What's in a Name? The Origin of Raki Roads

The working title of this blog was originally "Travelling Dervishes," which I pictured would be a nifty little double-entendre crossing the Travelling Wilburys with the Whirling Dervishes. For various reasons, I determined that the title was mildly offensive (maybe it had something to do with crossing a band whose most famous song might be "Tweeter and the Monkey Man" with an ancient religious order). Instead, we have Raki Roads. Why is Raki Roads perhaps the best name for a travel-blog about Turkey, ever? There are several reasons:

• One goal of this trip is to sample (generous amounts of) new and exciting alcohols from around the world, and this certainly includes raki, the unofficial "national drink" of Turkey, similar to the Greek Ouzo. The great Ataturk once mused "What a lovely drink this is; it makes one want to be a poet." Perhaps drinking raki will make my blog entries better (ha!)
  
  
• Rocky Road is possibly the single greatest flavor of ice cream, ever. (A couple other contenders: Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Peanut-Butter, Rum Raisin, and of course, Vanilla w/ Orange Sherbet on a hot summer's day.) Three cheers for Rocky Road!
  
  
• We may be doing a fair amount of driving on the roads of Turkey. My friend Nick's past experience in Turkey convinced him that the drivers there are crazy. As he noted, to Turkish drivers, "red lights are only suggestions." Perhaps the drivers are not crazy, but drunk. Rest assured that all harrowing road experiences will be documented here, on Raki Roads.