Thursday, December 31, 2009

Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun!


By Claire and Chuck
Our hope is that our second decade in the 21st century will be one of peace and understanding in the world. We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us in this adventure, most especially:

Jim and Stephanie—Jim for being our perfect property manager and allowing us to be able to travel worry-free. Stephanie for all the little deeds she does for us throughout this year (receiving our forwarded mail, forwarding mail on, biking past our house, and much, much more). How could we have done this without you two?

Merlyn and Tom for storing our two cars for the entire year! We know they are in good hands and we so appreciate your generous offer to do this for us.

Tai for all the computer support and movies. We’re into Season 4 of Dexter, one of our all time favorite series. It’s fun to watch a movie, cozy inside of Homer, every so often. Being able to see Roman Holiday again and the scene with the "Mouth of Truth," priceless.

Diane for suggesting the idea of ordering another purse like the one that was stolen and letting me have it delivered to her house and storing it until I get home. That sure took the sting out of the loss.

Carol for being generous enough to offer to let us store a sofa and exercise bike. For that and the use of her truck on the several occasions we needed it, we are very grateful.

Guerren from the Benefits Office at UC Davis for arranging to let us get an entire year’s worth of prescription meds. We know he went above and beyond for us and that took a huge load of worry off our backs. We may have been able to get the prescriptions filled over here; but finding pharmacies, and worrying about whether or not they would fill what we needed was not what we wanted to be focusing on.

Penny, for being there with Mom when we are unable to be. And, for printing and reading out the blog to her; we appreciate it so much.

All the wonderful people we have met during our travels who have gone out of their way to befriend us—sharing information, maps, printed materials, time and energy to help us along the way. Thank you!

And thank you to all the friends, relatives and strangers who have followed our blog. We love to get your comments and feedback.

We spent the day revisiting some places we love in Kaș and visiting some new sights we just found out about:

Ancient theatre one block from Homer


What a view with our buddy the cat at my side!


Our buddy the cat


We found this sarcophagus at the top of a very pretty street. I guess they’re used to it, but we were impressed.



I found out that giving red lingerie for New Year’s is considered good luck in Turkey. We saw several displays.



We hiked around and found this Lycian tomb, not far from the theatre and not far from our campsite.



High up on the hill, we also spotted a Fiat place and decided to try once again to have someone look at the transmission, especially since things are much cheaper in Turkey. They were very nice at the small Fiat service and called someone who could speak English and let Chuck talk to him so that he could then communicate to the service manager.



They thought a heavier oil might help so we brought Homer to them. They looked under the hood and determined it wasn’t the oil. Then, the service manager took a test drive with us but said he could not fix it; we would need to go to Antalya. It’s 5 hours away so we will think about trying Istanbul. After the test drive, he had one of the guys adjust the clutch, in case that would help. It helped a little but the main problem, the syncromesh, continues. Chuck asked what we owed and he just waved his hand away indicating we owed nothing. He then put his hand out to shake, and said "Ciao."

While this was going on, I was wandering around and found another sarcophagus. I also found a produce market.



We ended this gorgeous 70° day back up at the top of the ancient theatre watching the sunset on the last day of the year.




I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

3 comments:

Carol said...

Claire and Chuck,

I'm grateful that I know you and grateful how much your friendship has enriched my life. Thank you for letting me be a part of your journey!

Love,
Carol

Unknown said...

Dear Chuck and Claire--I'm happy to be cozy at home on New Year's Eve and reflecting on the past year. Paul Krugman and Daniel Shore both said that 2009 was a horror year and pretty much the first decade of the 21st century was a bust--the Bush years may have had something to do with that . . . Yet I'm still so thankful for my wonderful life and you two are truly a highlight--of the decade and of the year. Participating in your journey has been phenomenal. Although I sorely miss your physical presence, I am in constant awe of your courage and fortitude and feel like I'm traveling with you. Thank you for all that you are and all that you give to those of us here at home. Happy New Year to my very special friends!
Love, Diane

Merlyn Potters said...

What a wonderful New Year's tribute to your friends. You, in turn, have greatly contributed to the beauty of the our year. Tom and I thank you both for your inspiration, your invaluable insights, the model of your courage, and the vicarious travel experience you've provided us. I send love and peace for the new year and the next decade. -Merlyn