A BRIEF AUTOBIOGRAPHY

I was born in Assiniboia, Saskatchewan in 1952, the third and last son. Both my grandparents had homesteaded in southern Saskatchewan. The original Perrier arrived in Canada in 1665 making me a tenth generation Canadian (actually eleventh on the maternal side and 13th through my great grandmother). I once believed that all Perriers in North America are descended from that one immigrant (but there is a reference to a second Perrier who came in 1694). My eldest brother has done a huge amount of work on the genealogy of the family. The French brands with Perrier names (water, several types of champagne) have no relation that I know of. The Perrier name though is quite rare in France and much more common in Canada and the US, There are nine Ron Perriers on Facebook.

At six months of age, we moved to Glentworth, Saskatchewan, a town of 100 people on the east end of Grasslands National Park. My father was an elevator agent and my mother was a teacher. After finishing grade 2 there, we moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta where I graduated from grade twelve in 1970. I then attended the University of Alberta in Edmonton, graduating with a B.Sc/MD degree in 1976, and did a one-year rotating internship at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, BC.

With my wife and 2 children, we moved to Castlegar, BC where I joined a six-man general practice. The West Kootenay in south-central British Columbia is one of the best places to live in the world. It was the ideal town to be a GP in. With no specialists and several other GPs with “special interests”, I was able to develop my own interests and ended up having a dream general practice. The practice did almost everything – obstetrics, inpatient care, basic general surgery, and emergency. We eventually had a third child and I now have 2 grandchildren. I was divorced in 1994. I have had the opportunity to live in several towns in the West Kootenay – along Arrow Lakes, Rossland, Warfield (part of Trail), and New Denver. I moved to Courtenay on Vancouver Island in 2010.

By the time I retired, most of my practice was devoted to things that few GPs like and nobody else wanted to do: dermatology, abortions, and methadone. The West Kootenay, with only 82,000 people in a huge geographic area, did not have a board-certified dermatologist and with some formal training and a lot of reading, I developed a referral practice in dermatology. It probably comprised about 40% of my eventual practice. It allowed me to work in the Canadian Arctic doing general practice and dermatology on five separate occasions. I eventually worked in every town west of Hudson’s Bay at least once, an incredible cultural experience (read about that experience and the Inuit on the IDEAS page of my website www.ronperrier.net). I also did all sorts of skin surgery removing every kind of “lump and bump”.

I did most of the surgical assisting in our six-man practice and started doing therapeutic abortions. By the time I retired, I was the only physician doing TA’s in southeastern British Columbia (read about my experience doing abortions in the IDEAS page). With that, I also did laparoscopic tubal ligations, often a necessary procedure in women having terminations. I performed vasectomies, circumcisions, and all sorts of minor outpatient procedures. When one of my GP surgeon partners retired, as our hospital had an active obstetric practice, I did one-month of training doing caesarian sections and then did those.

Another opportunity arose to become a methadone prescriber, and after the necessary training, I obtained a license. I was the only methadone prescriber in the West Kootenay. This exposed me to another element of our society that was always interesting. I also developed a strong interest in addiction medicine.

With no specialists and predicated by the patients in my practice, I also developed an interest in several medical subjects – diabetes, AIDs and patients with liver transplants. This was in addition to all other aspects of family medicine. It was a very fulfilling career. Our practice had a rule that we all had to take nine weeks of holidays each year and a day off each week, great for lifestyle and family. Since retiring, I have never thought of medicine again and have forgotten more than I ever knew. I could not return without retraining.

Since starting hiking in Waterton Lakes National Park, I backpacked the West Coast Trail and Della Falls (the highest waterfall in Canada), both on Vancouver Island, when interning. I was hooked. After moving to the West Kootenay, I joined the Kootenay Mountaineering Club, a wonderful organization. I hiked and climbed at every opportunity and have attended 20 hiking camps run by the club. I also belonged to the Alpine Club of Canada and went on several guided mountaineering trips with them in the Rockies. Over the years, I have hiked extensively in Olympic National Park, Hawaii, the West Kootenay, the Rocky Mountains of Canada, the desert SW of the US and everywhere I travel (refer to the HIKING page).

In 1999, I bought my first sea kayak which I still use. I have kayaked all the lakes in the West Kootenay, Baja Mexico, the Green River, and Lake Powell in Utah and now extensively in the Queen Charlottes and around Vancouver Island. I have a second kayak and all the gear that is available for friends and partners. Sea kayaking is a dream way to camp. Weight is not an issue and with a backpacking oven, you can cook anything.

Starting in 1994, I usually traveled to the desert SW of the United States twice a year. Up to the end of 2021, I have made 37 trips mostly to the Colorado Plateau and the Four Corners Area, but also to many parts of the western US. With so much to see, I could never exhaust the possibilities. I think the Colorado Plateau is the most beautiful place in the world and this area has become another passion. In 2016, i did the best adventure trip in the world by rafting 220 miles of the Grand Canyon: many rapids every day, some great hiking and a daily view of incredible geology (see all my posts on the trip).

I took my PADI open water dive certificate in Utilla, the Bay Islands of Honduras, and my Advanced in the Andaman Islands of India, and since, diving has formed an active part of my travel. Some of the great places I have been to include Apo Island in the Philippines, Mergui Archipelago (5-day liveaboard) in Myanmar, Sipadan in Sabah Malaysia, Palau (7-day live aboard – the Blue Corner and German Channel are two of the best dive sites in the world), Komodo National Park and the Raja Ampats (7-day liveaboard) in Indonesia.

I have had a few other passions. I was an active duplicate bridge player and traveled to tournaments all over the northwest. I have about 1350 ACBL masterpoints and am a life master but have rarely played duplicate bridge for the last 25 years, but regularly play online.
At age 30, I started playing golf and was a member at a great golf course in Castlegar. I played to a four handicap most of my playing years and was in many BC Amateurs and a Canadian Amateur once. I played golf courses all over the place but have rarely played since 1999.
I also became an avid photographer and competed actively with my pictures. Upon retiring, I had plans to write a book on photography but abandoned that idea. When digital photography came along, I lost interest and have rarely taken a picture since. I do not carry a camera with me on my travels and find it very freeing. I look at things now for visual memory.

Since retiring in 2006, I have traveled every winter to warmer climates. I wrote extensive travelogues emailing them to friends and family and they form a big part of the section on travel. Refer to my Travelogue for an up-to-date list of countries visited, 134 by July 2021. My goal was to wear flip-flops twelve months of the year and that is one goal I have accomplished. I have developed a certain style of travel that is best described as vagabonding. I leave home with a rough plan and have the freedom to spend as much time anywhere I want and feel very fortunate to be able to travel with no constraints. I believe that I have at least three more years to see the rest of the world.
My ultimate travel goals are to be the most traveled Canadian ever (should be easy to accomplish but that may not last), to see the most World Heritage Sites in the world, to lead the Nomad Mania series total (57,000 places to see in the world) and to lead some of my favourite Nomad Mania series (Bizzarium and the Dark Side are my favourites).

My time in Canada is spent hiking and kayaking and occasionally hanging out at home, playing tennis, and often playing bridge on the internet. I love to cook. I read extensively and have a section with a reading list. I also travel a lot in Canada and the United States in my Big Foot camper. It has a well-honed solar system and is my second home.

I initially did not want to blog but have reconsidered that. I love to write and am a political junkie with subscriptions to Time, Atlantic, National Geographic, and the Economist. Many of the posts in the Ideas Page come from those. This website has become another passion. I have dreams to make it the premier travel website in the world.

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THE BIRTHDAY BOOK
This is a large book with a two-page write-up of each day of the year. I have reproduced October 13, verbatim from this book. It is scary.
Being of a very scientific mind requiring evidence-based proof, I don’t believe in any of the methods used in this book to characterize people born on any specific day (numerology, astrology, or tarot). But it is amazingly accurate! Virtually everything cited is me, and in spades.
This gives me the “double whammy” of having Asperger’s Syndrome and being born on October 13. No wonder, I am so socially screwed up?

OCTOBER 13 – THE DAY OF THE TOUGH COOKIE
STRENGTHS
INTENSE
SUCCESS-ORIENTATED
PROFESSIONAL
WEAKNESSES
OVERSTRESSED
DEMANDING
CRITICAL

Those born on October 13 don’t fool around when it comes to their professional life. They take their career very seriously and pride themselves in their ability to deliver results. Tough to the extreme, they are dangerous enemies and have the capacity to overcome resistance through sheer guts and endurance. They believe that a human should go for it – no ifs and or buts.

Unfortunately, however, those born on this day can be rigid and unforgiving. They find it difficult to be happy for extended periods and are sharply critical of much that goes around them. They have a great need to relax, but at times find it near impossible to do so, and though highly talented, have difficulty simplifying life. Therefore, October 13 people not infrequently encounter problems in personal relationships, it is hard for them to please others when they themselves are so restless.

Paradoxically, October 13 people are known to be sweet and giving to those close to them. In all fairness, they are harder on themselves than others, but not everyone is capable of seeing that. It is not so much that they are perfectionists (indeed they are), but that the aforementioned critical attitudes can make them difficult to live and work with. Thankfully, what they produce is of such irrefutably high quality that it’s hard to fault them as far as results are concerned.

October 13 people can be very elusive when necessary. Those who wish to use an October 13 person to elicit information or appropriate knowledge may find that after having had their interview or conversation they have learned precious little if anything at all; what they grasped was but smoke and mirrors. But though elusiveness, distance, and circumspection certainly make October 13 people less gullible and vulnerable, those born on this day might consider opening up a bit more to those deserving of their trust.

October 13 people are often blessed with technical abilities. It would seem that individuals with such mastery of their medium would have little problem in career matters, but they can become baffled and bewildered when they are rejected or ignored. It is most difficult for October 13 people to shake off or even acknowledge defeat. It is, however, only perhaps through such confrontative and seemingly negative experiences that they can grow further, particularly when forced to confront themselves through an introspection denied them during their periods of great success.

It is critical that October 13 people first come to understand themselves and then proceed to forge common human bonds with those around them. Learning to loosen up, have fun and take things less seriously will help. Given their drive, dedication, and exceptional abilities those born on this day cannot but succeed if they can develop in this way.

NUMBERS AND PLANETS
Those born on the 13^th of the month are ruled by the number 3 (1 + 3 = 4) and by the planet Uranus which is both erratic and explosive. Since October 13 people are usually involved in far-reaching social and career activities, they must learn to keep this Uranian part of themselves under control. The connection between Uranus and Venus (Libra’s ruler) may indicate an unsettled love life, or perhaps a propensity for strange and unconventional relationships. Although the number 13 is considered unlucky by many people, it is, rather, a powerful number which carries the responsibility of either using its power wisely or running the risk of self-destruction. The number 4 typically represents rebellion, idiosyncratic beliefs and a desire to change the rules, all of which may well apply to October 13 people.
Libra.

TAROT
The most misunderstood card in the Tarot is the 13^th card of the Major Arcana, Death, which very rarely is to be taken literally but signifies a letting go of the past in order to grow beyond intentions, metamorphically. Both this card and the number 4 suggest that October 13 people must guard against discouragement, disillusion, pessimism and melancholy.

HEALTH
Since relaxation is the crying need of October 13 people, and their biggest health problems are generally stress-related, the fact that they so often turn to drugs to help them in this respect can pose to be a big problem. Rather than taking time off or getting to know themselves better, these hard-driving individuals often find it easier to smoke, drink and medicate their tensions away. Of course, this doesn’t work in the long run, and further complicates psychological disturbances, with the added concern of dependency or addiction. Counseling or therapy of some kind is strongly recommended for those October 13 people who feel troubled, many of whom do not specialize in self-knowledge. Meditation and yoga are also strongly recommended.

ADVICE
You must learn to relax. Take frequent vacations or at least rest periods where you do absolutely nothing. Don’t be too afraid of satisfaction. Accept mistakes and avoid blaming when you can. Vulnerability can lead to happiness.

MEDITATION
Reflective thought can have as much influence on what happens around you as action can

BORN ON THIS DAY
Margaret Thatcher (British Conservative prime minister, “The Iron Lady”, eleven-year reign, first Conservative Party woman leader)
Art Tatum (jazz pianist, unmatched technique)
Lenny Bruce (social satirist comedian, writer, controversial How to Talk Dirty and Influence People)
Paul Simon (singer, guitarist, songwriter)
Pharoah Sanders (jazz tenor, soprano saxophonist, composer)
Maya Deren (pioneer Avant-Garde filmmaker, Ritual in Transfigured Time)
Nancy Kerrigan (US Olympic silver medal-winning figure skater, attacked, recovered to win a medal)
Ray Brown (jazz bassist, teamed with Oscar Peterson)
Lee Konitz (jazz alto saxophonist, composer)
Count Hermann Maurice Saxe (French military leader, field marshal)
Terry Gibbs (jazz vibraphone player)
Rudolf Virchow (German pioneer cellular pathologist, politician)
Jerry Lee Rice (football wide receiver, Six All-Pro, all-time single-season TDs [22] leader)
Eddie Mathews (hit over 30 HRs for nine straight years)
Lillie Langtree (British stage actress)
Dusan Makaveyev (Yugoslavian film director, Montenegro)
Javier Sotomayor (Cuban world champion high jumper, Olympic gold medalist, first to clear 8 feet)
Cornell Wilde (film actor)
Desmond Wilson (TV actor, Sanford and Son)

ORIGIN OF FRIDAY the 13^th AS BAD LUCK
Until the late 1800s, no one felt that Fridays that fell on the 13^th day of the month were anything special at all. Exactly how the date became unlucky is murky. Certainly, the idea was firmly implanted on the cultural consciousness by 1980, when the slasher flick, “Friday the 13^th” was released.
There is even a name to describe the irrational dread of the date: paraskevidekatriaphobia, a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a fear of the number 13. The Gregorian calendar means that the 13^th of any Friday is slightly more likely to fall on a Friday than any other day of the week. Most years have two Friday the 13ths – and a maximum of three, although 2021 will be an anomaly with only one. Some hotels will have no room 13, while a lot of tall buildings don’t have a 13^th floor. Some airlines also refuse to have a row 13 in their planes.
Friday, October 13, 1307. French King Philip IV arrested Grand Master Jacques de Molay and hundreds of Knights Templar (a powerful military order formed in the 12^th century for the defense of the Holy Land) charged them of idolatry and corruption, but really because the king wanted access to their financial resources. He was under pressure from Pope Clement V, over allegations made by an excommunicated former member that new recruits were being forced to spit on the cross, deny Christ and engage in homosexual acts during initiation ceremonies. The claims, seemingly entirely without foundation, were a convenient pretext for Philip to persecute the wealthy order and waive debts he owed the following war with England.
Charged with moral and financial corruption and worshipping false idols, often following confessions obtained under torture, many of the knights were later burnt at the stake in Paris. The order’s Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, faced the flames in front of Notre Dame Cathedral and is said to have cried out a curse on those who executed it members: “God knows who is wrong and has sinned. Soon a calamity with occur to those who have condemned us to death.”. The events initiated by the holy warriors’ arrest, according to tradition ensured every subsequent Friday the 13^th meant bad luck to one and all, De Molay’s hex ringing out through the ages.
Dan Brown’s “The Davinci Code” popularized this as the theory of the origin of the Friday, the 13^th superstition.
A Norse myth told of a dinner party for 12 gods in Valhalla at which a 13^th guest showed up uninvited – the trickster god Loki – deceived the blind god Hodr into shooting his brother Balder, the god of light, joy, and happiness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow, killing him instantly.
Friday, October 13, 1972: A Chilean Air Force plane crashed in the Andes and most survivors resorted to cannibalism.

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MY LIFE & ASPERGERS
The brief autobiography above doesn’t say anything about Asperger’s syndrome. It gives the chronology of my life.
What follows are my reflections on my upbringing, education, career, and my passions – those things I have set my mind to excel at. It also tries to show how Asperger’s thinking has affected my social interactions.
This results in an individualistic look at Asperger’s, the sort of accounts that I often could not relate to when reading other individual stories. We are all individuals and on a spectrum of behavior and skills. I hope it gives you some answers about how Asperger’s may affect you.
I believe Asperger’s has given me many advantages that I believe have been able to maximize through curiosity, ambition, and drive.

FAMILY
Both my grandparents homesteaded in the Province of Saskatchewan. The Canada Homestead Act gave 140 acres to anyone who broke the land. They had a hard life.
The Paternal Perrier side
The original Perrier came to Canada in 1664 and I am 10^th generation Canadian on that lineage.
All my grandparents homesteaded on the Canadian prairies of southern Saskatchewan.
Albert and the family moved permanently to southern Saskatchewan and the family grew to 10, five boys and five girls. All my grandmother’s brothers and but four of the boys were alcoholics. There must be a Y chromosome link. My grandfather though an intelligent, strong-willed, and competent guy. He was one of my idols as a child.
My father was the third child and oldest boy. He quit school after grade 8 to work in a coal mine and even spent one summer in Montana working. He served the entire WWII stationed on Vancouver Island.
My mother was a school teacher and taught most of the younger Perrier children. They married in 1945 and my oldest brother was born in that year. He worked as an elevator agent and we moved at age two to Glentworth, Saskatchewan, a tiny village of 100 at the eastern end of what is now Grasslands National Park.
My middle brother was born in 1950 and me in 1952.
We grew up as free-range children. The house we lived in had no running water or electricity until 1959. My father erected a giant antenna so that we could have TV. I started grade one in a room with grades one to three combined. My mother was my teacher in grade 2.
I always was a good student and found learning any way – visually, hands-on, or through reading easy.

The Maternal Strand side
My grandfather Sven Strand immigrated from Norway in 1912 to the Maple Creek area of southwest Saskatchewan. He got his homestead in about 1915, lived in a sod shack for the first year and married my grandmother, Nancy Devonshire in 1916. She had emigrated to Canada from England in 1913 to be a governess at a ranch near Maple Creek. Both of them, and especially my mother, were very bright. The eldest of 5 children, she graduated from grade 12, went to Normal School in Regina, and had her first posting at ?, the closest school to the Perrier farm. This was all through the Depression when times were hard.

Asperger’s syndrome in my family. Asperger syndrome is clearly inherited through a complex number of genetic factors. Many high functioning Asperger people have a good family history of genius coupled with poorly functioning social skills.
The following is purely conjecture but reasonable assumptions based on the personalities of some of my relatives. There is no family history of genius. All led relatively ordinary lives achieving relatively ordinary goals.
It is apparent there is no evidence of Asperger’s in my paternal Perrier side including virtually all my 32 cousins. Besides a crippling history of alcoholism in all but one of the second-generation men, the Perriers were all socially active people.
My maternal Strand side however is an entirely different story. Both my grandparents were intelligent and left Europe at young ages to pursue a completely different life on the prairies of Canada. I don’t understand all the economic factors, but they were not unusual as millions of Europeans at the time immigrated to North America prior to the First World War. Both were social “loners” without a network of friends. That repeated itself with my mother. Very bright, she was universally liked by everyone, but I never remember any “friends” and we never had friends come to our house. One family who also lived in Glentworth, had left the year before us, had children the same ages as us, and were friends that we remained in contact with for years.
Other than with relatives (almost all Perriers), both my parents had a limited friend network. Her brother, the oldest boy of the five children, exhibited all the signs of having Asperger’s syndrome. He was very shy and a loner all his life. I have one nephew who exhibits all the signs. And I have a son who also fits the bill, although he has no understanding of any of it. I am the only one who has seemed to discover his Asperger background.

CHILDHOOD & EDUCATION.
Both my parents grew up during the Depression. This left an indelible mark on their personalities. Food was very important. They both had a strong work ethic, possibly the most pronounced thing I gained from them.
I was an exceptionally quiet, shy kid. Seeing little future in Glentworth, my mother got a teaching job in Medicine Hat and we moved there in 1960. I eventually graduated from Medicine Hat High School in 1970 when I was 17.
During my first year in the “Hat”, in grade 3, I can only remember crying a lot. The teacher must have taken pity on me and I had the starring role as a groom in the Christmas play “Wedding of the Flowers” (my future wife was the bride in the same play but in the other grade 3 class). In grade 4, the teacher made us sing in front of the class to test our voices. As a result, I was instructed to only mouth the words and not utter a note (I believe I am a monotone, tone-deaf individual). We never had music in our house.
In grade 5, my teacher told my mother my IQ and I have known it since. I thought it should have been higher, but I applied myself to school completely. I read over 40 books in that grade, and despite being the most, still didn’t get the prize as another girl read more “difficult” books.
Like my brothers, I played hardball in a league in the summer and hockey in the school leagues throughout elementary school and junior high. Most years I was on the city all-star teams. I had a very strong arm but only the coach’s kid got to pitch. My father loved to tell me how much better an athlete my brother Dennis was.

My relationship with my parents was quite different than my brothers. My oldest brother was 7 years older and had a very special relationship with my mother. She raised him alone until he was three and he developed a special relationship with the Perrier aunts and uncles that I never did. He was also a good student. He had left home for university when I was ten and I feel I never really knew him. By the time I went to the same university, he had his masters and had left for the US to get his Ph.D. He always lived a long way away.
My other brother, just two years older was a very active kid, had a severe stutter, and found school difficult. As a result, he was much more demanding and seemed to get a lot more attention. I needed little encouragement at anything and, as an adult, came to resent the lack of it. I felt I did not get the coaching and advice I needed from either parent.
My mother had an unusual parenting style. She led by example and I can’t remember being told to do anything, certainly not do my homework or study. Going to university was only natural and medicine was the best career I could ever have picked. Except for one cousin, my brothers and I were easily the best educated of my 40 or so cousins. A strong work ethic may have been their greatest legacy.
I now believe that my mother didn’t particularly like me either. Even as an adult, I can’t remember her showing much interest in my life. Whenever we talked, she never seemed to validate anything I said. She always changed the subject immediately back my brothers, who she was much closer to. She was very disappointed when I divorced my wife. My mom may have been a better mother to her than her own.

I excelled at school and usually stood first until I went to a much larger junior high school attended by all children on the south side of the South Saskatchewan River.
Despite coming home with almost all As, one of the most disappointing things in my life was never getting a comment from my mother. My parents were careful not to say much good about you, and I never heard even “good job” from my mom. Having a “swelled head” was frowned on in the Perrier family. After grade 5, I gave my mother my report cards and promptly left. All the other kids seemed to get money for good grades. I couldn’t stand it.
I also never remember being told by my parents “I love you”. This wasn’t done in those days. One had to develop your own ego consciousness.
The only thing valued seemed to be finishing all the food put on your plate. I was an impossibly slow eater and often remember sitting at the table an hour after everyone else had finished, chewing each mouthful endlessly. The penalty for not finishing everything was having to sit in the corner. The only time I was told “good boy” was after finishing eating and it is no wonder, I developed a weight problem later in life.
My father was a strict disciplinarian. Luckily, I got the least of it. My dad liked to take you downstairs, take off his belt, and beat your bare behind. The last good licking I remember was after being 10 minutes late for dinner. I sometimes think some of my anger issues stemmed from him, but in retrospect, I think it has much more to do with Asperger’s.
It took many years to finally realize that your parents did the best job they knew how to and finally abandoned the resentment. It was a crucial learning moment in my life. Being angry about things like this gets you nowhere.

Through grades 8 to 12, I continued being one of the top students. I excelled at everything but English where I barely managed a C+. I had already decided in grade 10 that I wanted to go into medicine. I tutored many other kids in math and other sciences. In grade 12, out of over 500 students in my grade, I stood 4^th. To get there I often had the best marks in non-English subjects – maths and sciences were my saviors. I loved doing all the questions at the back of each chapter. However, I was left off the Reach For The Top team (province-wide TV quiz shows). I think my teachers realized my behaviour might have not been the best.
In grades 11 and 12, I organized a protest group to further the agenda of students. Our first goal was to allow girls to wear jeans. I was placed on a district-wide advisory group that met with the school board.

In all my school years, I can only remember missing school once. That was in grade 2 when I was home for 2 weeks with chickenpox. You could hardly say I missed school as my mother was my grade 2 teacher. I never skipped a class once. The only dreams I remember concentrated around missing school or not being prepared for an exam, although that never happened. I was always prepared.
I slowly, but only partially wedged my way into the popular group of kids. I dated one of the most popular girls for grade 10. My grade 12 girlfriend with whom I went to graduation, eventually (after a few years of separation), became my wife.
I have always played a lot of tennis. Although not a great athlete then, I played high school football for one year. I was easily the worst player on the team. It doesn’t work well in football when you don’t like to get hit. I was supposedly the second quarterback but only was on the field for one play the whole year. Understandably, that sport didn’t last long. But I was in the best physical condition of my life.
I went to the badminton provincials representing Medicine Hat on the fifth of eight tiers.
I also drank a lot of alcohol. Our bootlegger was the owner of the pool hall where we all hung out every Saturday. I had many blackouts. The legal age for buying alcohol dropped to 18 on virtually my 18^th birthday during my first year at university. It was my first time away from home and it wasn’t pretty. But I rarely drank after that year and have been virtual tea-totaled since. I switched to marijuana.

The first Asperger behavior I remember was in grade 12. I was on a debating team that was videotaped to be shown to the rest of the grade. I inappropriately stuck my tongue inside my cheek when my opponents spoke. The results were catastrophic. Things went downhill from there.
In my first year of university, I lived on the 6^th floor of an 11-floor student residence. I didn’t make any friends but more than a few enemies. I did crazy things like collect glass balls from fire escapes. One night I completely dismantled another wing’s bathroom and put it in my room. It was hard to deny that I had done it. I was eventually disciplined and banned from student residences forever. Whenever I had to make a social decision, it was the wrong one.
Over the next two years, I lived with other Medicine Hat students, first in a house and then in a university housing residence. I have no friends from those experiences. In retrospect, I’m sure I showed lots of Asperger’s behaviour. I also lost track of all my high school friends.

But I still had great study habits and succeeded in getting into medical school, even though my English marks dropped my average by a whole stanine. I stood 14^th out of 120 in my second year of medicine, the last year class standing was used. I found medical school very easy. Evidence-based science is ideally suited to the Asperger mind. Medicine was the perfect education and job I could have chosen. It allowed me to be my own boss. I don’t think I could have ever dealt with having a boss as few people bring the intensity I do to a job.
Medical school was likewise a social disaster. In first-year anatomy, I inappropriately demanded to do all the dissecting in our four-person cadaver group. Over the four years, I had only one consistent friend and now have none. We sat in the front row of every class. I didn’t bother attending my graduation ceremony. It had no meaning to me. I never attended any of the class reunions, hearing about them only after they had already occurred.
In the summers between all 6 years of university, I had great summer jobs that started virtually the day I got home and ended the day before I returned. I had a great work ethic, possibly the greatest thing I learned from my parents. For several summers, I worked for the school board watering the grass at night My best job was as a brakeman for the CPR making great money and not having to do much on the fast track between Medicine Hat, Calgary, and Swift Current, Saskatchewan. I now am amazed that kids expect to have a holiday during their summers between school.
In my second year of medicine, I re-met my high school girlfriend, we got pregnant and had our first child. Having to deal with only one person was a savior for my personality.
Being part of the Boomer generation was also one of my lucky life events. We had access to cheap education, the best jobs opportunities, and easy access to homeownership. Despite paying for 100% of my entire education, I managed to leave university with minimal debt. Those were the days of cheap university and good jobs. We possibly are one of the last generations more well-off than our parents.

Final year medical exams were conducted over 5 days. My wife and daughter went back to the Hat for a month so that I could study with no distractions. Studying for more than a few hours a day was all I could handle. The rest of the time, I smoked a lot of dope and played hearts much more than I studied, usually through the night. We had always played a lot of cards at home, and it was a natural progression to play bridge, another game ideally suited to the Asperger mind.
I tried to be the first out of the exam room and usually succeeded. I also took the first two parts of the National Boards, the US qualifying exams. Part 1 was basic sciences, taken four years previously and I found them unbelievably difficult. These may have been the worst exam results of my life. But Canadian medical school prepared me much better than my American counterparts.

I interned at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria. It was the last year you could practice with only a one-year rotating internship. We had our second child while there. I was not popular with any of my fellow interns and again formed no lasting friendships. I loved the climate in Victoria and that may be why it was natural to move to Vancouver Island in 2010.

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ESTRANGEMENT
I am estranged from an extraordinary number of my close relatives and even my one-time best friend. I have always been surprised how easily some people are offended by one interaction, and then cancel you from their life. I rationalize the ease of their decision may that they have never liked you and use any excuse to erase you.
At least three have oriental spouses who have been the source of the animosity. I understand that their allegiance is first to their partner, but don’t understand that they make no attempt at personal contact.
Many people when they retire turn their entire existence either to dogs or their grandchildren or often both. They bend over backward to further that relationship and rarely speak their mind.
The generation of my grandparents never doted on us or made any effort to develop special relationships with their grandchildren. My grandfather Perrier had no problem telling you when you were out of line. I respected him a great deal – he is one of my role models. I remember more than a few tongue lashings. Admittedly, he had 32 grandchildren, but they spent several months every winter staying at our house. They liked my mother.

I will give some detail of these relationships to show how Asperger’s thinking is logic-based and often produces conflict unintentionally.
My brother’s wife. I first met her when I was an immature 17-year-old during my first year of university, and since, she has shown unrelenting hostility to me. I don’t remember what I said, but, now over 50 years later, I have not been forgiven, no matter how hard I have tried to be nice. Her face becomes a scowl when we meet in person. I take consolation in the fact that she also hates her identical twin.
I have finally given up on any attempt at reconciliation, hate her equally, and refuse any contact. I would never go to their place for dinner. Avoidance is the only way for me to deal with the always uncomfortable situations that arise.
My middle son. After I burned him out hiking when he was 10 and he took up fishing, we seem to not see eye to eye on anything. The estrangement started after he married a Canadian-born Chinese woman.
At their wedding, her parents did not say one word to me. I assumed they didn’t speak English after having been in Canada for 25 years (a real possibility in Vancouver with a 50% Chinese population). They served shark fin soup. Subsequently, I may have made a few mistakes.
When helping to renovate my other son’s apartment, I rolled my eyes at her painting.
My son is a chef and wanted to go to expensive restaurants whenever I came to Vancouver. I wanted to cook at home. One time, she totally lost her cool over what I considered normal behaviour for a one-year-old and I made an offhand comment about the occurrence to my son. The next time I was in Vancouver, at dinner time, I ended up eating at a nearby restaurant. My last contact after spending an afternoon with my son and the two children was when my grandson was an infant. My son starting cooking a fabulous Mexican meal at 5pm, my daughter-in-law appeared for the last 30 minutes of the day (a great avoidance technique) and I was out the door at 6pm. I had been told the visit was only to last from noon to 6.
For many reasons seemingly only logical to me, I did not attend my grandson’s first birthday party and since (now 9 years later), she has banned me from any contact with my only two grandchildren. I again take consolation that my lovely daughter has also been banned. She likewise has no contact with her brother.
I have made several attempts at reconciliation. One involved having to apologize to her before visiting for being prejudiced against Chinese. Seeing as I am not prejudiced against Chinese (I’ve traveled to China five times, actually like Chinese and for many years had a Chinese girlfriend who lives in China). Instead of kowtowing (like many non-Asperger’s grandparents would do), I didn’t apologize and that visit was canceled. Not surprisingly, he divorced her.
A subsequent attempt at meeting ended up in one of the most unpleasant phone conversations of my life. He brought up all the same issues from a previous phone call eight years previously, especially that I am estranged from so many other relatives. He said some of the most inconsiderate, rude, and hateful things based on his view of me. I then canceled him from my life. I will never talk to him again.
I am sure he also has Asperger’s but doesn’t know it. Hopefully, he will read this book.
My other son’s (Japanese) wife. We got along well until I was involved in the above renovation. I had committed two weeks to help them. I worked 16 hour days. She contributed nothing to the effort. I painted a ceiling with the colour she wanted. When finished, she informed me it was the wrong colour. I said, “that is f**king ridiculous”. I was forced to leave and the hate started.
One year, on my way to Burning Man, I stopped in San Francisco where they live hoping to spend a nice afternoon with my son. I wasn’t allowed in their apartment and we spent one hour at a fast-food restaurant. I was very disappointed. He makes no attempt to see me when he comes to Canada. He makes no contact on my birthday, Father’s Day or Christmas.
Even though we had gotten along well, I have stopped phoning him on his birthday. I can always logically cancel people from my life if treated badly.
My older brother. He is seven years older and I have never really known him. In a post on my website called “Keys to Financial Success” I made the comment “Just as many people learn little about surviving in a marriage or taught how to raise children, most don’t learn good financial habits from their parents”. He lost it and demanded the statement be removed. It appeared to conflict with his very different views. He seemed to believe our parents had a model marriage (it was anything but). I have not talked to him since.
My best friend. After his first wife died, he became involved with a Chinese woman. I made a comment about hiking and personal responsibility in the wilderness to which she was apparently offended. For the last six years of his life, he made no contact with me. For someone who has few friends, I value the few I have had. I was deeply hurt. I couldn’t understand that what I had said was so damaging.
My other brother. We have always been close. He likewise has decided to spend his entire retirement developing a special relationship to his three grandchildren and moved to southern Ontario where his children live.
When I travel, he emails me about three times a year “Where are you now?” He never reads my Travelogue on my website which is up to date almost to the day. I phone him and we are able to get caught up on each other’s life.
He has very left-wing political thinking and started to talk about his favourite author, one of Bill Clinton’s cabinet. He started to espouse the idea of a guaranteed income for all. I suggested that it was not affordable for any government. These ideas of equality for all have not worked in any society. There are always slackards who don’t contribute equally. Despite the elite and politicians having privilege, the ambitious get no reward for their hard work and these societies eventually fall apart.
I suggested that a better goal might be a minimum wage on which people could live. He disagreed and we were unable to reach a consensus. I asked him how he maintained knowledge about the world. He does not have cable TV to watch news channels and gets no subscriptions to any informed magazines because they cost too much and are biased in his view. Ex-teachers are some of the cheapest people on earth. His only reading is the Alberta Weekly, a newsletter from the left. He also reads some labour newsletters. I suggested that he start to read the Economist and gave him my access password. He said they were biased. After not being able to get a word in edgewise, I finally hung up the phone. He wrote two emails discussing bias to which I could see no value in responding. I haven’t talked to him since. Hopefully, we will reconcile.
My Cousins. I have many cousins but none have ever visited me where I live.
Strande side. 9 cousins, 2 dead with whom I had no relationship, 5 in own family that I haven’t seen for 58 years, 2 in one family, one of whom I see occasionally (and may have the best relationship with of any of my cousins.
Perrier side. Over the years, I have been to Assiniboia twice and saw several who live near. In 2021, on my return driving from Eastern Canada, I made one of my trips to Assiniboia, saw another cousin who lives nearby and then stopped in Calgary to see the 4 cousins who live there.
When I was in Stockholm in August 2019, one of my cousins was there at the same time. I made two attempts to meet but she had other things to do.
When I started travel in July 2021, I posted about several of the islands I had visited (Azores, Cape Verde, Madeira, Canary Islands, Mallorca) giving a summary of information about my visits, like I would have for the FB group, Every Passport Stamp, but no photos (I don’t take pictures). I was surprised that I only got one like from all my FB cousin friends.
In September, 2021, I received a surprise phone call on Messenger in the middle of the night from a cousin who has lived in Australia since a teenager. He is the closest in age to me and is an artist. We talked for about 2 hours and since emailed several times. He told me that all the cousins had given up hope in me.

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MY CAREER IN MEDICINE
Medicine was the ideal career for my Asperger mind. Evidence-based scientific thinking suits us very well. When things were not known for sure, common sense based on a good understanding of medicine took over. It was a job where I could be my own boss. I was never very good at following other people’s orders. Medicine is one job where one must be a life-long learner. I learn things easily by any method. I love to read.
With a great series of lucky occurrences, I started my general medical practice when I was 24 and retired at 53.
With two children and a family to support, it was obvious that I needed to find a general practice to work in. I answered a few ads in the British Columbia Medical Journal. One interview was not a good fit, but I then drove out to Castlegar to interview with a 6-man group of GPs and got a job. This was easily the luckiest decision of my life as rural family practice was ideally suited to me.
Along with another smaller group, we served a population of about 7,000 in town and another 7,000 in the surrounding villages that were speckled on the valleys along Pass Creek and the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers that met at Castlegar. There were no specialists. But my group was composed of a bunch of very independent doctors who avidly encouraged partners to acquire special skills. One partner did a lot of general surgery, one gynecology, another internal medicine, and three gave anesthetics. We all did obstetrics, emergency, pediatrics, psychiatry – the entire scope of medical practice. I replaced a short-term locum who left me little practice. That was another good break as I did not get locked into someone else’s patients. Another doctor was hired two months later, but he replaced an elderly doctor who was retiring. His main interest became geriatrics.
We were a very progressive group. It was mandatory to take nine weeks’ holidays per year and have a day off each week to compensate for all the call we had to take. Later when I did five one-month locums in the Canadian Arctic doing dermatology, I used one of those months each year. I used my day off as my therapeutic abortion day.
Once, all six of us spent a weekend at a retreat to improve how we related to each other. I learned that I was the least influential person in the practice. Asperger’s had always affected my expressive language. I couldn’t talk anyone into all my great ideas.
One issue is that I didn’t have the greatest bedside manner. But I was able to develop a large general practice of patients who appreciated my competence and liked a straight shooter.

I will detail all the special interests I was able to develop, not to gloat, but to show how my brain on override could function.  
Obstetrics. I had a lot of obstetric experience in medical school and internship and loved delivering babies. My very first after I started practice was in the middle of the night delivering a patient for one of my partners on holiday. It was undiagnosed twins (routine ultrasounds were not done back in 1977). I delivered the second breach twin with Piper forceps. No worries.
Eventually, I delivered everyone on their side, a position called Sims left lateral. Careful control of the perineum was paramount and this made it much easier to achieve. Leaving with no episiotomy or at most a simple midline scar made recovery so much easier for women.
I would do any method and did LeBoyer underwater deliveries, even though I really didn’t believe there was any advantage.
My wife was made for having babies. By the time the third child came along, I knew that if I didn’t deliver him, nobody would. True to form, she niggled along for a long time, then had a few contractions, and there he was. I caught my son in the hallway on the way to the delivery suite. Looking after your own family was unethical and I would be censured today. But it was the only practical thing to do and I got away with it.

Surgical assisting. I also became the main surgical assistant. Over the years, I muscled my way into doing simple procedures like appendectomies. I still think, after almost 20 years of not doing one, I could still do a routine appendectomy.

Therapeutic abortions. Almost immediately after starting a practice, I started doing therapeutic abortions. As a procedure nobody else liked to do, I fairly rapidly cornered the abortion practice for all the West Kootenay, an isolated area with slightly over 80,000 people. The gynecologists stopped doing them.
I spent a few weeks in Vancouver improving my technique including a week of late abortions. These must be the most horrific of procedures. The technique had been developed by Dr. Gary Romalis in Vancouver (he was shot once and stabbed in the back once by pro-life fanatics). Laminaria was inserted in the days before to soften the cervix. The baby was then extracted using special grasping forceps. Heads and spines came out in one piece. I found them not very pleasant. But I ended up being the only physician outside the lower Mainland doing abortions in the 12-15 week range. With laminaria, abortions could still be done up to 15 weeks using suction. Laminaria was an absolute necessity to control bleeding.
This had the unintended result of being picketed by pro-lifers every day for the almost 30 years I practiced. One religious zealot carried a piece of plywood in the shape of a coffin in front of our clinic and never missed a day. Our only communication in all that time was a VHS video he sent me once. If I had to choose an adversary, Herman would be my choice. He had little credibility and was always peaceful. British Columbia had fortunately introduced the “Bubble Law” that kept him across the street.
When abortion doctors were being shot all over North America, I did feel vulnerable. After my divorce, I lived in the countryside for several years. Sitting eating in front of a bay window surrounded by forest was not reassuring. One pro-lifer once wrote a letter to the editor of the Nelson News that he thought shooting abortion providers was totally justified. I could relate – when you believe strongly in something but can do nothing legitimate about it, it seemed reasonable to shoot someone “killing” babies.
Canada has easily the best abortion law in the world – none. After court challenges by my hero, Dr Henry Morgenthaler, the law was thrown out and never replaced. That left me as a provider in total control. I refused no one and even did them as young as 13 without parental consent. I always encouraged underage women to involve their parents, but sometimes that was not possible. As long as I thought she could give proper informed consent, age was not an obstacle.
I thought of myself as a simple technician doing a procedure that every woman should have easy access to. Unwanted children tend to not do well in our society. Almost every patient was referred and counseling was not my job. I never turned anyone down, was not judgemental, and tried to be as supportive as possible. I saw women from all over, the day before the booked procedure, inserted laminaria if possible and all were able to return home the next day. I rarely had a complication.
About six years before I retired, the only doctor doing abortions in the East Kootenay (at least a 3-hour drive away) retired – I was then the only provider in all of southeast British Columbia.

Laparoscopy. I made sure all having an abortion left with contraception of some kind. I had learned how to use a laparoscope and probably a third also had a tubal ligation at the same time as the abortion. It was a one-stop-shop.

Caesarian Sections. To have an active obstetric practice in your hospital, you must be able to provide caesarian sections 24/7. When one of my partners who did sections retired, I went down to the lower Mainland, did caesarians for a week, and started doing them too. This was even more rewarding than natural vaginal deliveries and I found them great fun. I had pretty good surgical hands.
The urologist in the nearby referral hospital routinely asked me to assist with difficult procedures like nephrectomies.

Dermatology. One day a man, who was to become my best friend walked into my office with a very unusual rash. Dermatology is not a strength of many family doctors. I biopsied it and referred him to a dermatologist in Vancouver, over 600 kilometres away. From my history, he didn’t have to see the pathology and knew the diagnosis immediately. I thought that was pretty cool and over the next few years, took several courses in dermatology including one month at the University of Arizona in Tucson where my oldest brother was working. I read voraciously and slowly required a large referral dermatology practice (about 40% of my practice). I have great visual skills – generally taking a history was not of much value in dermatology and it often only took a five-second look to know what was going on. This became my real passion. I subscribed to several dermatology journals and devoured them. I actually think I was pretty competent.

Working in the Canadian Arctic.
I wrote the medical director of the Northwest Territories wanting to do dermatology there. They were keen to have specialists with GP skills and I was hired twice there, eventually visiting every town in the territory. Most were fly-in only and I must have flown in every small plane available including the greatest of them all, the de Haviland Twin Otter.
I then canvassed the territory of Nunavut in the eastern Arctic to do the same job and was hired three times, again for one-month periods. Having survived successfully for 2000 years in a harsh environment, the Inuit of Canada are an amazing people and it is sad what is happening to their culture when they move into a town.
I soon realized that I needed to spend some money in the communities and started an amazing Inuit art collection. I announced my intent on arrival in every town and had a constant stream of artists at my hotel door. My last trip was one month after I retired from my general practice. This was one of the most fulfilling cultural experiences of my life.

Outpatient surgery. With my skin practice came a lot of dermatologic surgery including a lot of nail surgery. I was already doing virtually anything that didn’t require a skin graft. I would remove anything. I was diligent with my technique and produced great scars. In retrospect, I should have specialized in either dermatology or plastics.
Like many of my partners, I did vasectomies and anything anal – hemorrhoidectomies, fistulas, and anal fissures – virtually anything that needed a knife. “Read one, do one” was my motto. When our malpractice association refused to support doctors doing circumcisions, I was left as the only doctor doing them too. People came from all over, I saw them in the ER for the first time the day of the procedure and everyone left happy.
I arrived at the ER at 8 every morning with a full slate of outpatient procedures and still always made it to the office by 10.

Methadone. In 2000, the West Kootenay was left without a methadone prescriber. I took the necessary courses and soon had over 70 ex-heroin addicts in my practice. I liked the crazy people who were now coming through my door. Methadone has its issues but is a mainstay of dealing with narcotic addicts. Everybody was weaned slowly and at least half became drug-free. They were sometimes handy patients to have. Once I was robbed with over $6,000 of camera equipment stolen. I phoned up one of my patients and knew who the thief was and who he had fenced all my stuff to by the next morning.
With methadone, I learned a lot about addiction medicine. I don’t think I was ever conned by drug-seeking patients again.

Other medical interests.
Diabetes. I was the director of the diabetes program in our hospital for all 30 years I practiced.
Hemophilia and AIDs. I had two unrelated teenage hemophiliacs. One day in 1984, I received a notice to stop using cryoprecipitate, then the main therapy for hemophilia, but unfortunately one derived from pooled plasma massed produced in the US. Both died terrible deaths within a few years. I then became the local AIDs expert.
RN program. I was the medical advisor to the local RN nursing program for many years and yearly gave a lecture on neurological exams. I used the pneumonic for the 12 cranial nerves “Oh, oh, oh, to touch and feel a girl’s vagina and hymen”, something I will never forget.

By the time I permanently retired from my medical practice at age 53, I had developed the most amazing practice, one that I doubt could ever be possible today or in any other town. It was unbelievably rewarding – and perfectly suited to my Asperger’s mind. I looked forward to going to work every day. But by 2006, I was ready for something else, permanently gave up my medical license, and never thought of medicine again.
I did apply to MSF, wanting to work in their worst missions. Without a medical license, I would only be able to do jobs like logistics. I couldn’t speak French so was never hired.

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LUCK and ITS ROLE IN YOUR LIFE
It is not uncommon to hear successful people claim it was their intelligence, ambition, and hard work that enabled their success. I don’t think they understand the role luck has in your life. There is no doubt that one makes a lot of their own luck. But it is uncanny how my luck has been unbelievably good. Here is a list of some of the luck I have had.
1. Being Caucasian. Whiteness gives many advantages.

2. Being male. Men have always had it better than women.

3. A good genetic inheritance. Canada is a country of immigrants. My genetic inheritance reflects that exceptional genetic diversity – half Norwegian, a quarter English and a quarter French Canadian (probably with some indigenous genes thrown into that side) helps to guarantee no inbreeding or genetic disabilities.
a. Above average intelligence. My IQ is between 120-140, the best range. I am certainly not at a genius level which probably has more disadvantages than not. From Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers”, he states that being over 120 is all that is necessary for success. The person with the highest IQ recorded, an American with 194 never completed a university degree as he came from a very socially handicapped family.
b. A strong body. I probably have below-average upper body strength (unlike my father who was a very powerful man) as I take more after my maternal side. But I have great legs, an asset that allowed me to pursue possibly my greatest passion, hiking. I have never participated in sports that risk knee and leg injuries like running or downhill skiing so have good joints.
c. Asperger’s syndrome. This may be my greatest genetic advantage. It allows me to look at things in a logical, common-sense way, a huge asset in my life and career. It gives me the wonderful ability to pursue any passion to its fullest. It gives great curiosity and drive.
d. Good to average plus coordination and athleticism. I do not do well at team sports probably due to my Asperger’s, but have done well at individual sports: badminton, tennis, racquetball, and my best sport, golf. I ended up being a much better golfer than all my jock high school friends, all with much more inherent athletic ability. Some of this owes to being involved in sports from an early age so that I developed good eye-hand coordination.
e. Great eyes. At 68, I have never worn glasses and think it unlikely, I will ever need them. My vision is no longer perfect. I have mild astigmatism in my left so that I no longer have 20/20 vision. I did inherit malleable lenses that I have endeavored to keep that way. I’ve never used reading glasses and try to read as small print as possible every day. This has kept them malleable so that presbyopia has never reared its head. I can only read the smallest print with good light.
My father and oldest brother have marked astigmatism and are virtually blind without glasses.
f. At least average good looks.
g. Great hands and feet. I have exceptionally long fingers and good dexterity, giving me an advantage in being a passable GP surgeon. I think I could have been a hand or foot model.
h. A chance at long longevity with little risk of age-related dementia. I would prefer euthanasia to dementia.

4. Good parents. Until just recently (in my 60s), I had always carried a lot of resentment towards my parents, especially my mother. I finally accepted that they did the best job they knew how. They led by example, easily the best parenting style. I can never remember being told to do anything or being given any direction. I never remember a compliment except when I finished all the food they put on my plate. In fact, I only remember being told that I wasn’t as good an athlete as my brothers. They never said “I love you”. But I still love myself. That allowed me to develop my own ego consciousness.
They gave me a great work ethic and never missed a day’s work or skipped a class. Sounds boring.
I do think I would have benefited from more guidance. It would have given me some relief from having to navigate my Asperger’s all on my own. I don’t think I would have been so socially impaired

5. Being born in Canada. Most everyone thinks the country of their origin, upbringing, and life is the “best”, but Canada is a great country to come from. Affluence brings many advantages – a good education, few financial concerns, a good social safety net, career opportunities, and the ability to achieve whatever you want.

6. Being a Baby Boomer. Our generation has the best opportunities of any generation – access to a good education and career. We were the first generation to make more money than our parents.

7. Access to the best education possible. Finland possibly has the best education model in the world. Being a teacher is a highly respected profession. Canada’s education system is not as good, but it is still excellent.

8. Medical education. The University of Alberta gave preference to pre-med students with only 2 years of university, even favouring them over students with degrees. I applied at a time when the competition was hard but not nearly what it is today. With my relatively low grade-point average (impaired by my English marks), I doubt that I would be accepted today.

9. One-year rotating internship. I believe 1976-77 was the last year that this was allowed to receive a license to practice medicine. As a result of 5 and 6, I was in full-time practice at age 24.

10. Having children early in my life. My lovely daughter was unplanned and, at the time, the farthest thing on my agenda. But this resulted in having children relatively early, being able to educate them at a time when I had a lot of money and then when I was planning retirement, to do it at an early age.

11. Joining a great medical practice in a rural area with few specialists. The group of six men had a very advanced view of medicine. They all had special skills and actively encouraged me to develop as a doctor. Along with having no specialists in one town, I could do anything I put my mind to. Read below all the skills I developed in rural family practice.
We never had a clinic manager and each of us a “job” to do to run the practice. Mine was making the schedule. That allowed me to tailor my job to suit my passions. It also allowed us to have a very low overhead of less than 20%. – making it possible to save a lot of money.
We had some advanced ideas – forcing you to take 9-weeks holidays a year and a day off every week. This gave me the time to pursue my many passions. When I worked five times in the Canadian Arctic, I used one of those months each year. I did therapeutic abortions on my day off.
As a group, we attended a “self-improvement” session at Naramata Center, where we came to understand each of our roles in the practice. I found out I was the least influential person in the practice, probably because of my inability to express my ideas in a way that won many converts. A lawyer also attended and he showed us a “legal” way to continue to practice as a group but still have a professional corporation.

12. Living in the West Kootenay of southern British Columbia. This small area in south-central BC is halfway between Calgary Alberta and Vancouver but is on Highway 3, not the Trans Canada so sees little tourism. It is almost all mountains with four great provincial parks: Valhalla, Kokanee, Purcell Wilderness Conservancy, and the Goat Range. I kayaked all the lakes: Arrow Lake (Columbia River) from Revelstoke to Trail, Kootenay Lake (Kootenay and Duncan Rivers), and Slocan Lake, possibly the best canoeing anywhere in the world (I’ve done it five times). The Pend Oreille River has a short course in BC emptying into the Columbia just north of the US border, and I’ve paddled parts in both the US and Canada. See my post: http://www.ronperrier.net/2020/08/30/boating-on-the-lakes-of-the-west-kootenay/ for good descriptions.

13. Belonging to the Kootenay Mountaineering Club which I have belonged to for 35 years.

14. Practicing in a country with a great universal medical insurance plan. Canada does not allow specialists to see patients without a referral from a family doctor. That allows general practitioners to develop and use any special skills that have a hankering to learn. I optimized that opportunity. I have a hard time believing anyone could have as complete practice as I developed. It would be impossible today.
With only one insurance company to deal with, billing was very cheap. One staff member had a half-time job billing for 7 doctors (the six partners plus a locum we always had to allow us to have 9-weeks of holiday per year). We were paid promptly and had virtually no bad debt as everyone has medical insurance in Canada that is completely free with no user fees.

15. Financial luck. Early in my career, I read the Canadian classic on financial success, “The Wealthy Barber”. It has guided most of my financial decisions. I gave a copy to my three children who have all been good savers.
I have never spent more than a few hours per year dealing with investment and financial planning. Physicians in Canada have access to MD Management and MD Personal Investment Council, both with relatively low MERs and a wide range of investment opportunities. 15-years after retirement, I still meet with them for my annual one-hour meeting where 95% of my investment decisions are dealt with in one visit.
a. Canada offered a one-time $100,000 capital gains tax exemption. I took advantage of it.
b. Making three crucial investment decisions. In 2007, just before the Great Recession, I had the feeling that things were going to “head south”. I sold all my American stocks and bought about $300,000 of gold at $880/ounce. It has done well. I sold half when it came close to peaking at about $1460/ounce and most of the rest in 2021, when it appeared that the stock market was a much better investment than gold (actually a mediocre investment most of the time as gold had little industrial use).
I bought a lot of silver when I was finally able to be paid for my medical practice (a full 10-years after I retired). It also has done very well since 2020.
All investment success is dependent on the adage “it is not what you make but what you spend”. Since my divorce, I have been a great saver (that isn’t luck!).

16. Having a professional corporation. These were introduced in Canada just when I started to practice and I was able to take full advantage of all the financial advantages they offered – family trusts, paying only 19% tax, splitting income (I paid my wife handsomely for doing my books, a task that required a few hours per month. Incorporating’s biggest benefit as a great savings vehicle that allowed me to retire at 53, and a method of withdrawal of income as dividends (the first $48,000 of dividend income is tax-free in Canada). If it were not for Canada’s pension benefits (CPP and OP), I would never pay income tax.

17. Getting a divorce just before my maximal years of earning potential. My wife and I were not great savers. Both were guilty of free spending and I left the marriage with virtually no savings despite earning good money for 17-years. We played bridge all over the northwest of North America – with travel, accommodation, and card fees, bridge is a very expensive game if playing duplicate in the American Contract Bridge League. I played golf courses all over western North America, not a cheap game. Our children played expensive sports like hockey. That all changed in 1994 with my divorce. I had a great divorce lawyer that discouraged using courts to settle disagreements and encouraged me to accept what appeared at the time to be a lot of money. I started a very sparse lifestyle. I was able to pay most of the cost of the divorce (about $800,000) with pre-tax money. In retrospect, is seemed like a great financial burden, but I was making so much money, I didn’t even notice.
When anyone asks what the key to my financial success was, I tell them, get rid of your expensive wife and with her, and expensive lifestyle. Not many married women appreciate that.

18. Some Travel Luck
a. Extortion in Shanghai. I was held at a business here and US$5,000 was extorted from my credit card. It is a long story, but the outcome was all luck. I went to the police station and soon the owner of the bar was sitting beside me trying to get me to leave the station. After a long hour of intense bargaining, I was able to get 10,000, 5,000 and finally another 10,000 RMB or about US$4,200. It never appeared on my credit card and I made some hard cash. I went diving.
b. Accident Jan 2020. I was hit by a drunk driver on New Year’s Day 2020 outside of Verona Italy with 27,000 E damage to my Volkswagen California camping van. My Belgian insurance company did nothing but obstruct the repair to the point that the repair garage would not even deal with them. I eventually had to fund the entire repair personally to get things started in June 2021, 18 months after the accident. Repairs were finally finished on Aug 5, 2021.
That may all seem like bad luck but because of covid, it turned out to be lucky. I had no use of the van for that entire period and paying for storage was not necessary. I also had a few thousand euros worth of parking damage to the right side and rear that was also fixed in the final repair.
I started international travel again on July 14 and was only able to get to Verona to pick it up on August 4, 2021. That’s an amazing coincidence.
c. Two flat tires in Namibia. Namibia was at the end of a 5 1/2 month overland trip from Morocco to Cape Town, South Africa. I left the trip in Windhoek and rented a car to see the many places missed on the drive down. Namibia’s roads are almost all gravel and glass and tire insurance are advisable.
I was in the very south, and most remote part of the country next to the South African border. Namibia has driving on the left side of the road. On a left-hand corner, I hit a large rock, bending both rims and getting two flats on that side. Over the next couple of hours, three vehicles passed and stopped. They all came to the conclusion that I was screwed.
Then a resourceful farmer stopped. With a large sledgehammer, he pounded the rims straight. We checked for leaks and he pounded some more. He has a tire inflation pump and I was all set to go.
On my return to Windhoek, I stopped at every tire repair shop I found. None had the rims I would have needed to fix the flats. I was screwed.

SOME BAD LUCK
a. I have a poor weight strength ratio because of my poor upper body strength and heavy muscular legs. I was never a good runner (which I believe only the lightest people should do or risk knee, hip, and back injury), or good at track and field and could never rock climb at anything above 5.9. But then again, I have rarely lifted a weight in my life.
b. Difficulty losing weight. I would be the last to die in a famine. I have to get a huge amount of exercise or starve to lose weight. When I walked 1750kms of the Camino de Santiago, I had no difficulty shedding 25 pounds in my first month, but I was averaging 24kms/day in a very hilly southern France.
c. Atrial Fibrillation. I developed this at about age 50. It was recurrent and always stopped on its own. It was a real handicap when hiking. But I always worked with it. I eventually had two long atrial ablations and was cured. I have never had a recurrence now for at least 15 years. This may have been lucky too, as I was able to avoid all medications (unnecessary with no complicating factors) and now have little chance of developing it later in life when it could be much more debilitating and not without serious consequences

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THE PASSIONS IN MY LIFE
Whenever I find something I like, my brain pursues it to the maximum. I have never been the ultimate best at anything, but I have excelled well beyond average in everything I pursued.
I have enormous curiosity about everything. Why do things work the way they do? Coupled with great drive, I think I could excel at almost anything I try. Having Asperger’s is key to my success.

HIKING, WALKING and LOVE OF NATURE
Hiking is the one activity I’ve done for most of my adult life and have never given up, as I have with some of my other passions (photography, bridge, golf).
As a family, I was never exposed to outdoor life by my parents. However, every day in the summers of my childhood, my brother and neighborhood friends hiked across the prairie to a coulee with a creek lined with trees. We fished, swam, ate beans and sardines out of a can and relished the time outdoors. My mother didn’t even know where we were. That area near Medicine Hat was eventually developed into a par-three golf course.
I read the then bible on hiking, Colin Fletchers, “The Complete Backpacker”. On graduation from university, I went to a local mountaineering store and purchased a complete set of backpacking gear – tent, sleeping bag, pad, stove, backpack, and enormous, heavy hiking boots.
My very first hike was with my brother and his friends from Medicine Hat to the Cypress Hills. The prairie looks dull but in fact, is alive with life. I left those big hiking boots at a ranch.
Waterton NP and Glacier NP, Montana. My wife’s family owned a large cabin in Waterton National Park. I spent some time there every summer for the next 17 years. On my very first hike, I carried our infant daughter on my back to Bertha Lake. Over those almost two decades, I explored every nook and cranny of Waterton, possibly the smallest national park in Canada, and ventured often into neighboring Glacier National Park across the border in Montana. I climbed every mountain and walked every ridge in Waterton, often alone. With the blessing of the Waterton Natural History Association, I placed registers in plastic plumbing tubes on most mountains. I wrote a book on off-trail hiking in Waterton. It was never published as the park administration was not keen in people going everywhere. They wanted to keep parts of the park unvisited. If you go to the Hiking page of my website, I give rough summaries of my favourite hikes – a few are the classic hiking trails described on books written about Waterton.
When my middle son was old enough, I sometimes drug him along. At the time, he was probably the youngest person to summit Mt Cleveland, the highest mountain in Glacier, and one most accessible from the Canadian side of the International Peace Park. We went on a few backpacking adventures involving climbing every mountain along the way and even ventured once on an off-trail epic that took us to the remote spot where the continental divide formed by the Rocky Mountains meets the 49^th parallel. I doubt few others have ever been there. On that trip, we camped at a lake where other backpackers were fishing. That is what he really wanted to do. By the age of ten, I had already “burnt” him out, and he rarely hiked with me again. Instead, he fished and as a teenager, we bought him a good hunting rifle and he went with other fathers to shoot animals. I don’t like fishing or hunting.
Vancouver Island. After graduation when interning on Vancouver Island, I did the West Coast trail alone experiencing it before the boardwalk was placed over the bogs and ladders built to access the creeks. I finished the trail in 3 ½ days, twice as fast are most people take.
I backpacked to Della Falls, a trip that started with a long canoe trip. I also went on two epic backpacking trips in Olympic National Park in Washington State alone. I climbed Mt Rainier. I went on a climbing expedition in Mexico to climb Popicetalquestal and Orizaba, the highest mountain in Mexico.
Other than access to the high places, I avoided anything with trees. I always wanted the big view and loved one of the windiest places on earth.
West Kootenay. My first and only job was in the West Kootenay of south/central British Columbia. I met my two lifelong friends as patients and together we hiked whenever feasible. I joined the Kootenay Mountaineering Club and was exposed to all elements of mountain travel – rock climbing, rope management, and glacier travel. I went to 22 hiking camps seeing remote places not accessible except by helicopter throughout the Rockies and Columbia Mountains. I started the register program by placing plastic plumbing tubes on summits.
I organized 13, four-day adventures over the Labour Day weekend with my best friends.
I also belonged to the Alpine Club of Canada and went on six of their tremendous adventures (Rockies Panorama Traverse, Wapta Icefield, climbing in Lake O’Hare, Mt Assiniboine, and climbing in the Bugaboos [Pigeon Spire, Brenta Spire, and Crescent Spire).
Southwest USA. I have gone on 37 trips to the desert southwest of the US. Because the perfect season to go there is in our shoulder seasons in the spring and fall, I went at least twice a year mostly to the Colorado Plateau, that area of SW Colorado, NW New Mexico, northern Arizona, and primarily southern Utah. 300 canyons empty into the Colorado River giving endless adventuring possibilities. I could still do another ten or so trips if I stopped repeating my favourites. I have walked on almost every trail in all the six National Parks and been to possibly the most beautiful place in the world, Coyote Buttes, nine times. I’ve kayaking 180 miles of the Green River and explored Lake Powell by kayak five times.
Some trips ventured into California to see Yosemite, Death Valley, and many more places. The best adventure trip in the world is rafting the Grand Canyon (220 miles, 14 days, countless rapids, and great hiking every day).

Some of my other memorable trips: Mt Rainier and Whitney (2 highest mountains in the lower 48), Mts Popocatepetl, Itzacihuatl and Orizaba (3 highest mountains in Mexico and the highest I’ve ever been), the W trek in Torres del Paine (Patagonia), all nine Great Walks in New Zealand, Santa Cruz trek and the Inca Trail in Peru, and 2,000 kilometres of the Camino de Santiago (Via Podensis, Camino Frances, Camino Portuguese).
On BC, I’ve done some great backpacking trips: Berg Lake in Mt Robson NP, Rock Wall trail in Kootenay National Park, West Coast Trail twice, Juan de Fuca Trail, and Cape Scott
Go to my website to see lists of my favourite backpacking and day trips.
I find walking and connecting to nature my spiritual adventure. It is a meditative experience.
Over five months I pursued one of my long-time dreams, to write a book on hiking and climbing in the West Kootenay. Produced on my website, it became an encyclopedic description of every hike ever done by the Kootenay Mountaineering Club and remains unfinished with no maps. This is another job I need to finish.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Joining a camera club is the best way to learn how to use a camera. I belonged to the West Kootenay Camera Club for over 20 years. I only shot Fuji Velvia slide film and rarely took a picture off a tripod. My forte was taking pictures using hyperfocal techniques and half grad filters to control contrast. I competed regularly winning Best Picture twice and many honourable mentions at the annual Abbotsford Photo Arts seminar.
My original goal on retirement was to write a book on photographic technique but abandoned that idea.
I have now not taken a picture in the last 15 years. It simply takes too much time and energy to take good photos and I can’t stand to snapshots. I quit when digital came along. Almost every photo now is rigged in Photoshop and leaves as much to computer technique as actually learning how to use a camera.
Not taking pictures has made travel so much easier – no camera gear to lug around or get stolen, no discarding photos, no editing or emailing. I now see things for visual memory rather than through a rectangular frame. It is much more gratifying.
I doubt that 1% of most photographers could name the primary f-stops or understand contrast and how to control it. The composition consists of centering everything.
I have over $20,000 worth of the best lenses and tripods sitting in a box in my apartment. I believe I will start again when I finally retire from international travel.

BRIDGE
The Perrier family always played a lot of cards. It was our way of socializing in the evenings sitting around a table playing for small stakes (not poker). My father thought he was the best cribbage player in the world. I really only enjoy hearts and bridge, both requiring counting cards and skill.
I think bridge is the most complicated game in the world (Go and chess players might disagree) as it involves three connected but different strategies – bidding, the play of the hand, and defense. I started playing bridge in the late ’70s. My bridge ability took off when I read 2/1 Game Force by Max Hardy and I finally understood bidding. With Hubert Hunchak, we played in 40 tournaments in our first year and each won our categories in the American Contract Bridge League in Canada. At the Kimberly Sectional, we won every event. My one major win was the Open Swiss at the Calgary Regional where I played with a woman from New York City.
With my wife, we traveled all over the northwest playing in sectionals (weekend tournaments), regionals (6-day tournaments), and the occasional nationals (10-day tournaments). I acquired over 1300 masterpoints. I eventually lost interest in bridge and played golf where ever we traveled. I kibitzed more than played (what other game can you sit behind some of the best players in the world and watch them play). Our large bridge library was an issue in our divorce (I lost).
I still play online bridge (Bridge Base Online) with players from all over the world and enjoy the challenge immensely. Maybe I will start playing bridge again in my old age.
Now I enjoy playing Yaniv, a simple Israeli card game that is a lot of fun.  See for the rules of games commonly played on the road including Yaniv, Shithead, and Asshole.

GOLF
I played at the Connaught Golf Club in Medicine Hat as a teenager (we could walk there across Kin Coulee from home) and developed a swing and muscle memory. After I moved to Castlegar and joined the Castlegar Golf Club, golf became my driving passion. It didn’t take many years to acquire a low handicap – I generally played to a 4 handicap and occasionally got to a 2, but that was difficult to maintain. I read everything I could and learned to play out of books and magazines. I never took a lesson and still understand the swing well to be able to fix errors on the go. Castlegar was the best course to refine the technique as there are few flat lies.
Playing well requires a lot of practice – hitting on the range 3-4 times a week, chipping, and putting. I learned how to hit controlled draws and fades. I dislike using a cart and have always carried my clubs.
I played in the British Columbia Amateur many times and only missed the cut once (surprisingly on my home course). I even played in the Canadian Amateur once but was totally outclassed. I was the club champion at Castlegar once and played in the Boyd Cup team for Castlegar many times which Castlegar dominated for many years. I had four very low rounds: 66 (Christina Lake), two 67’s (Castlegar), and a 67 at Trail and still have those cards.
I purchased a life membership at Castlegar in 1989, one of the better investments of my life.
I played courses all over western North America. In one year, I played 40 different courses, spending a lot of money along the way. It is not unusual to have played several courses seen on golf on TV.
At Castlegar, I was chairman of course operations for a few years. We were named the number one public golf course in Canada by Golf Digest. The course still has the look I introduced reflecting the many courses I played.
I played in many BC Physician golf tournaments winning low gross three times. The prizes were two trips to Las Vegas and one to Montreal.
However, I really only enjoy playing competitively and playing with a few like-minded guys. Golf is generally a social game played from a cart where you can carry a lot of beer. I didn’t fit in. After a round with members, you had to purchase a jug – after that, one could not help but be impaired. I have never drunk much after my teenage years and didn’t enjoy that aspect of golf. I was viewed as being cheap.
I made more than a few social errors, often after following foursomes whooping it up throughout the round. I became a social outcast at my own club with a reputation no one would envy. It was easily the most devastating social place I could be. Many members refused to my face to play with me.
I was asked by a group of high school friends to join them for a week of play at Kokanee Springs. They were the jocks in high school and it was fun to be a much better player than all of them. They only asked me once.
For this reason, I eventually lost interest in practicing and playing. I quit in 1999 with the excuse that if I could not play well, I would rather not play golf. Since I have used my life membership only a few times a year whenever I return to the West Kootenay in the summer. I rarely break 80 and get disheartened, but still love the game.
Maybe when I retire, I will play more. I bought a new set of irons last year. I still only carry my clubs. It is a good way to improve fitness to hike.

SEA KAYAKING
I took a kayak tour to the Queen Charlottes and then bought my first kayak in 1999, a Current Designs fiberglass boat that is still the only one I use. Sea kayaking became my next passion. It is not an activity to be taken lightly as mistakes can be life-endangering. I bought my second kayak (a tangerine kevlar Current Designs) for any female partner I had. I also bought a collapsible double, the best boat of its type in the world.
I took a 7-day assistant’s guide course with Rainforest, a company based out of Tofino. It changed everything and I learned lots of techniques, refined my rescues, and taught me all aspects of navigation. Vancouver Island easily had the greatest variety of sea kayaking of anywhere in the world. I went on many long expeditions with others and a few alone to explore some of the best places.
One spring, an American friend came to Vancouver Island where I had moved in 2010 and we had two epic adventures. The first was a 280km trip exploring everywhere in the Broughton Archipelago.
We then went to the Queen Charlottes to kayak Haida Gwaii National Park. Starting at Moresby Camp at the far north end, we paddled to Ninstints, possibly the most iconic indigenous site in the world and a WHS site. It was abandoned in about 1890 on the heels of smallpox that eventually killed about 90% of the Haida, easily the most advanced of all northwest Indian tribes. It has the greatest number of original standing totem poles in the world. It is enchanting. Along the way, we stopped at all the old main villages manned by Haida watchmen. There are many large islands on the east side of Haida Gwaii and we encircled all of them on the way down and return. It was a 390km adventure over 13 days with about 9½ of actual paddling. After a day off for weather, we were up one morning at 3 with the intent to go as far as we could. After 60kms and only one break out of our boats, it was a gratifying day.
Our last campsite was at Cumshawh, the last village site of the Haida on the south part of the islands, and the only large village not manned by watchmen. We didn’t realize where we were until I noticed the four rotting corner posts of a longhouse where I had set up my tent. Further exploring found all the evidence of a village with totems and more longhouses. It was magical.
The next trip that spring was with an experienced couple from Lasqueti Island. It was equally energetic starting at Port Hardy and kayaking around Cape Scott, the north tip of Vancouver Island and a dangerous place to be in a boat. August often brings highs with strong northwesterly winds. We were wind-bound with 20-25 knot winds for 5 days. We sat it out on a lovely beach, hiked, relaxed, and ate. When the wind finally abated to 15 knots, we were off early. With huge following swells, we hit dense fog by 8am and had to use GPS to navigate creating a real adventure. We finally abandoned the trip and paddled up to take out prematurely.
I’ve had numerous other kayaking adventures around Vancouver Island, including paddling all the Gulf Islands, Broken Group five times (the best kayaking place in the world), and a major trip to the South Brooks (including Kyukot and the Bunsby’s) and took out at Little Esperanza Inlet near Zeballos.
I then started 2 years of energetic travel and haven’t kayaked since.
Beach cleanups. BC Marine Trails has conducted many beach cleanups. The most aggressive was with 7 other groups to use the last of the $1 million provided by Japan to deal with the 2011 tsunami. I went with a group to the north Brooks, one of the wildest places on the west coast. 80 tons of marine debris were finally collected using a helicopter and a barge called the Garbarge. I was part of that 3-man crew, the result of aggressively trying to get the volunteer job. It ended up being one of the best experiences of my life – helicoptering across Vancouver Island three times and then down the entire west coast.
I have kayaked in New Zealand and the Sea of Cortez in Baja Mexico but would avoid virtually any tourist activity with inexperienced people who barely have a forward stroke.
With my final retirement, my bucket list has many kayak expeditions planned especially in the Baja.

POLITICAL JUNKIE
I have always had a great curiosity about how things work. Ever since I bought my first Kindle (I’m now on number 10, I’ve destroyed so many), I’ve had subscriptions to Time magazine and the monthly Atlantic, with easily the best writing on Earth. I have since added the Economist, the best current affairs magazine on Earth. If you read everything in the Economist, you are up-to-date with the world. It is a daunting task made easier by not trying to read everything.
I also have had 35-year subscriptions to National Geographic, Canadian Geographic and Beautiful BC Magazine.

TRAVEL
In the late 70’s I went to Hawai three times seeing all the islands and doing several great hiking trips – climbed Mona Loa, walked through Haleakala down to the coast, and backpacked to the Kalalau Valley on Kuai.
In 1980, I went on a climbing trip to Mexico, my first trip outside Canada and the US.
I went on a G Adventures trip to Patagonia shortly after my divorce. Possibly with some of the best landscapes in the world, this excited my desire to travel.
100 months before my 55^th birthday, I started a savings plan to acquire enough money to fund retirement and never work again. I developed a very austere lifestyle renting single rooms, buying second-hand vehicles, and taking cheap trips to the desert SW of the US. I achieved that goal when I was 53, gave up my medical license, and started a life on the road.
My first trips were to single countries: Baja Mexico and mainland Mexico driving my Big Foot camper all the way to Cancun, one winter in New Zealand and again driving to the Florida Keys seeing a lot of the USA.
One winter was spent in South America.
After seeing most of Central America. That spring, over 64 days I walked about 1,600 kilometres of the Camino de Santiago from Le Puy in southeastern France to Santiago, Spain. With a friend, we spent 3 weeks driving around Spain.
Since then, my biggest travel years were to Russia (the Trans-Siberian Railway), then Mongolia, North Korea, and China. Southeast Asia took another winter. I followed that with a trip along the Silk Road from Xiang China to the Middle East (22 countries). 5½ months was consumed on an overland adventure from Morocco to Cape Town (23 countries).
My biggest travel took up all of 2018 and 2019. I bought a Volkswagen California (a deluxe camper van with a fridge, stove, and bed) and saw every country in Europe and several in the Middle East driving it as far east as Baku, Azerbaijan (about 50 countries). I slept in the van for over 700 nights never paying once for accommodation and ate about 95% of my own meals in it. This was easily my most intense travel and could only have done it alone. It was much more work than practicing medicine with 18-hour days. I kept my website up-to-date every day and then had to do all the research for the next day. I entered all my way-points onto Google Maps and followed them. I only took one day off in all that time, while waiting for a storm to blow over to see an island off the west coast of Ireland.
On New Year’s Day, 2020, on my way to Amsterdam to sell the van, I was hit by a drunk driver outside Verona, Italy causing 27,000 E damage. After constant obstruction from my Belgian insurance company, the van was finally ready to drive on August 5, 2021, exactly when I was able to go there.
Covid interrupted most travel until July 2021. On March 15, just before all travel restrictions were placed, I entered the US with my Big Foot camper eventually seeing 33 US states and 7 provinces of Canada. That finished all the lower 48.
On July 14, 2021, I left home with the optimistic goal to finish seeing all the island regions in Europe (Azores, Cape Verde, Madeira, Canaries, Mallorca, Jersey, Guernsey, and Minorca/Santorini. I included 23 new countries with decisions made almost day-to-day to avoid covid issues. If I finished all my plans, I would have finished all countries in Asia, South America, North and West Africa, and the Caribbean.
That would have left only the Western Pacific/Australia and East Africa to finally arrive at 193, the ultimate goal of most big travelers.

DIVING
I obtained my PADI open water in Utilla, the Bay Islands of Honduras, then subsequently my advanced in the Andaman Islands of India. Since I’ve done more than 90 dives adding to the ability to explore all elements of our planet by muscle power. My last diving adventures were in the Komodo islands of Indonesia, Palau, and the Raja Ampats west of Papua, Indonesia, the last two on one-week live-aboard trips. Because of a 2 metre difference between the Pacific and seas off Indonesia, the Coral Triangle is subjected to tremendous currents that bring up cool water that supports an amazing underwater world. The best places to dive are predator rich – lots of sharks, barracuda, tuna, and others – the little fish common elsewhere are hiding. Palau possibly has the best diving in the world with sites like the Blue Corner and German Channel full of sharks and giant manta rays. The Raja Ampats has amazing coral and giant, mulitcoloured sea fans.
I now have not been diving for almost 4 years because of other travel and the lack of equally good places to explore in places I have been. My last three years of travel include the western Pacific with great diving and I hope to resume diving then. One of my dream trips would be the 19-day repositioning trip of the Jaya, the boat I was on in the Raja Ampats.

MY WEBSITE.
In 2013, I decided to start my own website, mostly to describe my travels. For about $12/month, it has given me a platform to write anything I want. It started with mainly a travelogue that is more like a diary than a typical travel blog. I describe my years of travel since 2006 in chronological order. It has no ads, is not monetized, has no personal photography, or is connected to Google search.
I gradually added a book list and cookbook so that I could have access to this information where ever I traveled. Other pages are Hiking, Sea Kayaking, and Diving, the three passions I have continued. I have written everything I have learned about travel on the Travel Page. The Ideas Page reflects anything I find interesting. There are at least 50 posts on America, one of the most aberrant countries in the world, more bizarre than ever during and since Trump’s presidency.
The last major addition was my first “book” Hiking and Climbing the West Kootenay. It gives an encyclopedic survey of everything ever done by the members of the Kootenay Mountaineering Club. I’ve added my adventures paddling all the lakes in the region and has posts on the many rail trails emanating from the West Kootenay.

ART
Drawing was another activity that was on hold till retirement. I have never done any art before but during the 18 months at home with covid, I bought all the gear and started drawing and colouring using pencil crayons. I loved it. See my post of what I drew, mostly copying M C Escher art.
I also want to do stained glass. I purchased a lovely window that had been in a restaurant. My apartment has three windows that have no particular view (duplexes in my complex) and I want to make windows for the other two. I like the large panels of Portuguese tiles and would love to recreate one for a wall in my bathroom.