Bill Raney - Letters to Zerky: A Fathers Legacy to a Lost Son . . . and a Road Trip Around the World

2009 by William V. Raney. All rights reserved.

Except for brief passages for purposes of review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to the publisher at www.LetterstoZerky.com or by mail to:

Nickelodeon Press

P.O. Box 3573

Santa Cruz, CA 95063-3573.

Printed in the United States of America
Nickelodeon Press, Santa Cruz, California

ISBN 978-0-9821384-0-3 First Hard Cover Edition 2009
ISBN 978-0-9821384-1-0 First Soft Cover Edition 2009

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jacket design by Kathi Dunn
Dunn+Associates Design, Hayward, WI

Interior layout and design by
Sue Knopf, Graffolio, La Crosse, WI

Printed and bound by Sheridan Books
Ann Arbor, MI

This book is dedicated to my wife Nancy, who was JoAnnes friend and who has been my coach and sounding board throughout the long process of writing this book.

Nancy, who has had to live with the ghost of my former wife.

Nancy, who put clothes in my closet and love back into my life.

1967 WAS THE SUMMER OF LOVE IN A SUMMER OF DEATH . As napalm rained down on the people of Vietnam and the first of the runaways began trickling into San Francisco, with flowers in their hair, JoAnne with her dachshund, her husband and their ten-month-old son, Eric Xerxes Raney, trickled out of San Francisco, wondering if they would ever return. JoAnne had just sold her little movie theatre and after all its debts were paid off, perhaps ten thousand dollars remained, which we decided to blow on a Volkswagen camper-van and a trip to Europe. The dollar was mighty back then and camping would keep us away from hotels and from restaurants; here was a formula to stay a long time. We would have no itinerary, just plenty of time to wander Europe as our fancies took us. That there might be a world beyond Europe, a world you could drive to, was something that never occurred to us until six months later when we met an elderly German couple on a lonely beach in Southern Greece, who were on their way back to Germany from Iran.

Gone missing from JoAnnes little menagerie was her parakeet, who would have come along too, just as he had on her previous trip to Europe, had not JoAnnes prematurely forgetful husband absentmindedly opened a window a few weeks earlier and allowed her free-flying flutterer to flap off to freedom. JoAnne was a great lover of birds, animals, absentminded husbands, and of author Gerald Durrell and all his many many-footed friends. When she was a young girl, a preacher once told her that her dog couldnt go to heaven with her, because dogs dont have souls. She became an atheist on the spot. You didnt mess with JoAnnes animals.

In April of 1967, we flew from San Francisco to Munich, where we picked up a shiny new Volkswagen bus. What a shame our ten-month-old son would have no memory of his great adventure. Thus was born the idea of a series of letters to Zerky, letters for him to enjoy someday when he was old enough to wonder about all the places hed been and the things he had seen. Four years ago, I came across these letters in the back of a file cabinet, where they had been languishing for thirty-six years. Should you enjoy them, you will have given them a new purpose.

Zerky in Germany, looking cool

Zerky and Dad on Zerkys First Birthday, in Paris

Zerky at the Gas Chamber in Dachau

Zerky in his new Lederhosen in the Italian Alps (Dolomites) Tarzan standing guard

JoAnne getting Zerky and Tarzan ready to climb the Matterhorn

Zerky and Tarzan preparing their assault on the notorious North Face of the Eiger. JoAnne standing by.

Zerky at the Roman Baths; Lake Ohrid, Macedonia

Zerky at the Acropolis in Greece

Zerky throwing rocks at the Black Sea

Zerky at Persepolis, his namesakes Seat of the Persian Empire

Zerky with Stephanie and Bill and Eddie in the Great Sand Desert of Baluchistan, trying to get water out of that well

Zerky at the Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Zerky horsing around on an erotic temple at Khajuraho

Zerky and his Sherpa about to climb 26,000-foot-high Annapurna, in the Himalayas of Nepal

Zerky Goes Riding on his Elephant in Assam

Zerky with his Indian family in Assam JoAnne and her Elephant Friends in background