Expected and Unexpected

In our first three days in Tucson, we met with two sets of friends--one expected, the other unexpected. Monday afternoon we were walking around Justin's Diamond J RV Park. All of a sudden, a truck stops next to us and a woman jumps out to say hello. It was Jo-Anna Kikel. She and her husband, David, have been staying here for two months. waiting for the purchase of a house to go through.

We first met them in 2008 in an RV park in Klamath, along the northern California coast. During the rainy days we both spent parked on soggy grass, we became acquainted. They were heading to Alaska, so we got together to share some of our experiences on our trip to that beautiful state.

Since then, we have seen them at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, where they were volunteering, and at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, during our stay there in 2010. And here we were, all in the same spot.



This is what it is like, living on the road. You run into people you have met before in other places. In 2006, during our trip to the Maritime Provinces of Canada, we met Bruce and Nancy in a park in Ottawa, Ontario. Then we found we were all staying in the same park in outside Quebec City. Next, they were staying across the road from our RV Park in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Guess who was parked four rows away on Prince Edward Island? And while shopping for groceries near Margaret's Bay, NS, Nancy walked up to us and said, where are you staying now? We were all in the same park again. And none of that was planned.

We are always wondering what old friend we will cross paths with next.

Not all meetings are unexpected. We knew that Dick and Nina are living in Tucson and emailed them when we arrived, trying to arrange a lunch date. To our surprise, we are parked only two miles from their home. We had a great Mexican lunch with them at Los Nopales Restaurant.