The scene is the expansive international airport in Frankfurt, West Germany. This multi-level transportation complex is a maze of corridors connecting airline reservation counters, arrival gates, departure gates, restaurants, specialty shops, a train station, a hotel and who knows what else. This could be confusing to an unseasoned traveler. I have just arrived from Los Angeles after an eleven-hour flight. This was my first time east of Colorado. No problem. All I have to do in the next hour is find my contact and board another plane with him. Destination: Moscow, USSR.

I was to meet another American whom I had never met before. His name is Frank Saco. He is the owner of Ag-Water, based in Sebring, Florida and he has had years of experience in overseas irrigation projects from South America to the Mideast. By the way, my name is Glenn Norris and I am employed as an irrigation designer by Kawasaki, Theilacker, Ueno & Associates, Landscape Architects, in San Diego, California. Frank and I got acquainted while we prepared for our connecting flight.

Experimental Models for Future Systems

Valmont had a contract with Techmashimport to provide design, materials and American supervision of the installation of these systems by Soviet agriculturalists, This, however, was only a small part of the overall project. Olson and Valmont continue in this relationship as they help Techmashimport to set up a factory which will eventually produce emitters, sprinklers and other irrigation components for agricultural applications.

I became involved when Olson asked me to transpose David?EUR??,,????'???s rough drafts of these plans into finished working drawings. With the assistance of a translator, Russian language versions of all the verbage on the plans were provided along with the English instructions. Upon the completion of the plans, I reviewed them with Wendel Dorsett, who was heading up the project for Valmont. After he had looked them over, he casually asked me if I would like to go over there to help put it in??EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??Sure!?EUR??,,????'?? I said, going along with what I thought was a little joke.

?EUR??,,????'??No. I?EUR??,,????'???m serious,?EUR??,,????'?? he said, and that was that.

We arrived in Moscow at June 23, 1987 at 6 p.m. That was 6:30 a.m. according to my senses and I began to understand what jet lag was all about. Somehow we missed our contact at the airport but we knew that we were to stay at the Hotel Ukraine in downtown Moscow. After a brief stop at the Bureau of Exchange to convert dollars to rubels, we were approached by the cab driver who somehow conveyed to us that he could get us where we wanted to go. Moscow

Moscow

The next morning, after a good night?EUR??,,????'???s sleep we were greeted by our Intourist guide and translator, Nina Sheva. She confirmed our flight to Simferopol and we range. Seeing this range from the coastal towns, one is reminded of Santa Barbara, California. The scale of the mountains relative to the flat land which meets the sea is about the same. The only great difference is that the vegetation is more lush, with more trees. Traveling north, the highway rolls through the foothills planted with grapes and fruit trees on its way to the Angara Pass. The scenery is beautiful. Cresting the high point, the road descends slowly into the second climatic zone, the steppe. This stretch is reminiscent of portions of the drive between Monterey and Salinas, California.

As Nina explained, the highway between Simferopol and the coastal towns of Alushta and Yalta features the longest electric trolley bus line in continental Europe. This public transportation is inexpensive and heavily used. Not only does the land remind one of California, but the people are basically the same as well. Everyone puts in his or her week of work and on Saturday it?EUR??,,????'???s off to the beach! There was an odd sense that went with being in a place which is so much like home, and yet knowing that we were virtually on the other side of the world.

I don?EUR??,,????'???t want you to get the idea that this trip to the Soviet Union was a vacation. Frank and I had work to do. During our first couple of days we were shown the two plots. The grapes and apples were already growing. Only the main and submain lines needed to be buried. All of the lateral lines would be installed above the ground. In the grape vineyard, the trenching was nearly completed. They were ready for us.

We also went to the agricultural institute, south of central Simferopol. This is where the agricultural development for the area is administrated. There are offices and equipment yards. The workers who live in town assemble here daily and are driven to where they are to work. This facility also serves as the site of the factory where drip irrigation emitters and low volume sprinklers are being manufactured for use in numerous Soviet state-operated farms.

Once we counted and separated everything out, the materials were delivered to their respective sites. We concentrated first on the vineyard. Being that I had drafted the working drawings, I assumed the role of seeing that installation conformed to the intent of the design. This consisted mostly of drawing, laying out parts in their intended configurations and a lot of sign language. Meanwhile, Frank and Nina were kept busy as she translated seemingly endless conversations between

Frank, the foreman, agricultural scientists and students from area agricultural colleges. They discussed everything from details about the systems being installed to general questions about design principles and Frank?EUR??,,????'???s overall knowledge of irrigation. Over the few weeks that followed, the systems took shape and we learned a lot from each other and from this unique experience.

Starting A ?EUR??,,????'??Peaceful?EUR??,,????'?? and Positive Relationship

In addition to the time we spent working, our hosts took the time to show us their towns, their beaches, their culture and their graciousness. We made many friends. It?EUR??,,????'???s a good feeling to know that the people of the Soviet Union are just as interested in peace as we are. We all agreed that our governments could learn from our friendly and peaceful attitudes towards each other.

This project serves as an example of how we can work with Russians for the common good. We can do business with them and they will have an easier time growing agricultural products for themselves. I hope that this is the start of a series of projects.

This is the kind of positive relationship between Americans and Russians which will hopefully pave the way to a future of peaceful cooperation. Though the emphasis, to this point, is toward agriculture, maybe in time we can work with the Soviets to enhance their landscape and turf irrigation as well. When that time comes I hope that those of us associated with the profession of landscape architecture will be organized and prepared to participate.