Excerpt from Volume One of The Rare Earth Series: On the Job Training - Berlin to Vladivostok
The Blue Moon Tavern in Seattle was a frequent watering hole of mine in the years leading up to my departure for Poland in 1983 and before I left for good in 1985. Working at the College Inn Pub in 1982-83, the Blue Moon was on the way home and always made sense for an after work brew. It is a bit of a dirty, hippie era wanna be, throw-back to the Sixties' search for anarchy and a place to find other mad people that know none of the dreams will ever come true. Having said that, some of the brightest minds at the University of Washington called it home and there were even graduate seminars and colloquia held over endless pints of ale and Pabst Blue Ribbon. The Classics Department often met there in the evenings and "Deus nobis haec otia fecit" was practiced regularly. The tenured professors, mad Grad Students, a few talented undergrads, and other colorful characters - some homeless and some just homely - mixed for spirited conversation, all welcome at the Blue Moon.
One such larger than life character was a Russian fellow by the name of Ross Lavroff. Whenever he was in, Ross always sat at the bar in the early and late afternoons holding court with whomever might be in that day. We was mostly friendly, had lots of stories to tell, was quite big, dark, and always wore a dark yachting cap. My interest in Ross grew one day as I heard him tell someone that he had been the Russian - English translator for the capsule communicator in Houston during the 1975 Apollo Soyuz mission. He started to show interest in me when he found out that I was traveling behind the Iron Curtain to Poland and seemingly doing this with ease. He was also interested in finding out if my Polish was good enough to look at some translations he was doing. The fact that this Russian was doing Polish-English translations got me interested in finding out more.
What I found out and what he showed me on his house boat down on Portage Bay one evening was my first contact with the workings of the CIA.
The Blue Moon Tavern in Seattle was a frequent watering hole of mine in the years leading up to my departure for Poland in 1983 and before I left for good in 1985. Working at the College Inn Pub in 1982-83, the Blue Moon was on the way home and always made sense for an after work brew. It is a bit of a dirty, hippie era wanna be, throw-back to the Sixties' search for anarchy and a place to find other mad people that know none of the dreams will ever come true. Having said that, some of the brightest minds at the University of Washington called it home and there were even graduate seminars and colloquia held over endless pints of ale and Pabst Blue Ribbon. The Classics Department often met there in the evenings and "Deus nobis haec otia fecit" was practiced regularly. The tenured professors, mad Grad Students, a few talented undergrads, and other colorful characters - some homeless and some just homely - mixed for spirited conversation, all welcome at the Blue Moon.
One such larger than life character was a Russian fellow by the name of Ross Lavroff. Whenever he was in, Ross always sat at the bar in the early and late afternoons holding court with whomever might be in that day. We was mostly friendly, had lots of stories to tell, was quite big, dark, and always wore a dark yachting cap. My interest in Ross grew one day as I heard him tell someone that he had been the Russian - English translator for the capsule communicator in Houston during the 1975 Apollo Soyuz mission. He started to show interest in me when he found out that I was traveling behind the Iron Curtain to Poland and seemingly doing this with ease. He was also interested in finding out if my Polish was good enough to look at some translations he was doing. The fact that this Russian was doing Polish-English translations got me interested in finding out more.
What I found out and what he showed me on his house boat down on Portage Bay one evening was my first contact with the workings of the CIA.
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