The sheer thrill of being at the Panama Canal

[DesertFox]

Yesterday, if I may put it in Rooseveltian terms, was one of the great days of my life. Between dawn and dusk, my fellow passengers and I made the transit through the Panama Canal. For 12 hours straight, I sat up on the highest deck of the ship in a white linen suit and a Panama hat trying to take in everything, from the color of the Panamanian jungle to the Lego-like stackings of bright container ships all around us, trying to sear the whole experience onto the drive of my memory. I took hundreds of digital photos.

Although it was not an especially hot day, I took in way too much sun, until I looked like a bright red Idaho Mr. Potato Head in a white linen suit.

We passed through the landmass of the Americas from the Pacific to the Atlantic in one half of a single day.

It was thrilling. And moving. I felt a strange kind of pride in the audacity, creativity, and industrial ingenuity of humankind.

More (http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2008/02/24/news/columnists/jenkinson/doc47c0fa541d8c1336787936.txt)

[DesertFox]

During my three years in Panama I never did take the full trip across the Isthmus. But I did it in several small swipes by canoe, and traipsing along the edge, and driving where you could drive. A security guy showed me the interior of the Miraflores locks, where reside the mechanisms that open the lock gates.

I've seen the electrical mock up of the entire 50 miles of the canal, which tracks the exact location of every ship at every moment. Engineers there say many folks have tried to think of better ways to do what they do there, and no one has come up with a better way.

Very smart folks who built the canal and everything associated with it. Very stupid politicians who didn't have the imagination and plain guts to take pride in that magnificent achievement that has benefited the whole world.

[Jack_Savage]

I took a trip from San Diego to Ft. Lauderdale 3 years ago. It was a great cruise, especially the part your going through right now. What other ports of call on your trip DF? What Ship?

[DesertFox]

No cruise. No trip. I was stationed in Panama for three years, 1979-1982. I actually lived right alongside the Canal (in Gamboa) for 18 months and swam in it with my kids and dogs.

[Wyatt_Junker]

No cruise. No trip. I was stationed in Panama for three years, 1979-1982. I actually lived right alongside the Canal (in Gamboa) for 18 months and swam in it with my kids and dogs.


Cool.

So its not like the Ganghes river I take it?

[Jack_Savage]

No cruise. No trip. I was stationed in Panama for three years, 1979-1982. I actually lived right alongside the Canal (in Gamboa) for 18 months and swam in it with my kids and dogs.


so you just traveled back there for a few days? Tell me how are the traveling conditions there in your opinion. The government has a travel alert for tourists heading down there. Any difference now from back in 1980?

As far as a cruise goes, it was a great way to view it. Lots of information, good music, frozen drinks, and comfortable chairs all the way through.

[Lubbock]

(Clay Jenkinson is the Theodore Roosevelt scholar-in-residence at Dickinson State University. He lives in Bismarck. Contact Jenkinson at jeffysage@aol.com (jeffysage@aol.com).)

I don't think it was DF who took the trip.

It might be confusing if you don't read the linked article.

[Naturalized-Texan]

We took a Panama Canal cruise in 1997 (from Ft. Lauderdale to Acapulco). It was an experience of a lifetime.

[DesertFox]

I don't think Jack Savage is reading my posts.

Jack, I have never taken a "trip" to Panama. I LIVED there 25 years ago. While I LIVED there 25 years ago I took my kids to various places along the Canal.

We also traveled the rest of Panama -- that is, to the West (toward Costa Rica). There were no highways to the East (toward Colombia) and the jungles were populated with drug runners and poisonous snakes (fer-de-lance).

I know the Western half of Panama well. I've also traveled all of Central America except Belize.

[Naturalized-Texan]

While the Panama Canal was being built, tourists went to the construction sites to watch it being built. My aunt, my father's sister, gave me a series of 16 post cards from the early 20th Century that showed the construction of the Canal. One of those post cards was a photo of of a group of those tourists. Note that the they all wore the clothes that were in fashion at the time. They had to be stifling in the heat wearing that heavy clothing.

http://tex.connectingzone.com/PostCard-12.jpg

[DesertFox]

Wow. Great pic, Tex. That looks like the Culebra Cut.

[Lubbock]

My dad always referred to a spade or a shovel as a, "Panama Canal Tool." I always thought that was funy. Dad had a name for everything.

One of the very best programs that the History Channel has ever put on is the building of the PC. Even though I've seen it a half dozen times, I learn something new every time I watch.

[Jack_Savage]

I don't think Jack Savage is reading my posts.

Jack, I have never taken a "trip" to Panama. I LIVED there 25 years ago. While I LIVED there 25 years ago I took my kids to various places along the Canal.

We also traveled the rest of Panama -- that is, to the West (toward Costa Rica). There were no highways to the East (toward Colombia) and the jungles were populated with drug runners and poisonous snakes (fer-de-lance).

I know the Western half of Panama well. I've also traveled all of Central America except Belize.

Sorry, read your post to fast. I went back and read it again. I thought it was you writing that. On our trip we stopped in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. That was the best stop of the trip. Drove inland for about 100 miles and had a great day. Local villages were a real treat.

[DesertFox]

So its not like the Ganghes river I take it?Naw. The Ganges has turds in it. And dead people. And Hindus. And no dead trees sticking up. Dunno if it gots alligators, but the Panama Canal do.

[Kathy30]

Didn't Jimmy Carter sell the Canal to the Chinese?

[DesertFox]

Naw. He gave it to the Panamanians.

[Kathy30]

It's owned by the Panamanians, but control is Chinese.

http://www.holyhillcross.com/PANAMA.CANAL.htm

[Naturalized-Texan]

It's owned by the Panamanians, but control is Chinese.
:rotflmbo::rotflmbo::rotflmbo::rotflmbo:

[PaulRevere]

I walked the Great Wall in China, hiked Macchu Pichu, and so on,
but my coolest trek was driving a HMMV from Kuwait to Baghdad.
I suppose "thrilling" would describe it, but
No faggoty white linens and Panama hats around there.