Canada Geese are the only ones enjoying Britannia Beach in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Cancun, Mexico on November 1st.

Monday, July 20, 2020

Well, that was a fun hour!

On Sunday, we did a fairly long (for us!) drive from Foley, Minnesota to Minong, Wisconsin. We had a really strong tail wind for most of the drive, so we figured we might as well take advantage of it. Pretty sure that Sherman must have got at least 12 mpg... felt like I hardly had to touch the gas pedal at all to keep him at 55 mph.

But, there sure was a lot of traffic. Fortunately, most of it was in the opposite direction. Still, you really have to watch out for people who are in such a rush that they want to pass at what might not be exactly the right time!

Here are some photos from our drive...

Lots of traffic heading in the opposite direction.

Starting to get some small hills.

Welcome to Wisconsin!

When we stopped for lunch, we spotted this odd looking spider in the motorhome.
No, he did not survive!



Lots of lakes.

Interesting background to a story about some friends who we met up with yesterday.

Back in October of 2014, we were in South Korea. We had been exploring the country mostly by train. And, we were doing some research about where we were going next and we came across a Korean hiking blog run by a guy named Tom. We contacted him to ask some questions about some of the hikes... one thing led to another and the next thing you know, we were being invited to stay at the apartment he and his wife Elicia lived in at the time in the city of Yeosu.

Tom and Elicia were recently married with no children. They were originally from Wisconsin, and were in South Korea teaching English.

We had a lot of fun hanging out with this young couple and we stayed at their place for a couple of days. Well, time went on and we stayed in touch via facebook. They ended up moving to Morocco, again with teaching jobs. While there, they had their first child. Coincidentally, this was exactly the same time that we also were in Morocco, but the timing just didn't come together for a visit.

They were in Morocco for two years and then got another teaching job... this time in Torreon, Mexico. Again, we kept in touch but the one time we made it close to Torreon, they were on holiday in Costa Rica. Again, the timing just didn't come together.

About a month ago, I had remembered that they had moved back to Wisconsin. Now, they had two young children and decided to settle down around family for a while. I sent Elicia a note, and it turns out they live down near Madison, and that was too far south for us. But, they were going to be on holiday in the northern part of the state for the week ending on the 19th.

Yesterday morning, I sent her another note to see if we were going to be at all close, and it turned out that our paths were going to be crossing that afternoon!

We were headed east through Minong, Wisconsin, and they were headed south through the same town! What timing!

Elicia, Tom, and Ruth in Korea... October 2014.

Yesterday... almost 6 years later with their kids Tori and Cohen.
And us, staying 6 feet away!

So we had a good time again with them... just a short visit, but it was fun getting caught up for an hour. They were on their way back home and still had a four hour drive ahead of them. 

So... who knows when we will see them again. Hopefully it won't be 6 years!

They headed out on the highway, and we found a baseball diamond in town to park beside for the night.

Nice day again, with a high of 77F (25C) and little to no wind. We will find somewhere to do a bike ride, and probably get a few miles closer to the Canadian border. 

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Record low deal on the Fire HD 10 Tablet.

And in Canada...



10 comments:

  1. Nice to be able to cross paths with Friends and their growing family.
    Be Safe and Enjoy the area.

    It's about time.

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    Replies
    1. It was very nice to have our paths cross, even if it was just a very short and distanced visit. It was lovely to have been able to see them again and meet the additions to the family. :-)

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  2. I'm always amazed how you are able to meet us with people you originally met in some other country!

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  3. Looks like 17 through Renfrew on an early Sunday evening!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, I bet it does! We have definitely been there and done that years ago. Often we would try to take some really back roads just to avoid that mess.

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  4. I love your story about catching up with friends met traveling m we had enough a similar story but it was 11 years between seeing each other. our friend lives in Vancouver and we’ve now seen her twice in 3 years.

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    Replies
    1. Isn't it nice when that happens. 11 years is a long time but it is nice that you haven't had to wait so long for your next visits with her.

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  5. It always pays off somehow to keep in touch with friends you meet along the way.......serendipitous meetings like these are very fun and rewarding. You just never know when the next chance meeting happens but worth looking forward to! Safe travels.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it certainly does! We have found that there are people that we meet along our travels that we know we will somehow see them again along the way and this couple was one of them. :-)

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