Our Crew of 13

Our safari crew was comprised of 13 ‘adventurers’, with me as the common denominator. 

Brother Joel and I had the idea of a African safari following our Antarctic and Arctic adventures.  Then Joel’s wife Susan signed on.  Knowing of a number of friends who’d be interested, I said ‘let’s see if we can put together a private group’.  And that we did!   Joel and Susan ‘recruited’ Kim and Mike; the two couples met as members of the Ventura Yacht Club, and boat together on a regular basis.

Linda  was my first boss out of college; we worked together in the Public Relations department at Western Airlines, and we’ve stayed in close touch ever since. And Linda recruited her  childhood friends Joyce and Dee.

Eva and I met on an Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) trip to Morocco in 2010, and have since traveled together to the Galapagos, Thailand and Tanzania.  And Iris and I met in 2019 on two-week OAT tour of Israel, and became fast friends.  

Wendy and I were best friends in elementary school.  I had last seen her at her wedding until we met again through Facebook a few years ago. And she was joined by her sister Melissa.

And Sandi and I know each other through mutual friends.  I’d spent fun time with her before, and knew her to be up for everything.

We were most compatible, without a wrinkle in that, even with the occasional travel ‘bumps’.  And did we laugh!  It was tough today to go our separate ways.  But it was a wonderful bonding experience for friends new and old.  And the memories we share are priceless.

And all of us will miss our warm, fun, unflappable tour leader, Sanction.  He was named when sanctions were being imposed against his home country, today’s Zimbabwe.  If only we could always travel with him!  He’d frequently ask us ‘happy, happy?’.  And we most definitely were  .  .  .