“Where in the world is Rebecca Detrich?”

When my kids were in fifth and sixth grade they were always working to earn money to buy a computer.  Lemonade stands, whatever.  They didn’t seem to be getting anywhere, so finally I just took what little they earned and bought them a computer.  Big, chunky thing.  This was long before the Internet as we know it, but we got various math and reading programs and games. One of the games was called, “Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego?” It was fun and you got to learn a lot of geography . . . maybe too much if you judge by my daughter Rebecca who truly is a “world citizen” in the best sense.

Growing up our kids went on cruises with us and since I was in the travel business they probably travelled more than a lot of kids. We thought it was a good idea for them to see how kids live in poor sections of Mexico and the Caribbean and not to have them think that everyone in the world lived like folks in Thousand Oaks and Westlake. When my oldest daughter took French in high school, I took her to Paris. She ended up spending her college semester abroad in Dijon and majoring in French.

Rebecca did her obligatory traipse around Europe with her college friends, and then spent her semester abroad in Tanzania studying ecology and taking a census of and identifying male elephants. (They all have unique ears almost like a human fingerprint and the name of the game is to photograph the ears head on and flared out . . . in other words elephant “charge” mode. Fortunately they were usually “fake charges” and there is actually an old male elephant in Tanzania named “Richard’, after me.)

Since then Rebecca’s interesting life has taken her to Australia several times, the last time with Earthwatch to identify whale sharks by swimming up next to them and photographing their unique spot patterns. When she worked at a marine institute on Catalina they would chum for sharks, and then swim with them! Off to the Bahamas in search of whale sharks. And the list goes on . . .

She works for Yosemite Institute and “YI” has an interesting program available to their staff. Years ago one of their staff members was a young man named Mathew Baxter. He was an avid mountain climber and in a freak accident was killed while climbing. His family decided to celebrate his life and sense of adventure by endowing an award presented each year to Yosemite Institute staff to enable others to have their own adventures. Previously Rebecca received one of these awards which helped her to swim with the whale sharks in Australia. Some of her coworkers have kayaked the Inside Passage and another (who had incapacitating leg surgery a year ago) to do this years Tour de France. So with her Baxter Award, Rebecca is off to Siberia for the summer. Siberia! Most people wanted to escape it, but Rebecca wants to experience it and particularly Lake Baikal which is the largest and deepest fresh water lake in the world.

Neat kid, huh?

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in this email she sent to her friends and family before leaving for Russia this week. [My wife is going along with her on the St Petersburg to Moscow leg.]

Greetings friends and family!

I’ve made it up to Seattle and I’m all ready (or as ready as one can be) to fly away to Russia. Several folks have asked if I’ll be emailing while in Siberia, but I don’t think it will be likely (the Russian alphabet is a variation of the Cyrillic alphabet- which I can’t type in and I’m guessing no one could read). So in lieu of emailing while on my adventure, I’m sending my ideal itinerary with the hope you will keep me in your thoughts and prayers during each phase of my journey.

So here is the plan (we’ll see what of this actually happens):

June 23 depart for St. Petersburg (I’m taking my Mom with me on the first phase of my journey just in case I need a hug.)

June 24- July 6th travel along the waterways from St. Petersburg to Moscow- exploring villages, palaces, and museums along the way. This is my sense of place part of the journey.

July 6th board Trans-Siberian Railroad by myself- good luck to me! This will be a figurative and literal
transition from European Russia into Siberia.

July 7th after over 28 hours on the train I’ll arrive in Yekaterinburg (where the last czar and his family
where murdered).

July 8th depart on Trans-Siberian for Krasnoyarsk

July 10th over 38 hours later arrive in the Siberian town of Krasnoyarsk

July 12th depart for Irkutsk on Lake Baikal

July 15th overnight train to Ulan-Ude then travel to small fishing village of Ust-Barguzinon on the shore
of Lake Baikal

July 16th-July 29th Work in wilderness of Zabaikalskyi National Park building trails. This is the stewardship component of my adventure.

July 29th-Aug. 5th hopefully travel and solo camp on Olkon Island (kayak if I can find a boat?)

Aug. 6th fly to Moscow (Unfortunately, time and finances do not allow for me to finish the remaining
1/3 of the Trans-Siberian Railroad- which is more than ok by me.)

Aug. 7th fly to Seattle, drink some coffee and drive home to Marin Headlands.

That’s the plan…. We’ll see what happens!

I’ve been busy finishing up my packing to fit everything into my one bag. In case you are interested, here are some of the things in my pack;
1 underwater, freeze proof, crushproof camera (my part of stimulating the economy).
2 pairs of underwear
1 tube of permethian (Erica, my friend, informed me this is the same thing she puts on Sierra, her dog, to keep ticks off. But I’m into it since but, my Siberian tick friends are willing to give me both
encephalitis and meningitis. Erica suggested I just wear Sierra’s tick collar.)
15 San Francisco key chains (gifts for folks hosting me during the trail crew)
1 Hubba-hubba (a tent, not a man)
1 pair binos (for viewing nerpa seals- the only freshwater seal in the world)
1 Russian Phrase book , which I don’t really know how to use. I’m convinced people will yell at me in
Russian. Instead of learning the language I just had my neighbor, who speaks Russian, yell at me in Russian to help desensitize me.
1 ziplock bag full of trip notes and photos from my wonderful friends!

My special thanks to folks who wished me well in words, cards, gifts and hugs- it means a great deal to
me to live in such a loving and supportive community. My thanks to all who contributed to the creation of such a phenomenal experience.

Much love,
Bec, Rebecca or Becky