We had a wonderful week-end in Ohio! The weather was perfect, and all in all, traffic wasn't too heavy. My Fred said we could easily pass Rick & his wife on the freeway as we drove and not even know it. We stopped at the last rest area before we reached Austinburg and guess who we pulled in next to? Nancy was sitting in the car and her husband Rick was standing up on the walk-way smoking a cigar. We didn't think much of it, just two people taking a break. I came out of the rest area after Fred did and guess what? Fred was talking with these two people as if he knew them ... and in fact, he did. One of them anyway. I walked down and was greeted by Rick with a big Hello and a hug. Nancy was next to greet me and I was still a bit stunned at the providence of God. We sat at a table and talked for at least a half hour, then drove to the motel. I was so blessed to learn they are simple, down-to-earth people who don't put on "airs" .. who they are is who they are.

For a day and a half, Fred & Rick talked and talked and talked. Nancy & I smiled at them a lot and took pictures. We shared about our lives, likes and dislikes and we were both very thankful these two men had found one another and were able to talk about a time in their lives we could not relate to. Fred's time in Korea in 1968-1969 was much worse than he ever told me and those two years were later called the second Korean War. They were exposed to Agent Orange just as military in Vietnam was. Only no one told them. Rick found out when he developed cancer and sent the information to Fred a few months ago.

I am very thankful we had this time with Rick & Nancy and we plan on staying in touch and getting together again. They live quite a ways from here so it won't be as frequent as we might like, but thankfully we have email and even regular mail and of course, telephones!

We spent time at the beach as I had hoped we would, but there simply wasn't enough time to see other people except for Fred's brother and his lady friend. That was a special time too.

It's good to get away once in a while, isn't it? We hadn't been any where together in three years. Hopefully it won't be that long before we do something like this again.

Rick's wife Nancy ... it felt as though we had known each other for years

My Fred & Rick ... they didn't notice that Nancy & I were taking photos

of the two of them

My Fred & Rick catching up on 40 plus years of memories

My Fred is the bigger of the two by the way

One lone flower against a wall of stone

Looking at Lake Erie in Conneaut, Ohio


Lakeshore Park in Ashtabula, Ohio