BIG, BIG News!

Thursday, March 29, 2012:  Yes, that's right, I have momentous news to  report. Are you ready? Juergen Janzen's Stillwater's Janzen Toyota Dealership has become a Platinum Sponsor, donating $2500 to the Judith Karman Hospice through my ride! And . . . the good news does not end there. Toyota, USA matched Janzen's donation with $2500. This means that I have not only met but have exceeded my goal! THANK YOU so much Juergen Janzen and Toyota, USA!

But, guess what? I think I set my sights too low. I am at this moment revising my goal upwards. NOW we are reaching for $15,000!

I'm still in the Gulf of Mexico and my hours are long and tiring, so I will follow up on this the first week of April when I get home. In the meantime, thank you Juergen for your kind, wonderful, fabulous Toyota dealership donation and for taking the time to apply to Toyota for a matching grant. The staff at Judith Karman Hospice and I literally shed a few tears on hearing of your generosity and that of Toyota, U.S.A. Thank you also to financier Foster, salesmen Grant and Jerry, mechanic Jesse, and the rest of the excellent staff at Janzen Toyota who have been financing, selling, and fixing my cars for the past 20 years.


Platinum donor Juergen Janzen, owner of Janzen Toyota; bicyclist Susan S. Walker; and Judith Karman Hospice Director, Lisa Smith pose for a photo session at the Toyota dealership 



Juergen hands Lisa a check for $5000--actually a blank check for show as the "real deal"
had already changed hands

Two of my favorite salesmen at Janzen Toyota, Grant Rampel and Jerry Gustafson. I also had a photo taken with my favorite mechanic Jesse Wood, but it did not turn out.

More to come when I am through being loonstruck. Ha, ha. I spent a l-o-n-g day today on Lake Borgne and the Biloxi Wildflife Management Area taking a wintering loon census. We counted 55 adults and juveniles within an area with a diameter of approximately 15-miles. On the way to our site we came upon a 6- or 7-foot alligator in the road. We got out to take pix. The gator looked dead--even had a tire track seemingly running through it--but we kept our distance. Good thing. When a pickup got too close, the alligator leapt to its feet, spun around and ran off the road. No shuffling. No hesitation. Fast!

Susan before the "dead" alligator wearing her Blagojevich hairdo.

Will try to add a few pix of my work here tomorrow if I can find a free moment. Got to sleep at 3:30 a.m. again last night and then spent 12 hours on the road or on the boat today. To bed, to bed . . . zzzzzz.