Boyd and Judy

I mentioned in one of my first vacation blogs about meeting friends at Adam ondi-Ahman. This couple is Boyd and Judy. We hit it off right from the first and had a lot in common. We were the only ones there in that beautiful secluded, peaceful spot of the world, and struck up a friendship.

They had just come from the same sites we had seen. Independence, Liberty Jail, and Farr West. We're all on a church history tour, and we're both doing it on our own, and both us us are doing it backwards.

Judy started giving us their itinerary, and said they were going to Hannibal, Missouri next. We said, "We are too". We said that we had never been there and had been to Mark Twain's home in Connecticut and were excited to visit his boyhood home. She mentioned that they had been before but planned to stay two days this time so they could really see the town.

I was hoping to see them there but Mike told me that the town was larger than I think, and that we probably wouldn't see them. We didn't.

We left Hannibal and went to Nauvoo for three days. They had been to Nauvoo before and weren't going there this trip.

She continued giving her itinerary and said they were going to Chicago to stay with their son and family and tend the children so the parents could get away for a few days. Judy laughed when I told her that we were going to Chicago also. We spent less than 24 hours with Robyn and I knew there was no chance of seeing Boyd and Judy in Chicago.

She continued again by saying they were going on to Kirtland after Chicago. We all laughed when we said that we were going there too. She then said that they were going to Palmyra after that and again we said, we were too. We mentioned that we were going to stop at Niagara Falls before go to Palmyra.

She then said the most remarkable thing! She said after Palmyra that they were going to Connecticut to stay with their other son for a few days. I just threw my hands in the air and she said, "No Way"! Yep! I said, Connecticut to stay with a son for a few days. We really had a good laugh then. That was just unbelievable!

That will be the end of our trip, and she said hers also, except that we are flying home from Hartford and they are driving all the way back. We forget to ask where they are going on the trip home.

We wished each other well and hoped to see one another at either Kirtland or Palmyra. But because of the differences in the schedules we didn't expect to see each other again. But as good luck would have it. We did!

After visiting the visitor center in Kirtland, we started up the road to see the Newell K. Whitney home. The tour guide turned and looked down the road and we saw a couple coming toward us. Within minutes we all recognized each other, threw our hands in the air, and yelled, "our friends".

We spent the remainder of the private tour together, and after getting back to the visitor center asked someone to take our picture.

We hated to part and Judy and I talked about having lunch together since that was next on the agenda, but we didn't get it finalized. They were in a hurry to get on their way, and we wanted to stay in the visitor center and watch a movie.

We parted once again and wished we could be together in Palmyra but they were leaving there the day we would get there. We knew that was probably the last we would see of each other.
But I was wrong again! We watched our movie and headed for the Kirtland Temple, and low and behold, there they were. We sat by them in the visitor center. We stayed together through that tour, took pictures of the temple together, and then parted again.

We will be behind them for the rest of the trip so we don't expect to see them again. But something tells me that someday, someplace, we will see them again. We all felt there was some important connection, and that we hadn't realized the full meaning of it yet.

Their son lives in New Haven, which is close to the coast, about a half hour from Kenny's home, which is 5 minutes from Hartford.