Vapor Trails II

We're going to take a break from posting about our recent western trip to follow up on our Vapor Trails posting. We used our sharply-honed investigative skills (i.e.- google) to track down the recipient of the postcard Bob at Purdue sent to Kirk at Bowling Green in March of 1984. As luck would have it, our attempt was successful. The following are excerpts from Kirk's emails:

I'm happy to share a bit of history behind the card:

Bob is my longtime friend. He is very adept at cow tipping and snipe hunting. He also has some local historical acclaim as a freelance groundskeeper allowing various machinery and equipment to work unaided by human hands. A vehicle he once owned was very attractive to local deer. They worked around the clock to improve the aerodynamics of that car, ultimately impacting(no pun intended) his ability to be on time when picking up friends to attend local "dances". These dances were often held on baseball fields, usually with a band on a flatbed truck and several trucks dispensing beer in 1/2 gallon jugs. When the 1/2 gallon jugs were almost empty they were rocketed into the air, spewing their contents on everyone below. Speaking of spewing, it was always fun to watch a couple mashing (the very drunk version of a makeout session) see one of them stop to throw up, and then both continue mashing. Any guesses why this county had the highest alcohol consumption per capita in the United States!

Bren(da) was Bob's neighbor, just two or three houses down the street from him. They started dating in high school, separated and attended different universities, ultimately keeping in touch and getting back together. This is certainly a tribute to the saying "abscence makes the heart grow fonder". They married soon after graduation. They live in Ohio and have four great kids, the oldest soon to go away to college. I'm not aware that this child has any romantic attachments to other neighborhood friends, so it appears that future in-laws will have farther to travel to meet each other than Bob and Brenda's parents.

The statement "Been to any Proms lately" is an inside joke referring to the fact that Brenda was once my Prom date.

Bob and Brenda are happily married and enjoying all the trials and tribulations associated with family life, their careers, aging parents, the first child leaving the nest, etc.

I hope your other readers enjoy this information in your Vapor Trails.

Kirk

Then we asked if he recalled the history of the postcard:

I really don't have additional details about the card. I don't usually get rid of things with sentimental value, so I'm not sure how this ended up at a bookstore. My best guess stems from my continuous purchase of old fishing books and subsequent release back into the used book world after I've lost interest or focused on a different type of fishing. I would guess that I was using it as a bookmark accidentally let it go.

I would imagine that it has been out of my hands for several years. Just reading it makes me feel like I last saw it yesterday.

Kirk

The amazing thing about the internet age is how it facilitates the human connection. We've never met Kirk or Bob or Brenda. But we enjoyed finding their 1984 postcard in a pile of 10,000 plus postcards at a musty Ann Arbor bookstore and writing about the vapor trail.