Around the World in 3300 Days

Ursula & Richard Doring in
the Southwest of the USA

This travel report was sent to our friends by email on April 12, 1999:

Dear friends,

In Tucson we rented an apartment and a Mac computer, got a telephone line and set up an Internet connection (photo). For the month of March I was working for my German publisher to update the "Thailand Travel Handbuch". There were again over 100 readers' letters that had to be incorporated into the text without increasing the volume of the book. Very valuable information came from our research team and from good friends in Thailand who did some local research. A lot of information can be found on the Internet, too. So the next edition will be a fully revised and updated book again. The texts are now in Germany with the publisher who will have them layouted and prepared for printing. Sales were very good last year, and we earned real money for the first time in our careers as writers.

While I was doing most of the writing, Ursula enjoyed her life as a housewife in our apartment. She bought groceries, cooked good and healthy food, visited some Servas members, went to yard sales every Saturday and created a peaceful and beautiful environment for my writing.

One day Gerald and Dagmar (from the beach at Tulum in Mexico) arrived with their 30 year old Ford van, converted into a camper (photo). Gerald who is a car technician in Germany kept it in really good shape. As they intend to come back next year in July to travel in Alaska, Ursula and I decided to buy it for the time in between and to keep it in Tucson for the time when we will come back from South America next year. Then we will travel to Alaska with the Ford where Gerald will buy it back from us. Great plans, aren't they? So US$1500 changed hands - and hopefully back next year.

With best regards, Richard

From the end of April until the middle of June 1999, we spent seven wonderful weeks in Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. We traveled through some of the most beautiful landscapes that the earth has to offer. Every day we went hiking for a while. In the evenings we found delightful camping places, often in national parks, and enjoyed the warmth of campfires.

The month of May proved to be a marvelous season, not yet hot, but rarely too cold.

From Tucson we drove north via Sedona to the Grand Canyon that offers fascinating views into the deepest valley of the earth (photos). At Lake Powell, in the Monument Valley, and in the Natural Bridges National Monument we were delighted by the landscapes with the red and pink rock formations (photos). On the Mesa Verde plateau, we learnt about the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi who lived here in the 13th century.

Our favorite was Arches National Park, even more because we were very lucky to find a most idyllic camping place (photos). Near the small town of Escalante, we became fans of slot canyons; very narrow canyons without water (photos). The natural highlight of this part of our journey was Bryce Canyon National Park (photos).

In Las Vegas, we admired the glittering world of illusions. Finally, we found another solution for our sea voyage. We got to know California only between San Diego and Los Angeles. Here we prepared our journey to South America in detail and therefore had to be satisfied with a short sightseeing program.

More about our third leg: from Tucson through Utah and Nevada to L.A.	Details about our journey through the South West
Forward to our sea voyage by container vessel from California to Chile	Vessel (16 days)
Back to the second leg: through Mexico, Belice and Guatemala	Mexico       (until 2/99)
Back to the index page	Index