In 2003, when I volunteered on the Lady Washington tall ship, I met a young man who impressed me very much. His nickname was “Stitch” and he was the Bosun’s Mate on that voyage. Adam Billings was a nice, sincere, humble young man of about 24 who gave me the strong feeling that he would do something with his life. I stayed in touch, and 10 years ago, he let me know that he was getting married, so I went to Salt Lake City to attend. His wife, Becky, was just as nice as Stitch. In spite of having just gotten married, and the fact that Becky didn’t know me at all, and needing to get to a family barbeque (to which I was invited), Stitch and Becky spent about 2 hours showing me around Salt Lake City.

I had not been back to SLC since, but I knew that they had moved to Payson, a city just south of Provo. I made arrangements to meet Stitch, Becky and their family of four kids for brunch on the day I left. Stitch did do something with his life. Becky already had a teaching degree when they got married, and Stitch now has two masters degrees and is the Director of the Deaf South Division of the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind. Their kids are just as polite and pleasant as I would have expected.  Stitch and Becky are the kind of people you can know long-distance for years, but when you get back together, it is like it’s only been a week.

We left the Billings after 4 or 5 good byes and “oh one more thing.” I dropped Bill off at the airport for his trip home—I really enjoyed the opportunity to explore Arizona and Utah with him. We never turned on the radio or audiobooks, because we just kept talking. But now I turned north and was homeward bound and eager to get home.

I did make one more sight-seeing stop on the way in to my first night’s destination, Twin Falls, Idaho. Shoshone Falls was a few miles off the route, but it is a picturesque site, and the light was waning, so I  thought it would be worth trying to get a good photo.

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