I arrived 3 days ahead of my scheduled speech. It gave me the time to get to meet people who I had never met before and make some new friends. It also gave me time to re-meet people who I met 33 years ago when at another NCCC convention, which I attended right in the middle of my trans-continental run.
In the 1st picture are Kay, Captain Jack, Bill and Peg. Jack flew helicopters for 2 years and 7 months in Vietnam. He is truly one of the unsung heroes in the world.  Bill and I met the 1st time at the convention 33 years ago.
In the other picture is Jim, Darlene and Michael. We exchanged stories from the NCCC convention in 1978, also. The shirt you see me wearing in these pictures is one of the shirts that were made in 1978. The runner on the front represented me and it had the outline of the U.S. to represent the mission we were on. The shirt is one of only a couple I still have in my closet. But, by wearing it in Chicago for all to see, I found out that there are the same shirts still in the closets of many of the people at this convention. I just kept thinking how amazing that is.   Â
I feel that I am blessed to have a common bond between us (corvettes) so I can meet and be with such great people.
