LOVE OF TRAVEL has been at the heart of our relationship, and our mutual longing for new places, new people, new food, and new adventures has blessed our lives with far-flung friends and enough variety for many lifetimes. Even though money is always tight there is—somehow—enough for that next airline ticket.


Turkey drew us from the first, when in 1977 we, along with our eleven-year-old daughter, drove a great circle through Europe and into the Soviet Union, from the Finnish border south to Romania and Yugoslavia.


There we avidly studied maps, trying to find a route to Turkey that wouldn’t take us through yet another communist country, of which we’d had enough. Alas, Albania and Bulgaria barred the way.


It wasn’t until 1987 that we finally made it, driving a used red Citroen (dubbed “Fast Eddie”) from Holland to Greece and then hopscotching across the islands to finally ferry from Samos to Kusadasi on a tiny boat through choppy waters. We were sure that Fast Eddie—his tail hanging over the ferry’s end and no blocks to hold him—would end at the bottom of the Aegean, but we made it safely to Turkish shores and immediately fell in love with the country and its people.


Ten years later we returned for the year-long stay that remains for both of us, the “best year” (so far) of our lives.



Between travels we’ve worked at various jobs, adequately supporting our travel addiction but never building traditional careers. Our daughter, exposed early to many cultures, grew up to be an environmental anthropologist. Karen is a published freelance writer and Ray’s photos often accompany her articles.


In 2000 we bought a little house in southwest France and spent as much time there as we could before the falling dollar and the lure of a new granddaughter brought us back to the US in 2007.


WE’RE NOW at home in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, busily and happily pursuing new ideas and challenges. Life goes on, the world changes, and we all grow older. Adventure still calls, however, and that next airline ticket is just a click away.