March 23, 2014. Solstice. Bay of Islands.

It was the most unlikely conversation. It took me so long, Ken thought something was the matter when I was checking out from the Rendezvous Hotel in Auckland. The young man was young and to be polite, asked where I was from in America. He figured out that I was not a Kiwi. I said as I always say, “I am from Texas”. He asked, “where in Texas?” His eyes got big , took his hands off the computer and looked at ne with big eyes, when I said “We are from San Antonio”. He was very excited. It turned out that he has been a fan of the San Antonio Spurs since he was in grade school. He owns a Tim Duncan jersey and wears it only when he is watching a Spurs game, which is not very often. So we spent the next ten minutes discussing the fortunes of the Spurs and Tim Duncan. He was so excited to meet someone from San Antonio and was disappointed to know that I had never attended a game. I redeemed myself by saying that my son had attended Spurs games. When you are away from home, you just never know what will come next. This young man loved talking to me about the Spurs, and so did I.