Demetri Kolokotronis rolled into our driveway last Thursday & stayed for the night. Jeff prepared him a good cyclist dinner (spaghetti, of course) & Demetri regaled us with stories until about 11 pm (until we told him we had to go to bed-lol), & we got a few more stories out of him the next morning before Jeff accompanied him out of St. Louis towards his next destination in Illinois. I've never met anyone like him & doubt I ever will again. They broke the mold when they made Demetri, that's for sure.

Some Demetri FAQ's

The man, himself:
Demetri is 76 years old.
He lives with his cat in a house in the woods near Woodstock, New York.
He heats his house with wood that he chops in the woods & brings back in a trailer on his bike.
He has a car but hasn't driven it in 15 years (that means trips to the grocery store via bike with a trailer in the dead of winter, on ice-covered roads).
He taught skiing until 10 years ago.
He was a mountain climber & did 1,000 ascents.
He used to be in marketing/pr.
His dad was Greek (and he told us his Greek ancestors were athletes as well)
He grew up in St. Louis.
He loves talking about history, particularly aviation.

The bike trip:
Demetri is biking from Oklahoma City back to his home in New York. (1338 miles or 2153 kilometers)
He chose Oklahoma city because he stayed there with a friend he hadn't seen since high school.
He bikes about 50 or so miles per day.
His bike weighs 90 pounds with the saddle bags.
He cooks most of his own food (carries a camping stove).
His bike is 35 years old!
This is Demetri's third major cycling trip in the U.S.

Just so we know whose bike it is.


Directions in a Ziploc bag attached to the handle bars.


Loading the bike up.



All of the camping gear on the bike.Now for the saddle bags full of food, etc.




Demetri (76 years old) and his bike (35 years old).The bike weighs 90 pounds with all of this gear on it.


A steroid-free cyclist!

I've gotten these e-mails before, but a friend asked me to post this on my blog so I am doing so in the hopes that one of you Opera brainiacs can explain why I can read this:

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the
olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the
wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was
ipmorantt!

Due to site re-design #5 (in 10 months), too many meetings, too much filming, & too much editing, I haven't had much time for Opera. But I wanted to take a moment to share some interesting private messages I've received recently before deleting them.

Eternal life? Cool! (But I'd better get a very good plastic surgeon lined up.)
"HELLO MOM

I WANT YOU TO BE MY MOTHER FRIEND I NEED YOU MORE THAN YOU THINK, MOM, MY NAME IS JUSTICE DOGO, AM JUST A REFEGEE BUT I WANT YOU AS A MOTHER. I DONT HAVE ANY MOTHER OR FATHER LIVIN TO CALL THEM MY PARENT BUT I BELIEVE IN GOD THAT ONE DOAY HE WILL TURN MY CRY AND MY SORROW INTO HAPPINESS. I CALL OPEN THE HOLY SPIRY TO PROTECT YOU EVERY WERE YOU ARE AND HIS MERCY SHALL BE ON YOU FOREVER. YOU SHALL LIVE TO SEE YOUR GRAND CHILDREN AND ALSO FILL WHAT EVER YOU WANT ON THIS EARTH BEFORE THE END OF THIS WORLD. MOMY, I DONT KNOW WHAT TO SAY, BUT I WISH YOU LONG AND ENTENAL LIFE.

GOD BLESS YOU
DOGO JUSTICE"

And what's this about sinking ships? Get out the life boats!!!!!
"hi dear,
may please visit my blog,sundararajanrk blog in opera
youhavewonyahya in blogger.com
winmoneymatters --- do --
rajamaharjha blog in yahoo 7 360 australia

dear ,the only ship which will not sink in ocean is our friendship.byebye
sundararajan.r k"

The platter she is spinning is a “tepsija” translated as baking sheet in which they make the delicious pita and burek. Traditionally, the singer kneels and sings into the tepsija which creates a very interesting sound, the song making a kind of wa wa sound.

(Burek is a pie made of filo dough, stuffed with either ground meat or cheese. Greasy but delicious.)