All you Tom Lehrer fans know how it comes out. And where.Petropalvosk. At last I can add that city to my life list of visited places. That's the main good point about the visit. The city itself was quite depressing. We drove through areas of abandoned factories, and Soviet era apartment blocks in extensive disrepair,with no sign whatever of any prosperity.

One clue as to why that is could be found in these facts.
1. If you were on the cruise ship and wanted to walk around town you need a special visa from the Russians
2. You could leave and return to the ship only 1 time.
2. Russian authorities limited the amount of money each person could take ashore to $200.
3. Credit cards are generally not accepted at shops
4. American money is generally not accepted at shops
5. The currency exchange by the shop refused to exchange currency.
and the result: what could have been a considerable economic benefit to the city was reduced as far as possible by the Russian authorities. I was on a cruise ship of 2600 passengers. If they had been welcomed ashore, and spending their money had been made easy for them, they might have spent, say, $100 each - that's a quarter of a millon dollars. Considering that we saw people selling goods out of the backs of their cars, and farming by hand, a quarter of a millon dollars added to the economy might have been considered beneficial.

The comparison between Russia and China is startling. They have more real poverty in China. But they also have an astonishing rate of ecomonic growth, infrastructure growth, increase in the standard of living, in short social and economic progress. Russia felt like it was still bogged down in the communist days of distrust of foreigners and fear of money. People seldom smiled (our young guides were a welcome exception)and it was hard to see signs of hope.

The Russian military came on board to handle pass port control. Boy do they still look like the Russian military.

It was 46 degrees this morning with the sun shining for the first time in several days, as we made our way westward across the Bering sea. A 25 knot wind was blowing a cross the upper decks as Mary Alice and I carried on our morning health program. I was not wearing my coat. or much else, and a sudden rain shower dropped large, cold drops on my head and shoulders. Each drop made a splash and cast concentric rings in the hot tub at the south side of the rear of deck 16. It was glorious to be immersed in hot water with a cold breeze and raindrops falling on us.

We had a view of the flat sea stretching to the horizon on all sides with no land in view. The Aleutian islands were over the horizon to the south (they are the southern border of the Bering sea)but we expect to see one today just before reaching the International Dateline. In one of those mysteries of life we will not experience a Thursday this week, passing immediately from Wednesday to Friday as we cross the line. On the other hand the flight home from Beijing will take virtually no calendar time at all. We might even arrive before we leave, thus disproving Einstein's ideas about the speed of light as the upper limit of all transfer of matter.

When the sea gets rough, the tough wake up,at least that's what happened at 4 a.m. last night. The swells were running over 10', probably much more, but the ship computer that supplies that info to the rooms crashed. There was a sound like the end of the world then the ship lurched and tossed. It felt like an earthquake, but then it continued to happen. This must have been relatively little for the ship as nothing was tossed off the dresser - the lamps are bolted into place. Still, it was enough for me. I believe now that I don't get seasick under most conditions.

Yesterday saw whales, and sunlight, both briefly. Today the sea is much calmer.

This will have to be quick as the computers (PC's) on this ship keep crashing and erasing the entries. We are about 300 nautical miles west of Kodiak, Alaska in some reasonably rough seas. The captain says the waves are running to 25 feet high. Just now the ship is jolted and rocking - its like being in an earthquake. All the built in furniture creaks as the ship sways. I'm in the library on Deck 5 - the lowest general public deck of this 15 deck ship - and out the windows I can see waves cresting at the height of the window. The bow wave pushes the crests away from the side of the ship or else we would not have to have the windows cleaned. We are heading into a low pressure area with winds to 45 knots. Nothing unusual, the Captain says. Well, ok, captain, if you say so. More later.

Checked out the whoopee section of Rt 36 again coming home from Quincy. Its much less safe than my description implies. I'm getting used to the rest of it, though. When I figure out how to get my pix down to 100k I'll post a few for you. Five hours to home, with a quick stop in Mineral for a sandwich to eat on the road. 3 hours at home, dinner with my sweetie, then back on the road heading for the Economy Inn in Ukiah. Its not fancy, but its walking distance from the courthouse and that's a prime factor for me in choosing motels. Hi-speed internet is another, and the Economy Inn has it in wi-fi now.

Appearances tomorrow in Ukiah in the morning, Willits in the afternoon, meetings with two clients in Garberville (at least one of them will be a meeting in my car at some intersection on the route home). Things are not always this crazy, but I'm leaving for China on Friday and the bow wave of that approaching trip is making my schedule tricky this week.