Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

If my wife and I would have known we would be stuck on a bus for our trip to Eastern Europe on a bus for the length of the Danube River from Bucharest to Budapest, we would have stayed home.

But that’s what experienced – what I now call a “bus cruise,” not a “river cruise.”  We had planned on the latter.

Before we left Salem, Oregon, about 10 days ago, we knew that, on the first day of our trip, we would be relegated – yes, the word is “relegated” – to a bus.  But, then, we thought we would transfer to our ship, one of Viking’s newest river ships, The Uller.

Two reasons for our relegation:

• First, the river was low, almost as low as it has ever been in history as Eastern Europe is grappling with what been described as an “energy crisis, so serious that there is not enough water to cool down nuclear reactors so they can operate normally.

• Second, our ship ran aground the day we were supposed to board, so the plan “ran aground,” too.

So, the challenge was to make a bad situation better – and, with leadership from my tour guide, my wife, we managed to do that.

First, a lowlight.

We had to travel from Bulgaria through checkpoints to get into and out of Serbia.  It was a challenge.  We had to traverse only about 500 yards to get through the checkpoints, but it took five hours to do so.  Yes, five hours!

One reason is that Serbia is not part of the European Union, so border crossings are a huge challenge for us and everyone else.

Second, on to three highlights.

• In Bulgrade, Bulgaria, our small tour group of six was treated to a wine tasting and food in a deep cave.  Our host did a great job of describing each of six wines – and he kept pouring our glasses higher and higher.  No problem, someone else was driving to get back to our hotel.

• In Budapest, Hungary, on the night before we left to head home, we got an Uber ride to a small church where we listened with rapt attention to a strong orchestra which played for us for more than hours.  It was up close and personal.  I was tempted to use my standard golf phrase in response – they “played well.”

• In Bucharest, Romania, early on our trip, we were treated to a lecture by one of citizens who lead a revolt in 1989 that got rid of Communism and turned Romania into basically a Capitalist system where people get to act, think, and speak without fear of reprisal.

Our speaker, now about 40 years old, was one of the leaders of the revolt at age 15, even as he watched some of those who were with him only a few yards away be shot to death by the Communists.  By the photos we saw, the communists even turned tanks on those who revolted, though, in the end, those who revolted won and the communist leader was executed along with his wife.

So, the leader’s message for us was this:  Treasure your liberty because you don’t know long it will last.  Good point.

As I write this, it’s good to back home in America where we currently enjoy liberty.