C James

Chapter 19 is up. And it contains a major, major revelation!

ROFL! I didn't notice that. But remember, I once typo'd it as "Circumcision" Trevor isn't a virgin; he had a boyfriend before, and they broke up, but that was only mentioned in passing, way back in chapter two. So, Trev has been "dry" for six months. Poor Trev! Suspense, me? Would I do such a thing as that? Choppy waters? In one of my stories? Surely not! What could possibly go wrong? We learn a great deal more over the next few chapters. The plotline on "Circumnavigation" is a bit odd, for a story that's part mystery: The current mysteries (there are several) are revealed in full long before the end. Trevor and Lisa are birthday twins; they were born on the same day and year. Way back in chapter one or two (I can't remember which) it's mentioned that Lisa's mom moved to France after divorcing her father, and gave Lisa a cold shoulder when Lisa went to visit. That's why Lisa has issues with France. Trevor and Lisa met... Hrmmm, even I can't remember if it was just before or just after Trevor lost his mother, and I wrote it <blush>. I'll go look.... Ah, it's in chapter one; they met in 4th grade, and though it doesn't say explicitly, that would make Trevor and Lisa about eleven, so it would be after Trevor lost his Mom. There's also this,

Congratulations, Your Majesty.

OOPS, I'm having major internet trouble, and I guess my earlier reply in this thread got eaten during a timeout, and I neglected to check., Sorry. First, the next chapter is called "Ignorance is Bliss" Nothing to worry about though... I mean, who doesn't like a little bliss? I had a lot of fun writing that chapter. Joel isn't exactly shy. BTW, in case anyone missed it, we now know what's in the divorce papers. There are times when Dirk can be his own worst enemy. The sunglasses didn't keep him incognito, but they probably did make Officer Gonzales even more suspicious. Poor Trevor; such temptation. Good point on Trevor having pictures around. We don't actually know if he does or not, because I've neglected to mention it. I'll make sure to add that detail in a coming chapter. Thanks for bringing that up. Who, me? 0:) Thanks!!! The forum is what I love the most; it's my main motivation for writing... actually, that's not true; the forum is my main motivation for posting stories, which is very different from writing. I'll always write, because stories nag at me when I don't, and writing is recreation for me. Getting chapters ready to post online though, is actual work. There's a great deal of work done by my team on the chapter text. There is also a fair amount of work involved on the HTML for the chapter page, layout, correcting formatting (For some darn reason, format coding errors sometimes develop when I transfer the text), plus with Circumnavigation there is a lot to do processing images and creating maps and routes. In short, writing is a compulsion for me, something I will always do. Preparing it to post online, on the other hand, is hard work, and a choice rather than a compulsion. This forum is my reward; I certainly wouldn't bother posting it if it wasn't for the forum and those who post here. My sincere thanks to you, and to all those who have participated in any of the chapter threads; you're the best.

What bothers me about stereotypes, more than anything, is the notion a few (thankfully, less and less) have that there is some "right" way to be gay. Said another way, it's the mindset that if you're gay, you're automatically X (X being some stereotypical concept.) One that particularly bugs me; gays and shopping. There is a stereotype that all gays love shopping, have great taste, etc. Baloney. Now, I mean no offense to any that do (And I'm the first to look up someone who does have great taste and loves shopping when I need advice on the issue, such as for a story) but it drives me up the wall when it's assumed all gays do. Probably becuase I am one who absolutely does not. I utterly loathe shopping, and do it only when I can't find an excuse to go do something more fun, like going to the dentist, or dropping a brick on my foot... When I need clothes, I combine it with a grocery trip to Walmart and get it over with as fast as possible. I've been dragged along on a day-long shopping trip in a city by a gay friend, once... I'll take a root canal any day. I'll also note that a heck of a lot of straight guys love to shop, so like almost all stereotypes, this one is false. I do like going into hardware stores sometimes, and when I'm overseas I do like going into stores to see the different things (not clothes though). So, this "Gays love to shop" stereotype drives me up the wall. And don't get me started on track lighting... I find it very useful, in my workshop. But in my house? Yuck. But that's just me. And that's my whole point; stereotypes are almost always wrong, on many levels. Are some people stereotypical? Sure, and that's fine. The problem is when everyone gets painted with the same brush. What people (gays very much included) need to learn is that gay (or bi, or lesbian, etc) is a sexual preference, and doesn't have a damn thing to do with anything else. For most aspects of life, it's no more relevant than the color of your eyes.

Thanks!!! The Panama is definitely the shortest route, but for an eastbound circumnavigation it can be tricky; the winds in the tropical south Pacific are dominated by the tradewinds, which come out of the east. On the other hand, further south, you have the westerlies. So, for a sailboat, it depends on the weather forecast. The Cape route is longer and rougher, but depending on the winds, might be the fastest and easiest. Trevor could plan to go either way, but wouldn't need to know for sure until after beginning to cross the Pacific.

This isn't the first rogue wave to hit a cruise ship. The Norwegian Dream got slammed by one off New York a few years ago, and there were injuries as high as deck 10 (!!!) but no deaths. They took the wave head-on; had it been a side hit like the one Wildone linked, it would have (due to the greater size) capsized the ship, and the death toll would have been in the thousands. The head-on aspect was luck; there was no time for them to maneuver bow-on. I've seen a rogue wave twice; Once, in the distance, about a hundred miles off the Falkland islands in a storm. The main body of the wave was about a quarter mile to starboard, and we were stern-on to the seas. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enormous, about 50 foot. Had it hit, it would have done major damage. The other was a small one in California; I was surfing near Santa Barbra, in waves running six to eight feet. One started to build further out than the rest had, and I (and about 20 other guys who were on the line) paddled further out like mad to get out far enough to catch it. Most of us made it (those that didn't got to duck-dive under it, for the washing-machine ride, no big deal), and it was the wave of the day; 14 foot or so. And yes, I wiped out. I've surfed bigger, but not often and not much, but that's the only time I've seen such a freak wave on the surfline. They are rare, and it was a similar event that flooded the beach during a recent surfing contest (injuring a few spectators). Small rogues like that are rare, but more common than big ones at sea (which have sent many ships to the bottom). Here's a story on the Norwegian Dream's encounter.However, please note that the photo (of the Dream with massive bow damage) is NOT from that incident; it's from a few years prior, when the Dream collided with a freighter. The dead giveaway is the cargo containers in the bow; those were from the cargo ship, and would not have been created out of thin air by a rogue wave. The Dream collided with the freighter Ever Decent on near Dover, UK, in 1999, and also collided with a freighter in South America a few years later, but the picture is from the 1999 collision, regardless of what the press says. Here's the mis-reported picture. I'm absolutely positive on this; that's the damage it suffered in the 1999 collision, not one of its other collisions, and definitely not during the rogue wave. The QE2 encountered one in 1995, and the Queen MAry was hit broadside by one in WW!!, taking on a 52 degree list as a result. (the estimate was that 54 degrees was maximum recoverable list; she came within a hair of capsizing, and a modern cruise ship would not survive such a hit). During hurricanes and major storms, rogue waves can be in excess of 100 feet. That's the solid face of the wave. Here's what a 30 footer looks like when it hits a breakwater. It gives you an idea of the power these things have. As a general rule, they will not exceed one and a half times the "normal" waved in that particular instant in that area; more normally, they don't exceed much more than double. For example, if the waved are running four foot, you could get a rogue wave of 8, or maybe 10. Here's a chart of the Drauper wave, the first scientifically measured rogue wave, recorded on a North Sea oil platform. In chapter 5 of Circumnavigation, Trevor mentions rogue waves, and he sums them up fairly well; So, they are rare, but they do happen, and they are very dangerous. Okay, now for a pet peeve; when the story Wildone cites appeared on the news, guess what was missing? They neglected THE WEATHER! I checked as soon as I saw it, and found that the hit happened in a band of high winds and high seas. Further gripe, some of the "reporters" actually wondered if this was something to do with the pacific Tsunami triggered by the Chillian earthquake! Tsumamis, even big ones, are only inches high in deep water. They only build in shallow water (so if you're in a boat and a tsunami is coming, head out to sea.) Also, last time I checked, the Mediterranean wasn't in the Pacific. (maybe they moved it when I wasn't looking?) Okay, I've rambled long enough.

I was going to reply to this here, but the chapter title issue deserves it's own thread, so I moved my reply to '>a new thread, "Chapter Titles" which I just started. What makes you think I'd know? And trouble? What trouble? Two teens, on the run and on a boat far from home, plus alcohol... what could possibly go wrong? Sometimes, little brothers in stories (I'm not referring to any GA stories here)can be stereotyped a bit too much; the perfect accepting and supportive sidekick for a protagonist. Though, in fairness, I'm probably guilty of that myself, with Eric in "For the Love". I dare not say much, but I can say this; we find out regarding the above issues, well before the end of the story. I should mention that one reason this story had to be in third person is so that we can follow the goings-on in Florida and also on Atlantis.

Trebs raised a great issue in a chapter thread, and I wanted to expand on it a bit. The title was "Miscommunications", and you're right; it's very relevant. For chapter naming in the story, I try to be sure that the chapter title is always relevant in some way. In some cases, it will be obvious. "Charter" would be one that was obvious; it was about a charter. In other cases, it's not obvious, and in those cases it is often more significant. "Rage Sea", chapter 8, would be an example of dual meanings; it's literal in that there was indeed a rage sea, but there was also rage (between Trevor and Dirk). Chapter 10, Launch, was also dual; a shuttle launch, but also the launch of Trevor's attempt to circumnavigate the earth. Chapter 16, Ignorance is Bliss, was also a dual-meaning chapter. In other cases, such as "Setups" (Chapter 2) it was dual, in that it was an attempt at a setup (setting someone up with a date) but also it gave us a tour of Atlantis, setting things up for coming chapters. Sometimes, the chapter title is a bit of a spoiler, but sometimes, it can only be understood after seeing the chapter. When it's a bit of a spoiler, I'm putting myself if grave risk; if anyone figures it out in advance, than it is indeed a spoiler, and a certain anti-spoiler echidna will be on the warpath... If anyone has any questions, please ask! If there is a past chapter title (of any story) that you're curious about, ask here, and I'll explain.

We learn the details of what's in them in "Cruising the Med", which is chapter 15.

Being an only child myself, that part was easy for me. Lol. The passports and visas are not a problem for Trevor or Joel at the moment; nowhere they've been so far requires a visa, and they both have passports. We don't yet know the details, but it was mentioned when he found it that it was a joint filing; they both filed for divorce, so definitely uncontested. Huh?? Poor, sweet, innocent me? But everything is always sweetness and light in my stories. Devious? Me? Diving alone can indeed be dangerous. Poor, misunderstood Scar... Bingo! You're right, and that was in the narration, and the narrator cannot lie. Thanks for bringing this up, it's a great point, and it also gives me an opening to remind everyone: Characters can lie, but the narrator can't. Fingerprints wouldn't be possible after years in the ocean, though many other forms of evidence could survive. All I can say is... Everything will make sense, before the end.

Why make things overly complicated?

And I cite the fact that I wasn't nominated as proof that I never use cliffhangers!

Thanks Wyndham! I hope you enjoy it.

Perhaps I shouldn't have been quite so technical and detailed on the nuclear warhead specs in LTMP. Cut and paste the following into your browser address bar and see what I mean. (the link is the same as the text, mouse over the url to see the actual link in your info bar, or copy the link location and past it into your URL bar if you still don't believe it). http://5z8.info/IED-howto_y9w2d_how-to-build-a-bomb

Who? Me? Lol... if Trevor attempts to transit the Bering Strait, he'll have more problems than he'll know what to do with.

The awards voting is underway.... And I'd just like to make sure everyone has all the facts regarding the King of Cliffhangers category. First, we should all remember, and never forget, that Graeme has been indicted by the cliffhanger police over at Jeff's Fort, and a warrant was issued for his arrest! Just a friendly reminder, to make sure we all have all the facts. CJ

That route sounds very interesting! Yep, I did the Icefields parkway, including a scramble on a glacier, last time. I'd like to do it again though. Hrmm, however, I could do a loop; take your way south, then head back north again, then come down the icefilds parkway. The route from Hinton south looks very interesting, and it would join with Highway 11, which could take me back to Icefields to make a loop run. I'm probably going to camp so no worries on hotels. I'd definitely like to hear more! For camping, most of the time I will probably just sleep in my vehicle; it has a large flat area in back, which makes a good bed. I'll be more inclined to do this than pitch a tent in areas with lots of grizzlies. I'll stay in a few motels along the way though, but that can get expensive and camping is fun, plus saves a ton of $$$. As for crossing the border; yes, you Canadian border official do seem markedly prejudiced against non-humans who want to drive across. For shame! CJ

It would be one hell of a bridge. It's 50 miles across the narrowest portion of the Bering strait, via big and little Diomede Islands. I remember hearing about plans for this, but they left me scratching my head; there just isn't much use for it, and it would be enormously costly (probably an overseas causeway for most of it, because the sea is fairly shallow). The real problem IMHO is there are no roads at all on either side of the strait. On the Alaskan side, the closest roads (that connect to anywhere) are near Fairbanks, about 600 miles away. For a rail line, it's about 3000 miles, in southern British Columbia. On the Russian side, it's about 2000 miles to the nearest road or railroad. Also, the rail gauges are different. So, I can't see this happening anytime soon; the bridge cost would be astronomical, but the roads and rails to it would be even more costly, plus there's no real use for it. What I would love to see is more tourism in the Kamchatka Peninsula. It has a thermal area that rivals Yellowstone, plus awesome scenery. I've only seen it from the air (during a flight to China) but it looks spectacular. It would be an ideal cruise ship destination, but so far it's largely ignored.

ROFL!!! Yes indeed. Grizzlies, once I get to northern BC and points north. Umm, did I mention that I'll be camping a lot? This could get interesting. LoL. Lol... Well, my SUV does not do well under water. LoL. I love wilderness, so this sounds like a perfect drive for me.

Trevor is unprepared in many ways. He's winging it, and you're right, having very low body fat makes him more vulnerable. But as I like to say, what could possibly go wrong? I remember that from seeing shoe displays. I just spaced it and assumed the sizes would be in Metric. Usually, when I make a goof like this, it's because I think I know the answer but actually don't. LoL You hate clothes shopping too? I'm glad I'm not the only one. Trevor's dislike of clothes shopping is very much modeled after my own, but he doesn't dislike it as much as I do. Yep, a few times, when I've needed to. I didn't have it in mind for a story though... however, we'll see, in chapter 17, where I took a series of photos with the intention of using it in a story (the pictures are interwoven with the text). I didn't have this story specifically in mind, but knew I'd use it sometime.

Just over a year ago, I drove from Arizona to Vancouver for a cruise, and then swung north to Jasper and Banff before returning via Yellowstone. I absolutly loved the trip, and even during it, I was toying with the idea for another, a bit further north. The trip will be an end unto itself, but my planned furthest-north point on the drive is Prudhoe, Bay, Alaska, on the Arctic Ocean. (It's also called the North Slope). Basically, I'll be heading north via central Nevada and then the Oregon coast, and I'm thinking of entering BC south of Kelowana, then heading for Cache Creek, then up the Cariboo highway to Hundred Mile House, then up to Prince George, and then heading towards Prince Rupert but turning north on the Cassiar Highway, and taking it north until it joins the Alaska Highway in the Yukon Territory. From there, I hang a left and head for Fairbanks, and then from there head north again, for my most northerly destination; Prudhoe Bay, on the Arctic Ocean. After that, I'll be heading south for Anchorage, and then back via the southern route to pick up the Alaska highway near Tok, and then take it all the way south to Dawson creek, and from there, Jasper (alberta). From there, I'll head south via Kootenany towards Kalispell Montana, and then on southeast, into Wyoming via Yellowstone, then home via Colorado. Either on the way north or the way south, I'll detour off the Alaska highway to Skagway and Hains, and take the ferry between them. I've been to both places and love them, and by making that "loop" I'll cut off a good chunk of the Alaska highway that I'd otherwise drive twice. The only part of the drive known to be a bit difficult at times is the Dalton Highway, often called the Pipeline Haul Road, from Fairbanks up to Prudhoe Bay. Many might know it from the TV series "Ice Road Truckers", where the notorious Adigan Pass is often mentioned on that route. That should be a fun one in the Arctic weather in late march or early April. Any thoughts on this? Any advice on things to see for the areas I'll be passing through? I'll be in my SUV, so dirt roads and trails are no problem. My most likely time for this is early next spring, though this fall is a possibility. From what I've been able to find out about weather and daylight hours, mid-spring would be better than mid-fall. I'll be taking my time, seeing stuff along the way, so it won't all be just driving time.

You've raised some great points! We'll find out a lot more in the next few chapters. It's hard to prove a murder case without a body, but it's been done. Thanks for bringing this up, I've been meaning to mention it. Here's a list of a few, and several of them involve boats. Here's a particularly horrific one.

LoL It was an embarrassing error; I've shopped for clothes in Europe, but I never noticed that. On the other hand, Trevor is fonder of clothes shopping than I am, so I generally get in and out of clothes stores with all possible speed, and avoid going unless I need something. LoL! Me and my typos. That's a good point... How about: