when this posts, I will be on an airplane, somewhere between JFK and Istanbul, Turkey, on the way to a trip-of-a-lifetime. I’m realizing a many year dream to see the Silk Road in Central Asia. I’ll ride horses in Kyrgyzstan; visit Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent, Ferghana, and Kiva – legendary trading oases of the Silk Road –  in Uzbekistan, and then spend a month in Turkey (at the other end of the Silk Road) – three weeks accompanying a friend while he does field research on textiles, then a week riding in Cappidocia.

“What,” you ask, “will Chico do? And how am I going to keep up with his activities?” He is staying with his “Auntie Julie” – our great agility, and pretty-much-everything-dog-related, coach Julie Daniels. If we can get the technology to cooperate, Julie has kindly agreed to post the occasional picture and update on Chico’s activities while I am gone, so you (and I) can keep up with him. Chico leads a more active life when he stays with Julie than he does here with me. They’re runners, with loads of trails behind the house; they have multiple dogs, so he is always working on socialization – sometimes I wonder if he would prefer to live at her house all the time.

I intend (that’s INTEND, reality may be different) to make posts when I can during the trip. I’m sure there are dogs where I am going, and I am sure they will be of interest to me, so some of the posts may even be canine-related.