Home Again--What A Trip!!!Sep 25, 2010
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| Here I am finally. The date is actually January 9, 2011. A new year and I continue to have the fondest memories of our Summer of 2010. I wanted to make a final entry for our trip just to touch on a few subjects and more or less close out this journal. My journal entries ended abruptly in September after my medical issues continued to reach the point that I needed to get home and seek Medical attention. After several test and changes in meds I am so happy to be feeling great. Still have a little ways to go on the stamina front, but very little compared to where I was. And to think that all of my problems resulted from the severe reaction to a med. Enough of that. Let me move on to reflect on more great things about this trip. Throughout the trip we met so many great people, let me repeat that....great people. Of course when you strike up a conversation with others, it usually comes around to the question of "Where are you folks from?" One of the things Tommy and I always noticed, was the compassion everyone had for the State of Louisiana and everything our state has weathered for several years, esp. Katrina, Rita, and the recent oil spill. Genuine compassion and concern. I was so impressed with all of our new acquaintences and enjoyed them so much, I wanted to share some of them. These were truly gifts I certainly do not want to forget. In Yellowstone we met a couple and their 13-14 year old son from New York. We visited with them for probably an hour waiting on Old Faithful to entertain us. The young son impressed us so much in his attitude towards us and we found out he had written a book and just got it published. Later Tommy and I regretted not giving him our address and have him mail us a copy of his book. Next on our list was the family of five from Nebraska. One of the young boys shared a picture he had taken with his small camera. He was so proud of being able to capture an Eagle in flight. Quite a feat. I was impressed. A great family. Then in Missoula, Montana, there was the retired Navy gentleman, which I nicknamed Santa Claus. He was great. Judy the RV park owner, an avid gardener and the couple from California which we met in St. Ignatius Church. In Lethridge, Alberta we met the super nice elderly couple which assisted us with parking and then Karen that worked in Royal Bank of Canada. The very nice lady in the grocery store in Banff, Alberta. On to Jasper, Alberta in the Wapiti RV park where we met and visited numerous times with Dave and Valerie Montgomery and their three children, one boy and two little girls. Dave is a 3rd generation farmer. One of his large crops is the canola plant. It is a beautiful crop and he had one to harvest in September. This young family impressed Tommy and I so much. We also met another couple in this park that were great. We met a couple in Fort Nelson that were having problems with their unit and while he was waiting to get their's evaluated, he was quick to assist others in the park. They were from Minnesota, had been to Alaska and on their way home. In White Horse at the Pioneer RV park we met a fellow Louisiana guy. He was from Lafayette, big into LSU Football. He was traveling in a Caravan on their trip to Alaska. The list goes on and on, people from Alabama, Florida, Healy, Idaho, Tommie, the city park manager in Anchorage, of course Paula Deen and Michael. Lynda Jo, manager of Princess RV park in Cooper Landing. She was originally from Mississippi. The Bryans from Tennessee, but originally from Alabama. Rachal and Daniel from Austin, Texas. They traveled to Alaska raising money for Cancer Research. They rode bikes for 4,000 miles with a group. Another outstanding person was Lorraine Temple....long time dog musher and Boat Captain. Has lived in Alaska for 22 years. Owned sled dogs, Bed & Breakfast, has run boats, commercial fishing, built a cabin, worked on glaciers, a movie and much more. She was one you could sit and listen to forever. Moving on to Soldotna we met the MCDaniels from Atlanta, GA, a couple from Arizona, Doug that helped us with our fishing supplies. In Homer, Alaska we met a couple from Tennessee. They were in the same park we were in on the Spit. Then of course the couple from Anchorage. She was originally from Canada and he was from Newfoundland. They were wonderful. Another couple from the Netherlands. Believe it or not this contains just a few of people we met, but these were some we really met, in that we visited for extended periods of time. I always left with the feeling we had been blessed by visiting with them. We also met others from England, Japan, Germany and other places. |
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