What Are The Chances For That To Happen?

Today I got a phone call from a friend who just got back from a vacation.  She and her husband had stopped at a restaurant that was located in Shelter Harbor on Lake Gatun, and were about to get on a boat to go through the Panama Canal.  She was wandering around and struck up a conversation with some people on a sailboat.  When she said she was from Brockport, New York the man she was chatting with asked her if she knew the Skoogs!  Can you imagine?

If you have been reading my Journal for awhile, you may have already seen some of these pictures.

We received a telephone call from a friend at the Welcome Center who said, "you've got to come down here and meet this man from Norway, who sailed over here on his own!"  It was June 18th, 2011...Father's Day.  Jenny and I were going to take Gary out for lunch so we thought we'd stop by the Canal on our way.

And then, we met Harald!

 

 After speaking to him for 5 minutes we asked if he would like to join us for lunch and he accepted.  I told him that he was very brave, since he just met us.  He said it was enough time to know that he was comfortable.  So off we went to the Carlton, chatting the whole way, during lunch and on the way back.

 When we returned, he gave us a full tour of the ss-ilanga.

 As I recall, it was about 36 or 38 feet long.  Can you imagine sailing across the ocean by yourself?

Harald retired after working on an oil rig and was on an 8 (EIGHT) year journey.

 Shortly after that, our granddaughters arrived to spend several weeks with us and they wanted to see the boat.

 Of course Finn and Coop did not want to be left out.

 Harald attended one of our Summer Serenades concerts and took many photographs.  Can't imagine how many he will have by the time he gets back home.

 After spending several days in Brockport, he headed to Buffalo to pick up his wife, brother and sister-in-law, who had flown in from Norway to accompany him for several weeks.

 We invited them up to the farm for dinner, and of course they wanted to go to Wegmans.

 Gary gave them all kinds of veggies from the garden to take back to the boat.

Several days later, when it was time for them to leave, Ariana, Daniela and I went with them to the next port.

Who was waiting for us to pass by?  Tina with her camera, and Roger on the other side of the Canal with his bike!

(She took the next four pictures).

 There I am, waving to you.

 So peaceful...I can see why people from all around the world like to do this.

 The girls loved having a chance to take the wheel.

 We arrived at Spencerport...

 and docked.

 Gary arrived to pick us up so they pulled back in for a few minutes to say goodbye.

 Another great experience.

 Who said Brockport is not an INTERNATIONAL port?

Night all.