tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859Tue, 05 May 2026 20:44:28 +0000Side Trips Away from BarraveighCambodiaSingaporeBaliPhilippinesThailandPolitely Running Wild in Europehttps://www.saltwatergood.com/noreply@blogger.com (Bobby)Blogger202125en-usnoPolitely Running Wild in Europenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-301653099665998312Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:16:00 +00002026-03-17T08:16:58.159-04:00What we drove in 2025Goodbye ItalyThe ferry from Sardinia to Barcelona was a calm 12 hours across a flat Balearic Sea. We got to pet some dogs onboard the big vessel as we baked beneath the Mediterranean sun. We hid that first night in the overpriced parking lot of a hospital. The madness that is Barcelona in June is a velocity that I can no longer match. The next morning, we made a rhumb https://www.saltwatergood.com/2026/03/andorra-france-and-early-exit.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-5961912166700008411Sun, 10 Aug 2025 16:08:00 +00002026-03-15T10:30:00.770-04:00Not Our First RodeoWe drove the entire length of Italy 2 years ago and I wrote all about it. There are 2 dispatches dedicated to our travels there. This is the third entry on the nation of Italy but probably not the last. For this sojourn through, not only the entire length again, but also the islands of Sicily and Sardinia – we had a different mission. Yes, of course, we went to sample the food,https://www.saltwatergood.com/2025/08/italy-with-purpose.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-2517960969529448720Sat, 31 May 2025 04:22:00 +00002025-05-31T04:54:40.101-04:00The Big 3My father died in 1998. My brother, our mother & myself have referred to our little tripod as the Big 3 ever since. Todd and I never had kids so the circle never grew, nor was it diluted. My immediate family core is quite small. Therefore, when we are together, it’s focused and precious. It’s not like most Christmas’ where the boys fly in from different coasts of the same country andhttps://www.saltwatergood.com/2025/05/back-in-usa.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-3399276173042072329Fri, 02 May 2025 10:09:00 +00002025-05-02T06:18:38.955-04:00Ahh... The UKBritain's pub culture is alive and well and I came to help keep it that way. I wanted to offer support in the form of economic patronage. Bending the elbow and then slapping the King's shrapnel unto the bar mat made me one with the Everyman - The backbone of British culture.The DrivingI begin every day by reciting my mantra: “Drive on the left! Drive on the left! Drive on the left!” https://www.saltwatergood.com/2025/05/great-britain-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-4458788498872594534Wed, 23 Apr 2025 10:06:00 +00002025-04-29T01:52:28.994-04:00We’ve completed 3 years of driving around Europe and so begins Year 4. But first I have to do a recap of the last half of 2024.We started in Athens and ended in Paris. It was an ambitious year and we pulled it off. This was 2024!And Without Further Delay – The Unrequested Random Clearing HouseNot every paragraph I write fits cleanly into a topic thesis, some exist as disjointed, broken time-line https://www.saltwatergood.com/2025/04/the-unrequested-random-clearing-house.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-5123379495893214184Thu, 12 Sep 2024 09:39:00 +00002024-09-12T07:47:03.409-04:00The FoodAleja says, "Being fat is very delicious but not very good for you." Bobby responds: "But what if we just scarf this Turkish delight until we have diabetes and stop before we get fat?"The Turkish delight, the Baklava (AB pronunciation: “Blackblahblah) the Dondurma ice cream (Chewy - Made with Salep which is the tuber of the orchid and going extinct)… They are very good at desserts. https://www.saltwatergood.com/2024/09/turkey-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-8586406033343530541Mon, 22 Jul 2024 07:01:00 +00002024-07-22T03:17:23.727-04:00In Turkey, the word for diesel is "Motorin". I challenge you to pull into a gas station, say that word and not start singing Sister Christian by Night Ranger. It's objectively impossible. Turkey - First Impressions: Everyone smokes all the time & smiles cost extra. The majority of the men look like Bond villains who have perfected their scowl. Smoke rising from their skinny https://www.saltwatergood.com/2024/07/turkey-part-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-3296466011595701239Wed, 26 Jun 2024 16:01:00 +00002024-06-26T12:01:26.182-04:00Crossing the BorderThe Georgian immigration lady literally put a diamond loupe on my driver's license and passport and went over every square millimeter trying to decide if they were frauds or not. Once satisfied she demanded that I buy insurance. “I already have”. I showed her the contract on my phone that I had bought the day before. She stared at the phone and then transferred her deadeye lookhttps://www.saltwatergood.com/2024/06/georgia.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-6841554066756452313Tue, 11 Jun 2024 13:19:00 +00002024-06-11T09:19:15.511-04:00When you drive around Europe, you begin to see a pattern: Hard scrabble peasants colonized by the civilized Romans. From England to Spain, From France to Romania – The Romans are usually the oldest civilization represented in the archeological record. Then One Arrives In GreeceEven with all the significant contributions the Romans brought to Western Civilization (and there were many) let’s https://www.saltwatergood.com/2024/06/greece.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-2109227899965908795Mon, 11 Mar 2024 10:04:00 +00002024-03-11T08:05:01.364-04:00 These lines represent 2 years of driving around EuropeRed = Year 1 / Purple = Year 2“And you may find yourself in another part of the worldAnd you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile.....”~The Talking Heads~Indeed! I had found myself in Europe driving a large motorhome. Well…How did I get here?And Without Further Delay – The Unrequested Random Clearing HouseNot every https://www.saltwatergood.com/2024/03/random-clearing-house-france-albania.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-3780588613419252097Tue, 21 Nov 2023 16:53:00 +00002024-03-09T09:17:08.689-05:00As far to one side as my brother’s request for “nothing touristic” was, our itinerary for Nathalia was: “Everything touristic!” I think we honored them both. If you tilt the camera up just a tad you can hide the hundreds of people just in front of youRomeRome is a ghetto built on the foundations of the most noble of all cities. There are some gorgeous sections but it’s their adjacency to https://www.saltwatergood.com/2023/11/italy-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-2987763349823840266Sat, 11 Nov 2023 14:30:00 +00002024-03-08T05:51:28.328-05:00Our First Morning in Italy We awoke beneath the granite megalith of the Alps. Early August and it’s 44 degrees (7 Celsius). We had packed the camper with French delicacies for my brother, whom I was picking up in Milan the next day. We had less than 200 KM to drive but lots of cleaning to do. With hot coffee in hand, we embraced a new country and a new adventure. Ah Italy – the staccatohttps://www.saltwatergood.com/2023/11/italy-part-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-6317546340080228628Sat, 30 Sep 2023 16:18:00 +00002025-10-07T17:44:28.770-04:00I'm the legacy of immigrants. I'm one of a couple hundred descendants of a strong resilient man and woman who could only imagine the risks and hardships they embarked upon. They crossed an ocean and dug earth to feed the brood. Aleja doesn't know her lineage, but to some degree, our stories began here on this continent; Europe. We are from the new world returning to the old world. In https://www.saltwatergood.com/2023/09/spain-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-5230745051559060638Sat, 08 Jul 2023 08:36:00 +00002023-07-08T04:36:52.894-04:00 The Delights!There is a fleeting moment in which the perfect temperature wind caresses your skin. You smell the pine and hear the birds, and you know that you got here by your own volition. It’s a sense of joy that creeps up around your shoulders and grips you like an old friend around the neck. We made good choices and here we are. Morocco held many “Delight!” moments. The Atlas https://www.saltwatergood.com/2023/07/morocco-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-3662269122719616194Sat, 24 Jun 2023 16:29:00 +00002023-06-24T12:29:38.516-04:00It’s the land of the Barbary Pirates, the Atlas Mountains, the clay pot tagines, and bottomless mint tea. We were there for 3 months and a week. From my diary: “It’s my 80th country! We left from Algeciras Spain and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 1.5 hours. Driving south from Tangiers, the gentle green rolling hills look like France with mild poverty.” Morocco started with a whimperhttps://www.saltwatergood.com/2023/06/morocco-part-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-8338824598949774115Sat, 03 Jun 2023 12:19:00 +00002023-06-03T08:47:03.445-04:00We charted a heading of 270 degrees and followed the sun due west from Seville to the heart of the Algarve. Diesel smells like freedom. Barraveigh, Elsie and now Encore; all my freedom machines drink it down. Climate RefugeesNormally it's the “whooshbang” of the van doors, and the engines starting that wake us up. Not here. This is a campground populated by retirees escaping the frost of https://www.saltwatergood.com/2023/06/portugal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-8412405478005746736Tue, 25 Apr 2023 16:06:00 +00002023-04-25T12:25:18.555-04:00We crossed from France to Spain without even knowing it. This is the joy of The Schengen Zone. The misery is that the clock won’t stop on our 90 days until we enter Morocco. Doesn’t matter. The cold of the north is melting away, and like the little flower that could, we are about to bloom in the sunshine of the south.Let the Culinary Delights Begin!The pastis de xocolata was probably the https://www.saltwatergood.com/2023/04/spain-part-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-4692413419629707841Thu, 02 Feb 2023 07:23:00 +00002023-02-02T02:56:28.982-05:00Returning to FranceOne must remember that our vehicle is French, and our license plate is French, so that “F” denotes to the world that we are French. We are constantly confused for being French. We open the car door in Serbia and someone says, “Bonjour!”. I got a parking ticket in England and some nice man walked up to me to apologize in French. Since everyone treats us like the French, even https://www.saltwatergood.com/2023/02/the-random-european-clearing-house.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-5703103504157237301Sat, 21 Jan 2023 16:34:00 +00002023-02-04T04:27:09.344-05:00The Republic Of IrelandIreland. What a place. So much optimism and wit but always a sad ending. These people know they've suffered, and they’ve smile thru it. Their humor carries them. Ireland is fueled on dreams, tragedy and peat fired hearths (peat smells like a cross between an electrical fire and how every fishing trip begins: digging for worms). They’ve spent lifetimes clawing at the soil https://www.saltwatergood.com/2023/01/the-british-isles-part-3-finale.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-3545164907271655797Wed, 18 Jan 2023 00:34:00 +00002023-01-21T21:43:37.900-05:00 IrelandWe took the first ferry of the new day from Cairnryan Scotland, to Larne Ireland. We pulled over next to the Olderfleet castle ruins, and finished breakfast. I listened to The Pogues sing Dirty Old Town... Twice, and then we drove south and into Belfast.Carrickfergus Castle that guarded the approach to Belfast. Originally built by a Norman adventurer in 1177 AD. You can see https://www.saltwatergood.com/2023/01/the-british-isles-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-5016626231352554447Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:04:00 +00002023-01-16T08:45:59.888-05:00Jess Davies crewed for me from Bali to Sorong Indonesia. Great lady!Like the escapees from Dunkirk decades before, we fled France, crossed the channel and headed for Ramsgate. We had a friendly soft-landing waiting for us. I was eager to speak English with the originators. It had been a while. Our first impressions were the atrocious roads and the friendliness of the people. These folks are https://www.saltwatergood.com/2023/01/the-british-isles-part-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-2427840589333594408Tue, 25 Oct 2022 17:04:00 +00002022-10-25T13:04:25.511-04:00Entering Norway2 lanes. "Nothing to Declare" & "Something to Declare". I stop and declare. No one comes out. It's pouring rain. I can’t back up and just change lanes now that I’ve pulled into the “Something to Declare” line. There are cameras. I run in. They look at me with dismay. "Damn. Some golden heart is actually going to tell the truth?" They get the forms out. It took ten minutes and https://www.saltwatergood.com/2022/10/norway.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-5929651585571004034Sun, 02 Oct 2022 17:18:00 +00002022-10-03T07:02:19.861-04:00NikvilleI have a bit of a social head start when it comes to Sweden. Back in the USA of the 90’s I met the enigma named Niklas Gunnarsson at the rock-climbing gym. He’s literally good at everything, smart, patient, and a hell of an athlete. In my faulty memory I recall that once we met, we immediately became fast friends and spent every weekend together camping and climbing. But that’s hero https://www.saltwatergood.com/2022/10/sweden.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-3923994600729847871Sun, 18 Sep 2022 14:14:00 +00002022-09-18T10:14:07.711-04:00 AlbaniaThis guy's been smoking since his ninth birthday and he’s 36. He looks 50. He drives a stolen German Mercedes 200d that's 40% bondo. He's got way too much hair on his arms and the best tan you've ever seen and he's never owned a pair of sunglasses. His squint would make Clint Eastwood blush. I’m not describing an individual. This accounts for 70% of the male population of Albania, https://www.saltwatergood.com/2022/09/the-balkans-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401704154950817859.post-524775453573462703Wed, 31 Aug 2022 16:14:00 +00002022-09-18T10:34:54.409-04:00 Captain Bobby – Amateur Anthropologist“Hi, I'm new in town. I'm gonna want a thick steak, a glass of mature red, a SIM card, and the nearest ATM. Oh.... and I'm gonna need to see all your castles, and anything else that might fall under the realm of archeology. I’ll begin my historical interrogation after the cocktails arrive. Take your time, I'll be here awhile"… I might be a douchebag – https://www.saltwatergood.com/2022/08/the-balkans-part-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bobby)1