Slight Detour: Special Rendezvous

I use this profile photo today only because it's connected with a longtime friendship triangle which is about to be revived.

My friend Chris Moon took the photo several years ago while we were driving and visiting along the Lightning Creek Road east of Sandpoint.

By the time you read this post, two of the members of this friendship triangle will be on the road, headed south, with Bill at the wheel.

Bill seems quite pleased to driving a couple of golden girls named Chris and Marianne to meet one of their longtime mutual friends.

About the same time we hit the road, the third member of this friendship triangle named Sky/Susie will be heading north from Colorado with her hubby Marv.

At the end of the day, we'll all meet up at an Air B n B, where we'll be staying until Sunday.

And, then it's "Let the gabbing begin." Of course, Chris, Bill and I may get warmed up on our way to our destination.

Marianne Brown Love met Susie Baldwin back in about 1960. Susie was in the fifth grade, and Marianne, the seventh.

Susie and her family ( a Forest Service family) moved into the red house at the fairgrounds not far from our North Boyer farm.

We rode the school bus together, and it wasn't long before we got acquainted, becoming instant friends because of our love for horses.

Over the next five years, our friendship led to some rather epic horse and good ol' country adventures, which occasionally included a bit of mischief.

I'm guessing that Susie probably met Chris Moon a couple of years later when they both entered Sandpoint Junior High School as seventh graders.

By that time, I probably knew Chris as an occasional acquaintance because I worked for her aunt KT Littlefield.

Our respective friendships continued until Susie's dad Dick Baldwin was transferred to the Missoula area. At the time, Susie was a sophomore in the Sandpoint High School Class of 1967.

She graduated from high school in Missoula and attended the University of Montana, while Chris moved on to Whitman College, and I completed my degree at the University of Idaho.

After my graduation, I began to work summers for the U.S. Forest Service as a traffic survey aide. During my second summer, Chris came aboard.

We took turns driving our "rig" on the back roads of the vast Kaniksu National Forest in North Idaho and Western Montana for three summers. Again, we enjoyed our share of mischief.

One time our bosses sent us to Missoula to pick up a new Forest Service "rig" and drive it back to Sandpoint. We used that road-trip opportunity to surprise our mutual friend Susie.

Our friendship has continued over the past 50 or so years, with a couple of other situations where the three of us could visit.

Because Chris moved back home to Sandpoint after her retirement as a professor at Pacific Lutheran University, the two of us have managed to spend some quality time gabbing and still taking some marathon adventures on the back roads of the area.

It's been a while, though, since Susie, Chris and I have been together so it's time for a reconnection and a good visit.

Bill and Marv will get to meet each other, and the three of us gals should have no problem filling up the time reminiscing and sharing our life experiences.

Looking forward to this trip and to the rendezvous.

Also, please note that for the next few days, my blog posts could be fairly erratic with posting time and with content.

Thanks for your patience.

As always, many thanks to Elisabeth for watching the beloveds and to our neighbors who always are there for support.