SEVEN WEEKS IN LOCKDOWN BUT I HOPE THE END IS NEAR

Well I’m still alive and kicking after seven weeks in isolation. Summer looks like it is here and I’m most of the way thru my war against the Amazon Jungle. I have reclaimed some of our yard and can see an end in sight. I must say I now have an abiding hatred of weeds. Along with, overgrown bushes, low hanging branches and my new role as gardener.

Deysi has not yet done away with me. Her patience is amazing. We have not run out of toilet paper or food. I am eating and crapping just like the cat. For the past couple of weeks I have been describing our time in Utah and posting some old home movies from the mid ’80’s. I am sure they are quite boring to most of you. However, I may not get another opportunity to get them out and relive some of our adventures when the kids were small and we were younger. Because, I am about to move on from our early time in the US and onto South Africa.

After leaving Ogden, Utah we had another brief stay in San Fransisco. Just as we were getting settled in again, and I was recruited by a competitor and asked if I would like to try out Africa. Would I! We were excited and because we had decided on a career of travel, it seemed like a great opportunity. After discussions with Deysi and the girls they were all onboard and pumped for a new adventure. Ange was ok with, whatever. The concept of travel did not register too deeply with her. But whatever her sensei wanted was good enough for her. Ron had two demands which were, that we have a pool and a maid (so she didn’t have to pick up after herself).

Deysi was the organizer of all things travel and in full support of another adventure. In the fall of 1988 we upped stakes again and headed for Johannesburg, SA, there to participate in the revamp of the national Synthetic Fuels Plant. Because SA was still under international sanctions due to their apartheid policies, it became necessary to be hired by a Dutch arm of the US company we were going to work for.

Decision made and not the flurry of activity happens. Paperwork, visas, passports, inoculations and a ton of formalities had to be completed before we could leave. We took the opportunity to visit Edmonton, where most of Deysi’s family had immigrated to over the last couple of years. It was a chance to see my parents (my mother for the last time) and say welcome to Canada to Deysi’s family, and adios we will see you later.

It was a hectic time. We were excited, nervous and pumped to see something new. Over the next two weeks I will describe our time in Africa and the marvellous things that happened to us there. The stories are never ending and the fun never stopped. A whole new way of life was about to present itself to us. A new world was opening and the ride was wild, to say the least. All of our stuff went into storage in California, including our still new Ford Mustang. Little did we know that we wouldn’t see any of it again for the next 4-1/2 years.

Before we head off I will spend one more day tying up the final sights and scenes of Utah and California. It had been a great period in our lives and we now were beginning to feel like real travellers. Bear with me for a little more reflection of our last times in the US and get ready for South Africa.