Holy Mackerel -- Think About This -- February 11, 2023

The Chinese are learning about the capabilities of US homeland security. Wow.

It seems to me this should be classified information.  

***************************
From My Diary

Christmas, 1973:

Sometime during my last year in college, having been accepted to medical school, I knew I would never have a free summer again, and started planning to take a trip to Europe. 

I learned that the Ashmores -- family friends from Williston -- would also, coincidentally, be in Europe that summer. My plans were vague: hitchhike to NYC, visit the Fisher residence with a hope that I might see Linda again, a round trip ticket to Europe on Luxembourg Air, catch up with the Ashmores in Europe, touch base with a family friend working in Stuttgart, Germany, finding a cousin serving in the US Navy in Naples, Italy, and then returning to the states. The details would be worked out on the fly.

I had not seen Linda Fisher since 1971, nor had we communicated during those two years since the fall of 1971 when I departed Westfield, NJ, to return to Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD. 

The Ashmores were an incredible family; more about them later. 

The family friend in Stuttgart: Norm Furuseth, one of my dad's closest friends. He was working either as a high school teacher or as a principal of a US DODDS school.

My cousin, James Oksol, was a LTJG at the time.

And, yes, the details were "worked out on the fly." I traveled so lightly I did not pack an atlas (or even a map) of the United States. I looked at maps at service stations along the way. We had no mobile devices, no cell phones, in 1973. 

I don't recall where I ate while hitchhiking from Williston to NYC, but it must have been McDonald's. I had $1,000 for the trip (which included air fare and an unlimited Eurail pass). The $1,000 was a loan from my mother which was eventually re-paid. I returned home from a summer in Europe, a week in New York City, and two weeks in Boston with $400 out of the original $1,000.

The trip played out as described in the jouornal notes above, not one deviation. 

Years later, our two daughters had similar overseas experiences.

Bob Dylan released his thirteenth studio album in 1973. The album included "Knocking On Heaven's Door."