Meeting Saul

It was continental breakfast time at the Best Western.

I was drinking my latte and finishing up my blog posting when Willie walked in. 

Soon I heard Willie telling some folks that he was traveling with his father.

The two Californians were retracing a trip they had taken together 30 years before. 

Willie is now 48, while his dad is 78.  They'd been to the Black Hills and Yellowstone, among other places.  

On this day they were headed to Pike's Peak.

Later, an elderly man came in the room and sat at Willie's table, obviously his dad.

The breakfast room was filling up, so I unplugged my laptop, grabbed my latte and moved to some couches outside in the lobby.

While checking my favorite morning Internet sites, I saw Willie's dad walk in and sit down at another couch nearby.  

He pulled out his ipad and began to finger through his sites.

Soon, Willie walked past the motel desk and stood behind my couch.

"The car is ready," he announced to his dad.

"Chauffeur.  I have a chauffeur," he said to me with a grin.  "Do you have a chauffeur?"

"Yes, my daughter," I responded.

That brief interchange led to a new friendship and my chance to star in a home video. 

That's when I learned that "Saul" was the dad and that "Willie" was the son.

Having my own son Willie and living near Bonners Ferry where Saul, as an Army Second Lieutenant from Ft. Lewis in 1956 supervised sandbagging for flooding in the Kootenai Valley---two connections instantly endeared us to each other.

Plus, Saul was a born ham and a natural entertainer.  Having hammed it up a time or two myself, I did not mind starring in the Jacobs family home video, chronicling the people and places of this father-son odyssey.  

Our meeting lasted just 15 minutes---time enough for Willie, the cameraman and Saul, the director, to ask a few questions and capture video from both a cell phone with dying batteries and, later, from Saul's ipad. 

Saul entertains for senior citizens, telling stories and singing songs from the "Golden Age of Popular American Music."

He and his partner Bob Lipson (pianist/accompanist) planned to reconnect for a gig planned Prescott, Arizona,  (tomorrow night).

Willie's wife from Southern California would be meeting them for the show.  

"If you're in the Prescott area, come and join us," Saul said.  

Then Willie snapped the obligatory still shot of Saul and his new friend from Idaho.   Saul wrote down my email address so they could send the photo once they arrive home. 

We shook hands before father and son headed out the door for the day's adventure on their very special journey.  

A nice interlude to a quiet morning and definitely a good trip memory.  

I'd say I got far more than bargained for with the free continental breakfast at the Colorado Springs Best Western.  

And, I definitely won't forget Saul.