TBT: YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP

TBT: This past Saturday while I was in Milwaukee, Natureman was enjoying the 4th Annual Juneteenth Citywide Celebration with the African American Living History Bus Tour.  I was so bummed to miss it but it was so successful there's good news as there will be a second tour held in the future...

As I spoke about this event to my couchsurfing Milwaukee host Carol, my traveling partner, Lynn, mentioned one of the tour's stops would be at La Crosse's claim to fame, the African American Mr. George Coleman Poage's home, a two times Olympian bronze medalist.   

Carol quickly added that a relative in her family had also competed in the Olympics. I asked her when as I pulled up my blog posting from 2016 re: the dedication of a park a 112 years late in recognition of Mr. Poage's accomplishments. Carol replied that it must have been early 1900's and would you believe after doing the math (2016  being 2 yrs ago and the title 112 +2 = 114 subtracted from 2018), and a quick Wikipedia search for Hahn, both men had competed together in the 1904 games in St. Louis? Both were medalists too. 

Carol's relative Charles Archibald "Archie" Hahn, a German American,  had attended U of Michigan and was the first man to win both the Olympic 100m and
 200m while George Poage held the honors of being the first African American to win an Olympic medal. (Archie also won the 60 m in 1904 and in 1906 won one more gold.)

What are the chances to discover this coincidence during a first conversation. Talk about Throw Back Thursdays!

Credit to Wikipedia for all photos posted in this entry including this one of the 1904 USA Track and Field Olympian competitors. 

 Below also is an except from the Tour's booklet and also a link to the Poage Park dedication...

* If  you'd like to read a bit more about George Poage, here's that blog link. A 112 YEARS LATE

Losing My Touch...

I have been extremely fortunate as to my Couchsurfing experiences but one's luck can run out.  Was Green Bay going to be the city where I misjudged my correspondence with my Couchsurfing hostess?

You see I had made contact with a fellow couchsurfer who had space for both friend Lynn, and myself.  We would be easy guests as we would be fed by M.O.M. with even Friday night entertain- ment at Lambeau. 

The plan was that when we were close to Green Bay, I would give a call so more definite arrangements as to arrival time could be made. But when I called the number provided, I was taken aback to receive a recorded message saying that the number was no longer in service. I must have misdialed. So I tried the number I had again. Same outcome. Oh dear, now what?  Of all times I hadn't brought my laptop with me and couldn't reconfirm the number. Wait, I could call home. Luckily I found Natureman home and talked him through the steps to find that email info. Nope, it wasn't a copying error, I had written the number correctly. 

What to do?  Why would she have given me the wrong number? It's not like a giving the wrong digits to a guy in the bar... If you don't want to host somebody, you just say "No" to the surfing request.  You are told you are always supposed to have a backup plan and for the very first time I didn't have one. Maybe she just made a typo and didn't catch it. Well, we didn't panic right away.

After stopping to pick up our registration stuff at the convention center we still had time before the Appreciation Party so I suggested driving by the given address. Maybe we needed to find another place to stay/ maybe Couchsurfer host Jamie would be home /maybe that address didn't even exist. Since it was only a mile away and en route to where we needed to go next, we GPS'ed it. Sure enough awaiting us we found a quiet neighborhood with manicured lawns and according to the next door neighbor who was holding a garage sale, a 'Jamie' lived next door. And a dog was home.

Whew, RELIEF. Ok so I left a note in the mailbox as to our timing plans and my cell number with hopes that Jamie would discover it upon her return and give us a call.  But alas no call and when we returned from Lambeau, the house was still dark. Surely her dog would have needed to be let out. Maybe she didn't check her mailbox.  There was a side entrance, maybe I should leave a note there too? I'm going over the past correspondence in my head. We had spoken about it being Friday and maybe she'd go out after work. We could go take a walk to a lovely garden we had driven past... It was a lovely evening and still daylight.

One major problem en route to this unique Garden I realized I really needed to visit a bathroom. The neighborhood library was already closed but at the end of another block was a neon light and more traffic. Yea, maybe a laundrymat/ business, hopefully still open. It was an old corner grocery store but an elderly man was locking up as we turned the corner, Lynn had pointed out a sign saying 'general public no bathroom use.' Just my luck but I got the gentleman's attention and he reopened the door and I explained we were from out of town and unfamilar with the area, could he point me in the direction of a business with a restroom nearby. The younger clerks in the store said I could use their facilities. Thank you Lord. As I was escorted to the back of the store I explained that we were supposed to be staying nearby but I had the wrong phone number. He asked me what it was ... I started to recite the number 9-0-2.. he stopped me as the Green Bay area code is 920 not 902.  I thanked him profusely on both accounts. 
Sure enough I was finally able to reach Jamie. She wondered why she hadn't heard from us AND she apologized for mistyping the phone number AND she had left a key in the mailbox. She would finish up dinner with her friends and be would be home shortly. 

Greatly relieved, Lynn and I continued on our walk to the  garden and all its surprises. Beautiful plantings and many yard sculptures.

After our nice walk we made our way back to the car to unpack and make ourselves at home. 


Not long there after Jamie joined us and we ended up  exchanging travel stories late into the evening. Much later than my usual Friday nights...  

One thing's for sure - I am not losing my touch and there are a lot of nice interesting people with big hearts everywhere.  

Selfie time : Lynn (L) Jamie ( R)