There I was, enjoying a performance of the Bolshoi Ballet in the Kremlin in Moscow!

Our Air Force base in England had an American Express travel office that offered fantastic trips, including one to Russia. In 1976 during the “cold war” we chose that one. We departed London on Aeroflot and landed at Sheremetyevo, thoughtfully named for the man whose land had been confiscated for the airport. I had to use my civilian passport, not my military one (I suppose they feared that I might be forced to reveal all of my pediatric secrets there!) For some reason they refused to stamp our passports.

We stayed a block off Red Square and a light blanket of snow lay over the gorgeous St. Basil’s cathedral that December. The streets were all decorated for Christmas, but the churches were museums. [there has been a marvelous transformation today, as there are gorgeous cathedrals all around Moscow that are truly worship centers]

Parked cars lacked windshield wipers – owners had removed them to prevent theft! We visited beryozka shops where Russian goods were only available to foreigners. Local people stood in long lines along the streets not even knowing what for, only that it was a rare chance to get something usually not available. We visited the battleship Aurora where the signal had been given for starting the revolution in 1917. We enjoyed the ballet in the Kremlin. People were friendly.

We took an 11 hour overnight train ride to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) where we enjoyed a performance of the Moscow State Circus and later went to the Leningrad Symphony in a beautiful hall with marble columns and crystal chandeliers, listening to Beethoven’s third.

We loved the gorgeous underground metro stations with their statues, tiled murals, and their own chandeliers. After ascending a long escalator one would often find crowds standing around in the snow eating ice cream cones! BTW, here was one of those “kairos” moments. Returning from the symphony hall we got lost on the metro, and you just can’t get any help from those signs all written in Cyrillic.! As we were stopped at one station, wondering what to do, a lady stopped by who was French but knew some German. I had studied German for two years in college, so was able to gather enough information for us to make it back to our hotel with no problem.

I learned enough Russian to say, “thank you” and “good-bye”. I had to leave behind my collection of fresh, uncirculated 100 Ruble notes with consecutive serial numbers because you could only take Russian coins out of the country, not currency. I was planning to take them anyway, but Valo was sure that I would be taken to Siberia! (They never even checked at customs.)

EPISODE 12

There I was, 110 feet down on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and I was running out of air!

At the end of my senior year of medical school at Baylor I had some free time and took a SCUBA course, including a free ascent from the bottom of a 40 ft tower tank and an open water dive in Lake Travis.

On this dive we were out from Freeport, Texas where the 500 foot long ship VA Fogg had blown up and sank with 39 people 6 months earlier. On the way down I noticed the largest fish I had ever seen just off my left shoulder, a giant sea bass. As we reached the ship, there were creaking and groaning sounds as the mild current had its effects on the vessel.

We had been at the bottom 110 feet down only a short time when I began sucking on the mouthpiece of my SCUBA gear – I was out of air! For each 33 feet you descend you take in another “atmosphere” of air to fill your lungs, i.e. at 66 feet you take in twice as much air with each breath as at the surface. So you use up the air in your tank quickly at greater depths.

Thankfully I still had the “reserve” supply of about 5 minutes (or I wouldn’t be here) and released it by pulling down on the rod attached to the tank. I signaled to my dive partner that I was out of air (by grasping my throat with both hands) and we began our slow ascent.

EPISODE 13

There I was at the swimming pool at Radio Springs and the only people there were myself and beautiful women!

On a break from medical school I was home in Nevada and on this hot, sunny day I decided to go to the old pool down at Radio Springs. That’s when the pool was out in the lake and a large bath house stood on the shore.

Well, I entered the bath house and there was nobody there to check me in, so I went ahead and changed into my swimsuit, took a brief “shower”, stepped into the foot bath, and proceeded on down the steps to the pool.

When I got beside the pool I noticed something strange; all of the other bathers were young women! I located the individual in charge and learned that Cottey College had rented the pool for the day! I explained my situation, and I was allowed to stay.

I got to repeat my one and a half somersault dive off the high board that I had learned from Buzz Adams years before. I had spent many, many enjoyable days at this pool, but I suppose that one was the best!