In the summer of 2001, I led an overland expedition of 2,500 kilometers across Eastern Tibet, traversing by foot the “Great River Trenches of Asia,” over the 15,000’ Si-la pass between the Salween and Mekong Rivers, thence to the Upper Yangtze by 4WD following it to near its source, onto Lhasa, capital of Tibet.

Enroute we stopped at incredibly remote and rarely seen Namche Barwa (7,782m/25,531ft), the eastern terminus of the Himalayas, which run in a 1,600 mile-long arc from here in Tibet through Nepal, Northwest India, to end at the western terminus of Nanga Parbat in Pakistan.

At nine years old, Jackson handled this like a trooper. What a rewarding thrill it is to have a great adventure with your children. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #277 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Longwood House, Saint Helena Island, Atlantic Ocean. On May 5, 1821, Napolean died in this bed. He was surrounded by some 15 of his companions with their wives and children, doctors, servants, a priest, and a British Officer. There has been much speculation of the cause, but arsenic – either poisoning or in the wallpaper – has now been ruled out, and the original diagnosis of stomach cancer seems now confirmed. He was 51.

After his escape from exile on Elba, an island a few miles off the northwest coast of Italy, Napoleon suffered his final defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815 by the British-led army of the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian army of Field Marshal von Blücher. The Brits were taking no chances, exiling him to their outpost of 10-square mile Saint Helena, one of the remotest islands on earth, 1,200 miles west of Africa and 2,500 miles east of Brazil in the South Atlantic.

You can visit the hilltop Longwood House where he spent his last years, immaculately maintained with his elegant furnishings, surrounded by carefully attended flower gardens where he strolled – all under the care of the French Foreign Ministry. Nearby in a landscaped forest glen, the Valley of Willows, is his original burial place – far more idyllic and peaceful than his mammoth sarcophagus of ostentatious pomposity at Les Invalides in Paris. Come here yourself and I think you’ll agree. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #275 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

The southernmost portion of the Gobi Desert is called the Alashan in Inner Mongolia. Traversed by Marco Polo in 1273 on his way to meet the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan, he said it contained a “mystery.”

For in the hidden center of the Alashan is an area known as Badain Jaran, “Mystery Lakes” in Mongolian. There are some 140 of these small lakes surrounded by enormous sand dunes. The photo you see is of one of these lakes, taken in late afternoon on a windless day, with the giant dunes above reflected on the water.

We were there in October 2017. Traversing the dunes to explore these lakes is a mesmerizing experience. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #32 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Bangaram Atoll, Laccadive Islands, India. The “Lacquered” islands or Laccadives are legendary for the glossiness of the Indian Ocean surrounding them. There are three dozen of these coral atolls over 150 miles off the coast of southwest India – but moorkh Indian bureaucrats insist on calling them “Lakshadweep,” Sanskrit for “100,000. Go figure.

Paintings of the French Impressionists of the 19^th century merged dreams and reality. Here that is for real. The beauty in the Laccadives can be so astonishing that it seems surreal – like when the ocean and sky merge into one in a palette of pastels straight from the brush of Monet. Come to Bangaram and you’ll find yourself living inside a painting. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #172 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

On a grassy plain in a wide valley of the Altai Mountains in far western Mongolia, we set up a private ger camp near a nomad encampment. This was my “ger” – a Mongol nomad round tent with a wooden frame – that was my home while we learned about the nomad way of life, including, out here, hunting with eagles. It’s hard to describe how peaceful and serene it is in this remote place – like we had a whole world to ourselves.

There are very few places left on earth where a truly nomadic life still flourishes, a life that uniquely experiences a special freedom. You find it here. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #305 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is the story on me in WaPo that chronicled my creation and implementation of The Reagan Doctrine and established my reputation in DC.  The WaPo writer was very gracious and genuinely interested in my story.  He told it straight and accurately quoted the people in the Reagan White House with whom I worked.  I had no idea, though, that the story would be so large, spread across the front page of the Style section and continuing for another full page.

Unfortunately, you need get behind the WaPo paywall to read the entire article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1986/04/16/jack-wheelers-adventures-with-the-freedom-fighters/7869872b-a5db-4acf-9ed9-7bc14dac9e9e/.  .  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #301, photo ©Jack Wheeler)