per Google) who swam over and sunned itself while I sipped coffee.  

Narodia joined me for sun and admiring the crystal clear Smith River.

The next morning, Campers from next door celebrating Mindy's 47th birthday and needing my space for parking cars gently asked me when I was planning to leave, which was in about 45 minutes.  They explained they were going to float the Smith River.  I asked for details and whether my kayak could handle it and poof, I had my plans for the day!  They offered to ferry me from the take out point at 'Society Hole' to the launch at 'Myrtle Beach' and mentioned people are friendly to hitchhikers holding up a paddle in the area.  When they didn't show for a longer while than I expected I found a nice young couple willing to take me three miles up to Myrtle beach. I later ran into the group who apologized for being so late. 

I can't emphasize how clear the water of the Smith river is!  In parts it is more than 12 or 15 feet dep and one can see straight to the bottom.  Though the birthday lady Mindy stated her friends were going on a 'float', she didn't mention there were a few mild to moderate rapids to be negotiated.  The first was right away and my kayak was quickly filled with 3 or 4 gallons of water.  Fortunately, I had the sense to put my phone and wallet in a  zip lock bag, which I tucked into the front of my life vest.  

The river was a dream.  There were a few shallows I had to walk and I had to dump rapids water a few times.  Once, I bent too far over and once in the kayak noticed my phone was no longer there!  Yikes!  I looked ahead and saw something floating on the surface of the river:  my bag with phone and wallet!  I caught up with them and better secured it from then on!

There were quiet areas and a few beautiful homes along the banks.  I saw no fish but they were probably hiding among the huge boulders and rocks and it was a bit early for the annual salmon run.  

After a few hours, I arrived at the stone beach where I had left my Airstream, changed from wet clothes, and off to the next campground, very satisfied about a great day on the river!

Launching on the Smith

Back to Society Hole

Ft. Bragg

 Got behind again so in reverse order...

Incredible drive down the 101 and onto the 1.  Left early for a laundry stop in Eureka--it was predicted to rain.  Tried to find a local cafe for breakfast within walking but settled on McD's.  Driving through the redwoods, even though I have now been here for almost a week, is still awe inspiring.  I saw a sign just as I entered the 1 at Legett saying (I think) no trailer tow greater than 40 feet. I'm 50 feet with F150 Tow vehicle and the 27 foot Airstream plus bikes.  If that's what it said, it was too late--there was no turnoff.  It was a stunning road going between coastal views, cypress tree tunnels, and grassy bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  The truck and trailer handled the twisty turny up and down drive just fine!  I wish I could have shot some video, though. 

I arrived at Surfwood Campsite of McKerricher State Park with a campground backing onto an ocean view.  The clientele had definitely changed after Labor day with families returning home to school and work, leaving the parks to us oldies.  This place had several nice features: A boardalk overlooking the pacific where we saw harbor seals playing around in th ewater and tons of brown pelicans.  I particularly liked the stairway to the tide pools where I, with the help of a young family (homeschoolers?) found 5 kinds of starfish, not to mention sea snails, hermit crabs, several kinds of anemones, kelp and other seaweed.  Then today I took a bike ride to 'glass beach' where nature had turned an historic garbage dumb into something beautiful with sea glass.  

Glass beach

Sea Glass 

I continued to Noyo bay and again saw playful seals, pelicans, gulls, ravens.  Life!

Vancouver Island

 Next stop, across to Vancouver Island.  Let me introduce Duncan and Nora.  Joyce and I met Duncan in Washington, DC in October, 2002 while boarding a C130 Air Force Transport plane headed directly to Bishkek, Uzbekistan.  I mean non-stop.  I mean in-flight refueling!

We had both responded to a call for Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) course instructors by the American Academy of Family Practice to accompany a "Physicians with Heart" mission trip to central Asia in the former Soviet Union with medical supplies.  I had seen such announcements about week-long trips over the previous few years and was dubious about the value of such short-term 'missions.' 

This time was different.  The AAFP was planning to present the ALSO Course to seasoned Obstetricians and to train a cadre of them to carry on this vital emergency obstetrics training in the country.  We would 'train the trainers' in 3 bourses: Give them the 2 day ALSO Course.  Select a group to take the 1 day ALSO Instructor Course. Then assist and observe and certify them as instructors as they taught a second wave of participants.  All in 7 days!  In Uzbek with translators.  I was in!

So was Duncan, who is one of the most gifted teachers I have met and who wrote one of the most important chapters of the very first ALSO Course on Post Partum Hemorrhage. Duncan was a Family Physician from Vancouver, an intrepid traveler and renaissance man with many talents and interests including knowledge of botany, astronomy, geology, history and just about anything else.  We quickly became friends over the intense work of this course and subsequently taught the ALSO Course all over the world using this train-the-trainer model in Kenya, Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan the very next year, followed later by Republic of Georgia, Tajikistan, St. Lucia, Rwanda.  We met Nora, his wife and also a Family Physician and visited each other's home and even did a Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim Grand Canyon hike together.  (Duncan had a hard time saying no to anything I guess!)  

Duncan and Nora were two of the 'must see' stops on this trip.  Of course Duncan said, 'yes' once again! I mentioned we would be going to Vancouver Island and to visit friends on Read Island.  Duncan said, "Great!  I can bring my boat to take you over there!"  Now THIS was going to be fun!

Tim and Natalie and I awoke early and caravanned south from Whistler to Horseshoe bay where we got on the ferry to Nanaimo on Vancouver island.  Amazing set-up to drive onto this huge Ferry with F150 towing a 28 ft trailer!  We had coffee and food on board and wandered about the boat.  It was extremely windy up front but pleasant and comfortable on deck behind the fore cabin.  We spotted a humpback whale just off the port side!  

From Nanaimo, we stopped to allow Nala to run about, then headed up the east coast of Vancouver Island to Miracle Beach Campsite.  Duncan, Nora, Joyce and the boat would arrive a couple hours later since they had tickets on the later ferry.  We were able to set up camp and get ready for them.  

Miracle Beach had lots of young families, an estuary, surprisingly warm water this far north on account of southern currents, tons of Sand Dollars, bicycle paths, and lovely forest.  It was great to reunite with Joyce and we introduced the two couples to each other and had happy hour, dinner, and great conversation.  

The next morning we had a nice big breakfast and Duncan, Nora, Tim and I took the boat out, dropped crab pots over the side, and motored out to adjacent Quadra Island/ Heriot Bay.  We identified tons of birds (did I mention Duncan is also an avid birder?!) and saw pods of porpoises.  Duncan showed me the nautical maps and pointed out how the buoys and lighthouses mark shallow areas.  Returning, we went to collect our crab 'pots' (2 foot cages with a bag of bait) and found the first relatively easily (even though I failed to mark the spot on google maps).  We were just about to give up on the second when sharp-eyed Tim spotted something.  The tide had come in and the float was just below the surface.  A small miracle we found it!  I was a bit crabby that both pots were empty of crabs!  We hauled the boat back up and had ice cream at the dock.  

Launching the boat

Day on the water

Nora

Whistler

 I said goodbye to Tim in the parking lot of Whistler Village Center where he caught the last but to Vancouver Airport.  I had intended to drop him off and pick up Joyce the next day but misunderstood his travel day.  Now Joyce will arrive tomorrow and Duncan will pick her up.  Tim, it was a great trip!  Thanks so much for joining me and we will do something akin again!  

And now to another Tim.

Tim and Natalie Johnson are long time friends.  Phil Johnson, Tim's older brother, was a year ahead of me in the A of AZ Family Med residency in 1986.  He was my senior resident in my first rotation and we became fast friends.  He grew up in Pakistan as a 'missionary kid' and attended Murree Christian School in Murree, Pakistan. I was fascinated about his stories of Pakistan and the mission filed and in particular third world medicine. I chose U of AZ for my Family Medicine Residency (3 year training program) in large part because of their focus on medicine in resource-poor countries. 

Phil started a bible study/small group with several of the residents and some other folks he knew. He indicated his brother, Tim, would be coming to Tucson to study for a MS in Exercise physiology and asked if I would be interested in a roommate.  Tim and I agreed and we shared a 2 bedroom apartment my first year of residency.  Another member of the small group was Joyce Minnich.  She know Phil Johnson since first grade and also Tim when he joined MCS  2 years later.  Over the next three years, we got to know each other and Joyce would become my wife!  We met Natalie through Tim.  

Tim and Natalie joined me at Nairn Falls campground in Whistler, BC, CA.  They got a chance to meet Tim Whitney and we all headed over to the Falls.  You could feel the thundering power of the water in the rock as we approached.  These falls are special in that they have holes and pools and other interesting features.  

The next day we hiked the "Train Wreck" trail where several train cars remain and form an artistic outlet where, in 1956, loggers in too much of a hurry sped along a section of railway and cause a wreck.  This is also a mountain bike trail complete with features such as "ladders" (I had to look this up).  It was a beautiful trail even for hiking but we saw no mountain bikers on it!

Art enhanced train wreck on train wreck trail. 

We saw no one else beyond the train wreck.  It would be a gnarly ride on a bike, for sure!

Mountain bike feature on Train Wreck trail crossed by Tim, Tim and Natalie

The next morning with Tim W having gone by bus to catch a red eye to Chicago then on to Detroit, we Tim J and Natalie went to do laundry, shopping and a cafe breakfast in nearby quaint Pemberton.  We stopped at an historic museum where old cabins and houses were brought together with old farming, mining, and household articles.  A nice bike ride and a dinner at a local farmhouse brewery finished up our time in Whistler.  It was too cloudy to make the gondola ride between peaks worth it.  

Biking with Tim and Natalie

Fun trails around Whistler

The Beer Farmers Brewery

Tim

Hey Raglow! 

Hey Whitney!

If we had some eggs, we could have ham and eggs if we had some ham!

I met Tim when I went to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico at age 16.  We were not in the same troop in scouting but were both part of the Toledo Area Council which put a group together for this high adventure experience.  As we hiked, we dreamed of good food (vs the freeze-dried stuff we carried on our backs).  One one leg, we had a long uphill hike to Ponil camp.  We thought the program promised  "showers" and "Mexican Dinner."  With each heavy step, we droned those words to keep us moving.  We crested false summit after false summit each time thinking we would see the camp just over the rise and repeatedly being disappointed.  On a rest break, someone re-read the itinerary and found out we were wrong about the showers.  After that our drone without "showers" turned to "Mexican Dinner, Mexican Dinner."  The root beer saloon, with the famous sarsaparilla, was a consolation to the non-existent showers.

Tim and I stayed in touch ever since, visiting whenever I went home to Walbridge, Ohio.  We both married amazing women, have amazing kids. A last minute decision by Joyce to not join me until Vancouver, opened up the section of the itinerary and I immediately called on Tim, recently retired.  Robin (thank you very much!) encouraged him to take the opportunity and Tim was able to arrange his schedule to meet me in Calgary and stay until we reached Vancouver.  That's the way it is with us.  Very spontaneous.  2 years ago September, similarly, my brother Bob invited me and other brothers Paul and Dan to Kelley's island.  I called Tim and he joined the merry crew within hours of the call for an amazing time together (thanks Bobby!)

I had some time alone after Paul left West Glacier National Park and I went to East Glacier, Waterton Lakes (which might be called north Glacier as it is a Canadian extension of Glacier National Park.  I enjoyed the private time but it was great to now have a travelling partner in Tim. 

After Sibbald Lake, we drove to Banff at the Lake Louise hard-sided campground.  We were able to stay there because I was in a travel trailer vs a tent or pop up.  The "soft sided" campground for tents was surrounded by an electric fence to keep the bears out!

Like Glacier, Banff has a lot of tourists.  To put that into perspective: I made my reservation on the opening reservation day for Canada National Parks on April 23, 2025.  That day was a work day for me and I brough my personal laptop knowing I would have to log in before 8. The website told me I'd be randomly assigned a place in line amongst all the others logged in before 8.  After that they would be in line according to the time.  at 8, another message popped up--I was in line at 15,087th place!  They estimated (correctly) that they'd get to me in about 30 minutes.  Astonishing!

It was cloudy and rainy the day we drove through Banff to Lake Louise, so we didn't get to see some of the mountains around Banff proper.  At the visitor center, the ranger told us about a nice 11.5 mile hike.  Take the shuttle to Lake Moraine over Sentinel Pass to Paradise Valley. and catch the return shuttle there.  Seemed like the perfect distance and not too difficult.  Tim and I are experienced hikers (even though Tim often reminds me that I flunked him on Orienteering merit badge at Pioneer Scout reservation a few decades ago! :))

I need to take bear spray? You gotta be kidding!
"Not kidding!  I need to justify my purchase!"

We had water, Bear Spray, lunch, snacks, rain gear, binoculars. I didn't pay for Alltrails app but took pictures of the map. We arrived at the ski area parking lot where buses depart and tried to get on the 8:00 shuttle.  Though it was not full, there were no reservations left and no cancellations that we could see on line.  After repeated refreshes we scored a 10:00 shuttle pass.  We tried but were refused an early seat on the 9:30 shuttle.  We arrived at beautiful Moraine Lake at about 10:30, took a look around and began our hike.  

At Moraine Lake

It was beautiful, if a bit crowded including some 2 dozen middle aged Ohio State Buckeyes on a ladies outing.  We saw tons of wildflowers, mountains, snow fields, glaciers and lakes. Arriving at Sentinel pass we saw 4 young backpacking ladies ascending from Paradise Campground.  The trail at that point looked sketchy and we asked about it and they said they mistakenly went way to the right but pointed to the tracks in the snow where we needed to end up.  Neither they, nor the ranger who suggested this route, cautioned us about the decent from Sentinel pass.  We managed to avoid the crowds at that point--these backpackers were the last people we saw on the trail!

View from Sentinel Pass

 It was steep with loose scree and boulders that shifted under our feet.  There were cairns to show the way until about a quarter way down the slope and we had to pick our way down backwards on all fours with rocks and even big boulders sliding down. Tim and I both agree this was the toughest section of trail we had ever hiked!  It took a couple hours at the pace we were going just for that section. 

Our view for the next 2 hours!

The late start and slow progress down sentinel pass put us behind schedule.  It didn't help that we took the trail to paradise campground and had to back track a mile to get to the trailhead (thanks to a German backpacker for sharing his information).  It turned out the Alltrails map picture was misleading. We now had about 4.5 miles to go at 5 PM.  Was the last shuttle from Lake Moraine at 7?  Or was it 7:30?  Could we possibly make it to the trailhead in time?  If not we would have to walk an additional 3 miles or try to hitch with a late employee.  We hustled and made it seeing the last bus in the parking lot.  The driver after asking if we got lost, informed us we had 30 seconds to go.  I was so relieved not to have an additional 3 mile hike!  I was pretty spent.  We paid for it the next day in shredded muscle from the sustained pace!  Tim signed up for an 11.5 mile hike and didn't seem to appreciate the extra 1.5 miles for our detour!  One good thing, though, was seeing the Giant Steps Falls.  We saw a cute marmot also!

Mr. Marmot

Paulsbo

Having gotten behind in writing I will now work backward.  After a month in Canada, I crossed with Joyce on the Black Ball Ferry from Victoria, BC to Port Angeles, WA then on to Sequim (pronounced "Squim") Bay Campground, dropped HUMSFR off and then proceeded to Paulsbo, WA, where we rejoined Tim and Natalie at Natalie's parents, Malcolm and Sylvia, who live right on the water of the Hood Canal just downstream from Bangor Naval Base.  

On ferry to Port Angeles, WA.  So long Canada!  It was great!

Arriving about 3 PM we went clamming for our first time and were able to use a small hand gardening rake to rake a few small clams from about 2 inches in the sand.  The tide was a bit too high for ideal clamming grounds but we got the idea and later had a clam feast from clams harvested the day before and amazing fresh oysters on the half shell baked with bacon,  brie cheese, bread crumbs and garlic butter.  Yum!  Striking how well fed we can be from the fruits of the sea picked up right off the beach! 

Clams free from the sea!

Simple clamming tools

Baked Oysters on the half shell!

Clams by the bucket!

Clam and Oyster feast at Sylvia and Malcolm's!

Joyce also has a good friend from Tucson whose daughter lives in Paulsbo, a town famous for, among other things, a strong Norwegian community.  The next morning, Joyce and Natalie were able to visit Susan and see the sites of Paulsbo while Tim and I kayaked off Salisbury Point near the Hood Canal floating bridge.  There we saw Salmon 3 feet long jumping and fishermen trying their luck.  We saw one nice specimen landed by a boating fisherman.  We did not see any of the nuclear submarines that sometimes make their way down the canal past Malcolm and Sylvia's.

Kayaking with Hood Canal Floating Bridge in background.

Natalie and Joyce with friend Susan in Paulsbo

That afternoon the local summer community theater in Silverdale, 30 min, from Paulsbo, put on an outstanding production of Cats.  I was expecting an amateurish rendition.  I was taken aback and delighted by the music, acting (they take all applicants, all ages and have 2 companies for different nights) choreography, sound production, costumes, and musicality.  Natalie Joyce and I are dealing with aging parents and aging selves, and Tim lost a brother and both parents; the words and stories touched home.