Like An Old Shoe, Part II

The original impetus behind my trip to Utah was to visit one of my on-line friends I had never met in person. I was really flattered that she had added to my list, as she made it a point to not add anyone she hadn't met IRL. Cool.

In the midst of making the arrangements, I mentioned it to another friend (about whom I've previously written) and she said there was a remote possibility that she, too, might be in Utah around Thanksgiving. Cool; a "two-fer".

So, I get up to Salt Lake and go over to meet the first one. Lots of aggravation trying to find the place, as well as find a parking spot (she went thru the same thing). Get to the restaurant and find Dora right away (you couldn't miss that smile at 100 paces). Had a great lunch, and we had already planned to go over to a museum west of Temple Square.

At the museum, there's an exhibit about the life and times of Joseph Smith (early 19th century), including artifacts. One of the artifacts was a bucket used for collecting sap from maple trees. It was in pieces, with a diagram showing how to put it together. We took the challenge.

Several eons later (OK, it was more like 15 minutes), we get the thing together and take a couple of pics. Nice job. On the way out, I ask the lady guide how many people successfully put the bucket together. "not many", she says. Big feather in our cap.

As we head back to our vehicles, I notice that it's time to head down to Sandy to have dinner with a couple other on-line friends I hadn't met yet, so I ask if she wants to come along. Yes. Cool.

We head south on I-15 and get there 15 minutes late (Mormon Standard Time?). No biggie, 'cause the other two are even later. Anyway, we have a great time at dinner and part company. I head back to where I'm staying and crash. Fun times.

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At the end of my stay, it turns out that Deb wouldn't be making it up to Salt Lake, so I suggest that maybe I could return to Albuquerque via the "scenic route" (i.e. thru Mesa). No problem.

So I head south, by-passing Richfield, where I had planned to meet up with another Linkster I had never met and maybe even crash at his place. Storm moving in, so I move on and drive to St. George, where I meet up with another Linkster I had met for maybe 10 minutes back in March. We managed to have a good time without anything life-threatening happening. (You'd have to know this guy to get that one.)

Next morning, I head for Mesa. (I have a much longer post on this whole trip, but that will have to wait for later.) Lots of drama trying to find the neighborhood. Finally, we meet up at a restaurant and have dinner together.

Once again, there's that odd feeling of Gemütlichkeit, like we've known each other for ages and do this all the time. After dinner, we went back to her place and watched "Madagascar" (and I fell asleep halfway thru!). Then I crashed in the Jahnmobile for the night.

Woke up the next morning and thought about the previous evening. It's rare that I feel that comfortable around someone I had never met in person before. But it was a nice feeling.

Kind of like an old shoe.