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Never Meet a Stranger
- Christina Tarvin
- Nov 13, 2024
- 5 min read
In the south there are no strangers, just friends who haven't met yet. We're southern so this rings true. However, it looks like the original quote is from an Irish poet by the name of William Butler Yeats and it goes like this: "There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met." Mr. Yeats must have been onto something with his writing because he won the Nobel prize for Literature in 1923.
Either way, we very much agree and we seldom meet a stranger.
It shouldn't have been a surprise to us that we'd meet many people on our recent cross-country road trip. After all, we traveled many miles, crossing several states and we enjoy talking with anyone and everyone. The pleasant surprise was more in how alike people really are. And how easy it is to make friends. As Granny Josephine always said, "You gotta be a friend to have a friend." She truly was a wise old southern woman even if it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said it first.
One of the best things about traveling, whether it be across the country or simply to the grocery store, is meeting new people!
Our trip was roughly planned before we hit the road. Major routes and important stops, like the one at Young Living's lavender farm in Mona, Utah, where we met Mary Young, were on our big list. However, the fine tuning of camping locations and interesting bonus stops happened in Honey's cockpit.
Spontaneity and sometimes necessity gave us the opportunity to meet some of the best folk in this beautiful country. People like Trysta and her husband, owners of a laundromat in Junction, Colorado. Also where we met sweet customer who quilts, and since we were both washing our quilts, a wonderful conversation ensued -- mostly about how good our God truly is. Then after a week of off-grid camping across Colorado (without showers or laundry facilities), one of our several last-minute, last-one-available finds was at the HTR Moab where we met the manager, Sean. HTR Moab offers a wonderful collection of lodge rooms and tiny home cottages with a super cool outdoor kitchen as well as a spacious shared area indoors for cooking, internet for working and sofas for relaxing, as well as much needed showers and laundry facilities. Sean told us how to get to all the best local outdoor spots, a blessing which resulted in us camping in Juniper Campground (5,700 feet elevation) at the BLM Moab Sand Flats Recreation Area a few nights later.
The occasional restaurant meal always gave us the opportunity to make a new friend as well. One that stands out was the Trailhead Public House in Moab, Utah, where we got to know the heart behind it being featured on America's Best Restaurants Road Show earlier this year. Her name is Teresa and she owns the place. It was our second trip to Moab and second visit to the Trailhead . . . on our list again because it's just that good!
Just thinking of the delicious meals enjoyed during this trip will probably result in a future blog post focused solely on great restaurants. You'll want to bookmark that one!
More wonderful folks and extra blessings on our journey west.
First night out on the road set the tone! Chatted with a sweet couple (Mike & Rebecca Emerson) while having dinner at a Cajun place called 2 Crazy Fellas located in Olive Branch, Mississippi. Having recently traveled to Denver from the south, they gave us lots of encouragement for the road.
Met Pastor Bryan at a Saturday afternoon service at the Springfield, Missouri, campus of Life Church where we were greeted warmly by many members and enjoyed a Word from senior pastor Craig Groeschel.
Great chat with our waiter at Jose Locos in Springfield; he was born in Brazil but between his Portuguese and our English, we managed to order the best Mexican food EVER!
Chatted with a precious family of Believers enjoying breakfast at Springfield's best coffee shop, Echelon Coffee -- surprised to learn the husband was an Alabamian too.
Sadly, we didn't make any new friends in Dodge City, Kansas. The town was basically dead on a Sunday afternoon. Maybe it was the intense winds that blew everyone out of town.
After picking up Honey on Monday morning and the night spent camping at the local U. S. Space Force Base, we found a yummy little coffee shop called Color Roasters in Eagle, Colorado, and conversed with the friendly staff there.
Chatted it up with the great staff at Sylvan Lake State Park before making our way to a campsite with views of both the surrounding mountains and the lake. There wasn't much time for meeting other campers but we enjoyed watching the bats come out of their nest boxes at dusk and seeing Steller's Jays hunt for insects and seeds.
One of the most cool towns in our travels was Old Town Albuquerque where we enjoyed a delicious meal seated in a 300-year old room at High Noon Restaurant and Saloon. We learned quite a bit about the building as we spoke with our friendly waiter. An after dinner stroll through the local art shops is where we met Deanna Soto of Jerky made with Love, who gifted us a tasty bag of Red Chile Beef Jerky!
Like-minded people: those who share the same opinions, ideas, or interests.
Yes, even with age, experiential and regional differences, God-ordained connections happen all the time. Three of our most memorable meetings took place in Arizona. One such connection occurred at the Painted Desert Indian Center in Holbrook, Arizona. A quick decision to stop and browse at this shop resulted in interesting conversation with Denise about how to maneuver through life considering the current state of our country AND a purchase that we won't forget -- see photo of the Blue Opal earrings Fred gave to Chris for her birthday.
A drive to the historic copper mining town of Jerome, Arizona, led us to the Altai Leather Designs where we had a great exchange with Zach Kline one of the leather craftsmen. We highly recommend a visit to Altai or at least a scroll through their website to peruse all the beautiful, made in the USA leather goods.
The chat with Zach in Jerome was all because of a "chance" meeting with Fran earlier the same day in Sedona. Thank you, Fran, for recommending a trip to Jerome to find a leather piece for which we were searching. Sedona is a great place to visit, a bit more tourist-y than we like, but we were there already for a lunch stop at our favorite Sedona eatery, Mesa Grill. This cool place is located right next to the Sedona Airport Scenic Lookout and we were back for another meal after discovering this great place in 2022.
Back to Fran. Sedona's streets are lined with art galleries and cool shops. We stopped in a few shops but it was in Zonies Galleria that we made a friend. Fran is the real deal, a caring and true American who understands how to connect with people. During our visit, she excitedly hurried us to the shop's Dutch door to witness a rare desert rain storm. We walked out of Fran and Keith's galleria with our new favorite espresso cup -- handmade by artist Sarah Harmes of SarahZona of water, silt and soil mindfully collected from Oak Creek and The Verde River -- a few gifts for friends back home, a full heart and a new friend!
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