By Arvo Johnson
For the Sequim Gazette
Traveler’s Journal begins its 26th season of travel and adventure slide shows on Thursday, Feb. 2, at the Sequim High School Library.
The eight-week, Thursday night travel series offers an opportunity to look into the lives, the culture and the landscape of remarkable places around the world.
You are invited to experience these great locations and adventures this year:
Feb. 2 — “Mountain Biking the Himalayas” with David McCulloch and Jon Mueller
The biking buddies explored this part of India in 2015 on their own terms and time schedule. From 100 degree heat in the plains to 15,000-foot passes, it was a trip full of challenges and rewards.
Join McCulloch and Mueller as they bike 760 miles through the Kinnaur, Spiti, Kulu and Kangra Valleys and the high-altitude passes of Northern India. The adventure cyclists share photographs and stories infused with unique people and cultures, ending in the plains of the Punjab, McCulloch’s childhood home.
Feb. 9 — “One World, Twice Around” with Nancy Erley
Erley, a local Pacific Northwesterner, is one of the most respected, experienced sailors in the world. She will take attendees on an around-the-world adventure aboard Tethys, her 38-foot sailboat. She will entertain with adventurous, fearful and comical stories of two separate, five-year circumnavigations with all-women crews.
“As the skipper of an all-woman crew, Nancy fashioned a circumnavigation that should go down in the record books as one of the soundest, most seaman-like journeys of the modern cruising era. Like all competent voyages, Tethys ‘circumnavigation was notable for its lack of disasters.” — George Day, publisher Blue Water Sailing magazine
This is a great opportunity to hear from one of the best in sailing.
Feb. 16 — Al Fin del Mundo “South Georgia Island/Patagonia” with Bob and Enid Phreaner
The Phreaners were born with an insatiable curiosity about nature and the world around them. Their presentation will take attendees to Fin del Mundo, the end of the world, Patagonia! Tierra del Fuego.
Join them as they follow in Darwin and Shackleton footsteps on South Georgia Island for fantastic animal viewing and stunning landscapes. SGI also is known as the “Serengeti of the Southern Ocean” and “Galapagos of the Antarctic,” due to the biodiversity and incredible density of penguins, seabirds and mammals that breed here.
Get a front row seat as you watch and hear the stories of the close encounters with the curious inhabitants of this incredible island. Also, the spectacular scenery of Torres del Paine National Park should be quite the adventure.
Feb. 23 — “Going With the Flow: Exploring the Rivers of Europe by Tandem Bike” with Louise and Jeff Davis
By 2012 avid bikers Louise and Jeff Davis had logged more than 60,000 miles on bike trips throughout the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Australia. After 18 years of marriage and all those miles, they decided it was time to venture to the great biking in Europe.
Their presentation will be a composite of photos and stories of three different cycling trips in 2013, 2015 and 2016. The Davises are past presenters and they take attendees on this tandem bike journey to Holland, Austria, Germany, Hungary, alongside some of the most spectacular rivers, countryside, sleepy towns and beautiful cities in Europe.
March 2 — “My Old Man and the Mountain” with Leif Whittaker
Whittaker, a writer, speaker, photographer, adventurer and seasonal climbing ranger, will share stories and photos of his high adventure quest of Everest.
Come early to get your seat as it will be standing room only for this one.
He is excited to have his first book published “My Old Man and the Mountain” released October 2016. Join him as he shares his views in a very entertaining way about climbing and growing up in his dad’s shadow, the first American to summit Everest.
“Whittaker writes as he climbs, with courage, grace and a dash of humility. The result is an utterly compelling tale of a young man who bravely tackles two great challenges — one made of rock and ice and one made of doubts and fear. It’s a great read.” — Daniel Brown, author of “The Boys in the Boat”
“Leif Whittaker, son of the first American to summit Everest, has given us a deliciously irreverent perspective on growing up in the shadow of a famous father and how that journey helped shape a unique perspective on one young man’s own relationship with a mountain … and a dad.” — Tom Hornbeam, author of “Everest: The West Ridge”
March 9 — “A Journey in Search of the Amazing Wildlife & Landscape of South America” with Ken and Mary Campbell
Wildlife and nature photographers Ken and Mary Campbell have captured beautiful images of extraordinary wildlife on all seven continents; you are guaranteed to see some great photos.
The two also have worked as bio reporters for GLOBIO, a website teaching children about global diversity. The presentation shares their adventures and photos in search of Brazil’s Big Five (jaguar, ocelot, giant river otter, giant anteater and South American tapir) in Brazil’s Pantanal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Along with the wildlife, you’ll experience the extraordinary landscape of the Atacama Desert in Chile, Torres del Paine, Ecuador and Argentina.
If you love wildlife and like to hear the stories that go along with searching for them, do not miss this presentation.
March 16 — “Cycling Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C.” with Janis Burger
Burger, a Penn State journalism/photojournalism graduate and now a naturalist/educator for Olympic National Park, will share her East Coast cycling adventure.
Always sensitive to her carbon footprint, her first choice of travel is by bike. She and her old college roommate from Penn State decided that in October 2015 they would do a 335-mile seven-/eight-day bike trip.
Starting in Harpers Ferry, W. Va., their journey winds through beautiful countryside among golden fall colors and ends in the nation’s capital.
Burger enjoys the quiet of biking as well as the idea of getting exercise while getting somewhere at a pace that allows one to better hear, smell and soak in the surroundings.
March 23 — “Myanmar, Road to Mandalay” with Ed and Maureene Dubiak
The last presentation in the 2017 Traveler’s Journal Series takes us along with Ed and Maureene Dubiak on a journey to a place that opened up for travel in 2010: Myanmar.
With a vast experience of travel and sense of adventure, the Dubiaks have traveled to over 100 countries and to every state in the U.S. See the sights and hear the stories of a little-known part of this great planet.
Spend three weeks exploring the rivers, hills and plains of this ancient civilization. Take a seat and lose yourself in this unique gem in Southeast Asia among the ruins, temples and people.
About the presentations
Traveler’s Journal is a presentation of the Peninsula Trails Coalition. All of the money raised is used to buy project supplies and food for the volunteers working on the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Admission is $5 adults, youths 18 and under free. Shows start at 7 p.m. in the Sequim High School Library at 601 N. Sequim Ave. The seating is chairs and some people bring their own cushions.
This is the first year Arvo Johnson steps in for prior Travel Journal organizers Dave Shreffler and Paul Pinza. He promises to carry on the high standards of the annual winter series.
”I hope you enjoy this year’s presenters and a give a big thank you all of the presenters,” Johnson said. “It is lot of work and I know the community appreciates and enjoys hearing the adventures. Also you are a part of doing something special for PTC, allowing thousands to enjoy the nature we have here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.”
Each year the dream of a continuous trail from Port Townsend to Forks gets a little closer. In 2016, about 200 volunteers put in more than 9,000 hours of labor on the trail.
One selected photo enlargement will be given each week as a door prize.
Call Arvo Johnson at 360-301-9359 for more information.
2017 Traveler’s Journal lineup
Feb. 2 — David McCulloch and Jon Mueller: “Biking the Himalayas”
Feb. 9 — Nancy Erley: “One World, Twice Around”
Feb. 16 — Bob and Enid Phreaner: “Al Fin del Mundo — South Georgia Island/Patagonia”
Feb. 23 — Louise and Jeff Davis: “Going with the flow: Exploring the Rivers of Europe by Tandem Bike”
March 2 — Leif Whittaker: “My Old Man and the Mountain”
March 9 — Ken and Mary Campbell: “A Journey in Search of the Amazing Wildlife and Landscape of South America”
March 16 — Janis Burger: “Cycling Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C.”
March 23 — Maureene and Ed Dubiak: “Myanmar — Road to Mandalay”
