My Co-Pilot

My co-pilot for this adventure is my wife, Alea.  Our adventure is a means for us to pick up from when we first met, which was in late 1986.  I had spent nearly six months cycling over 10,000 miles across the United States, up into Canada and down the East Coast, hoping to perhaps spend the winter with my grandmother in St Petersburg before continuing on to Europe the following year.

Alea and Brown Dog, St. Petersburg, FL in 1986.

My grandmother lived in a tiny house that my Uncle Charlie Wiggins had built after retiring from his career, where he assisted in the building and maintenance of the Panama Canal (she had lived in Panama with Charlie during the Canal's construction, and had stood at the bottom of Gatun Lock before it was first filled with water).  I was there for a week when she politely mentioned "You do know that your Aunt Pat comes to stay with me every winter, and there's not enough room for the three of us?"  Not being known for my ability to pick up on subtle nuances, it was clear even to me that I needed to find a new place to park myself for the winter.

As luck would have it, the cheapest place that I could find to rent was a lean-to attached to a house next door to the house that Alea was renting.  We didn't meet right away, but I had a lot of time on my hands while waiting for a holiday job working for United Parcel Service.  Alea had two dogs: Brown Dog (shown above) and a Golden Retriever named Courtney.  The latter had a rather outgoing personality, and so she quickly convinced me how badly I needed a new friend.  She'd come over to the fence to say hello and get petted, sometimes bringing her ball along with her, which I would gladly throw for her.  Brown Dog, easily the more cautious of the two, decided that someone to throw the ball when Alea was at work was very desirable, but his cautious nature precluded him from coming to the fence.  But of the two, Brown Dog was clearly the smarter:  he solved his dilemma by flicking his head to send the ball rolling up to the fence.  In no time at all we formed a great friendship and mutual admiration for one another.

Needless to say, since I was now great friends with Courtney and Brown Dog, Alea and I were destined to meet.  So within the space of just a few weeks I was able to make three lifelong friends, including the most important person in my life, Alea.  (Thank you, Aunt Pat!)