Donna
My Best Friend on Okinawa


One of our fond memories is of the two of us doing a song and dance routine,
with her as Jane Russell and me as Marilyn Monroe
, to the song "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."
Donna went on to become an actress and actually knows Jane Russell!

Before coming to Okinawa as a budding teenager in the 1950s,
Donna had lived in Japan (age 5-7). She also lived in Germany as a young bride in the 1960s.
In the more recent past she has spent a good deal of time in Mexico.


We have not seen each other since Washington in the early 1960s.
But, we re-connected a few years ago and caught up during a series of telephone calls.
Donna now lives in Colorado and is grandmother to three.

At some point, Donna went into real estate there.


A brief bio in her own words...
Click here

Like most of us military brats, including myself, Donna has a strong case of the Wanderlust.
So, after being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease a couple years ago,
she decided to do some travelling that she had always dreamed of doing, while she still could.
Not one to dream small, she set out to
go around the world by motorcycle!
And, thanks to her “retired” motorcycle-adventurer friend, Gregory,
the only motorcyclist in the world to have ridden solo four times around the globe,
so she has!

For an introduction to the plan,
Click here


Following are some photos from her adventure.


From Deadhorse, Alaska, across the Arctic Circle

to the Arctic Ocean.

South through Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile....

Machu Pichu, Peru

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to the southern tip of Argentina, south of Ushuaia.

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From Cape Town, South Africa,
via Namibia,
Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe ...


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to Cape Agulhaus at the southern tip of Africa.

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From North Africa by Ferry across the Mediterranean

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to Sicily, Sardenia, Pompeii

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North to Florence and Pisa

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On to the Alps of Switzerland and Austria and through Germany

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After a year they had managed nearly three fourths of their ride around the planet.
But, getting in the last leg was going to require a break for bad weather and medical issues.
They went home for four months in Colorodao, and then they headed back on the road.


Starting again from Frankfurt, Germany,
they headed north to Sweden and Norway,

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crossing the Arctic Circle,
to the North Cape of Norway,
far north as they could ride a motorcycle on the European continent.

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From there they headed south to warmer weather,
starting with a trip to
Helsinki, Finland
.

Ahead was a ferryboat ride to the former eastern bloc countries of
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

From
Warsaw, they took a detour to Berlin, Germany, for Donna to see to see Berlin and the Berlin Wall,
and
to obtain travel documents for heading east. Before leaving Germany,
they stopped by a motorcycle traveler’s meeting in the Harz Mountains,
where Gregory knew some of the attendees and they could meet other "global road warriors."
From there it was off to southern Germany, where Donna could visit relatives while Gregory made motorcycle arrangements for their final dash across Asia:
Target - Kathmandu, Nepal and points east.

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Thailand

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Finding record-breaking rains in Thailand, they decided to forego similarly wet Cambodia and Laos.
They parked their motorcycle on high ground in Thailand,
shipped some packages home and flew onto their final stop, Hong Kong, and home to the US.


A colorful narrative of their experiences, with more photos,
can be found on their web site.
Click here


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