a drive around Ankara

Tolga came home today. He was in Elazig, and he needed a ride. I offered to drive his truck to the airport. I haven't really driven here, except on longer trips. Mostly because his truck is a company truck. A black Mitsubishi L200 crew cab. Neither of us really thought much about the vehicle in the beginning other than gratefulness for a trustworthy vehicle and gas to put in the tank.

The truck has since grown on us. It drives so smoothly. Four-wheel drive low and high for bad snows and steep hills on rainy days. I was ready to take it for drive on the outskirts of Ankara. I got home from my bus service and picked up my Anne to come with me.

It really was my first time driving on my own - my mother-in-law doesn't count because it turned out she was useless for reading directions, signs, etc. It was enough to have her in the car anyhow. It's odd how highway signs can be so foreign too. There's lots of letters to take in and remember. And not always signs. And the hills are just so steep, it's really amazing (and comforting to be in a sound vehicle).

I had to remember to stay alert as if I were driving a motorbike. Who knows when a light would turn red, a car would turn in or out, or something would collapse next to the road.

It was only a few kilometers before we were outside the city, which is surprising as the population in over four million, and we live near the city "center". The landscape outside of the city is barren hills of green, scattered with sheep, clustered with village and apartment housing, and ridges cut deeply by ravines.

I am also tempted to walk out of out home and just start hiking - heading out over one of the ridges. I think this fantasy was born out of the book "Where the Red Fern Grows" - I was so impressed the boy could travel through the forest for three days and get to his destination.

I tried myself once in Minnesota. I tried to "rough" it from our house to my Farm Grandma's. Cutting through the field was too easy, so in order to make it more a challenge I went down our back hill trying to head though some woods.

It didn't work out like the book. 1) I didn't have a hunting dog and I really didn't want to come across any animals. 2) My sense of direction, no matter how hard I pretended, couldn't convince me I was deep in some unknown woods - I knew exactly where the road was. And 3) It wasn't that cool - the brush, sticks, and briars made it difficult and ugly.


But, I still can't help wanting to just hike in a direction with a compass for a few days . . .