Introduction

The Travels of Jon Gordon

May 17, 2017

Evanston, IL USA

Welcome to my travel blog!

I will be posting to this blog as I travel. The posts will be emails, photos and journal entries that I make from time to time during my future travels.

The first trip will be to Iceland with my partner Ann. From there I will continue to London, England to join the crew of the Lord Nelson, a barque rigged tall ship owned and operated by the Jubilee Sailing Trust and located in the United Kingdom.

This voyage is dedicated to Brad Codding, friend, sailor and great human being. To my great sorrow, Brad pasted away this Spring.

The Lord Nelson, or Nellie as she is affectionately called, is scheduled to shove off from the Docklands of London on June 9, 2017 for a 42 day voyage to Quebec City, Canada via the Faroe Islands and Iceland, arriving in Quebec City on July 19th to join in a massive Tall Ship Regatta celebrating the 150th anniversary year of the founding of Canada.

The Lord Nelson  jst.org.uk

"The Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST) is an international, United Nations accredited disability charity, promoting integration through the challenge and adventure of tall ship sailing.

We provide life-changing adventures to people of all ages, backgrounds and levels of physical ability. Our voyages change lives by improving self-esteem, building confidence, and providing fantastic leadership and life skills."

Frankly, I have no personal experience with the organization to date, but based my interaction and correspondence with the the people who run JST and former crew I have great expectations for a wonderful voyage of discovery, not only on the water, but within myself.

Before I go any further, i would like to  thank some of the people who have helped me to reach the place in my life where I have the ability and self confidence to pursue this voyage.

Ann Hewitt, Life Partner, best friend and the sanest person I know, so when she agreed to my doing this I knew I wasn't crazy.

Noah and Sarah, son and daughter, are the best children one could ask for AND also very sane, so when they asked encouraging questions after I announced my intentions to do this trip instead of trying to talk me out of it, I knew I was on to something good. Noah and Sarah, along with their mother, participated (often cheerfully) in many of my early sailing efforts on Lake Michigan on the good ship Affinity and put up with my frequent absences during racing season.

Larry Rice, best friend and the only other person I know who has already been to these places (at least once). Larry has, mostly cheerfully, dragged me into and on more adventure trips than I can remember, starting in the mid '70's with a 5 night snowshoeing jaunt in the North Woods of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in January and most recently along the flooded KATY Trail in Missouri.

There are many more, who would probably prefer to remain anonymous, particularly given the unconfirmed and highly opinionated things that will appear in this blog, but include my former employer and fellow employees who have made my retirement possible, numerous friends and supporters and of course my parents who always encouraged me to pursue my interests, even my love of sailing ships and the sea. Yes, I was the kid drawing pictures of schooners while everyone else was drawing drag racers.

Now, I have to get packing!