Hiking great. 17 days in the tent, walking deserts in California and Nevada.
Cycling was the most problematic. But I still made it 11 days on the Trans Canada Great Trail, starting in Vernon and ending up in Fernie (with a busted bike).
What’s next?
Still considering my options.
The only thing fixed for sure is World Gymnastics Championships in Netherlands Oct. 2026.
Well known for dry, hot, sunny summers and cool, cloudy winters. The second mildest winter of any non-coastal city in Canada, after neighbouring Penticton.
We did a couple of days at beaches and the waterfront.
Spent even more time socializing over great food and drink.
I’m staying closer to home due to Trump’s stupid, unnecessary war.
Starting my 4th week of skiing out of Banff.
I have a permit to backpack a couple of weeks on the world’s best long thru hike – the Pacific Crest Trail. Starting May 26th out of Palm Springs, California.
AND I want to get back to Banff by June 12th (or shortly after) to start the Tour Divide – the world’s most famed long distance cycling route Canada to Mexico.
I won’t be trying for Mexico.
From Missoula, Montana I’ll divert to Idaho. And on to Kelowna, B.C. for a reunion with lifelong friends.
This book is focused on Michèle’s 10 years in West Berlin — one of the most unique and interesting cities of the world. She lived there 1976 to 1986. Moving only to marry her husband Garth.
If it wasn’t for Garth, she might still be living in Berlin. 😀
Formally controlled by the Western Allies (England, France, USA), West Berlin was surrounded by the Berlin Wall, built in 1961, and bleak East Germany.
German students going to school there could avoid military service. The counter-culture was artistic freedom and living life to the fullest. Nightclubs had no closing. A haven for hippies, punks, musicians (like David Bowie & Iggy Pop), Michèle, and her friends.
My Berlin Koffer is a time capsule of West Berlin between 1976 and 1986, a time when the city was literally an island of freedom in the middle of Eastern Europe, restricted by the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall.
After a few years of teaching in England and in France, Mimi is looking for a change in her life.
West Berlin in the 1970s offers affordable rents, a good university, part-time jobs, and an abundance of cultural events.
For a young, educated woman with plenty of room in her suitcase, the island of freedom seems to be the ideal place in which to settle.
It’s a long and winding road to learning German, studying for a master’s, and finding an interesting job, while enjoying cinema, theatre, music, art, as well as socializing with cosmopolitan friends and adapting to a new culture.
Will this extraordinary city which never sleeps enable Mimi to find what she wants and eventually fill her suitcase?
And if it ever overflows, will she ever be able to leave?
I’d been waiting for Michèle’s Berlin book because my first flight to Europe (1974, I believe) landed West Berlin. I recall that trip vividly. It was a really BIG deal for me. Checkpoint Charlie.
A Gymnastics tour organized by Hajo Elsholtz.
I’m wondering if German boyfriend Alex has a copy of this book. 😀
Well kids … there was a time before the internet when friends used something called a telephone to keep in touch. Once in a while we’d write letters. It’s true.
Ron and Kate took the time to put together friendship newsletters called The Calgary Redeye. They collected contributions from friends and put it together on a photocopied, stapled publication.
Out in Saskatoon, I decided to launch a goofy competitor to the Redeye. I called it Lifebeat.
Here’s the Christmas 1991 edition. 😀 The goal was to make friends laugh.
Rick McCharles 