100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...

Finally Fixed-- The Remediation of a Casualty of Moving Between States

When I moved to Georgia 12 years ago my motorcycle endorsment did not transfer to my Georgia license. Its ok, I didn't have a motorcycle. I didn't miss having a MC license except when we traveled. I like to rent motorcycles. Sometimes they let me rent without a motorcycle license, sometimes not. So, the right thing to do was to get my mototcycle endorsement in Georgia. It requires a 2 day class that can also serve as your road test. The DDS (DMV) supplies the bikes, instructor and everything else for the $250 fee. I never took a motorcycle class in my life. I was self-taught in NY and I passed the very difficult road test in Lyons NY in 1980.

I now have what I need for my GA motorcycle endoresement. I also learned some stuff. I am glad it is over. Fun and somewhat stressful. The class was a bit like a martial arts class or Tai-chi. Practicing un-natual actions until they become familiar.

The class was at my airport off runway 25. I found it to be a considerable distraction watching my plane with students aboard go around the airport traffic pattern while us folks on motorcycles were going around the pattern in a parking lot. The instructor complained since the planes are they are loud and low. I had to explain the situation to him before he blurted something mean about the airplane owner.

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