1974
Patricia Kidd
609-737-3656
pat.kidd@hotmail.com

Sally Johnson Leland writes about her travel adventures:
Having watched The Way with Martin Sheen I was intrigued with the idea of
walking the Camino de Santiago across Spain. I trained all summer long
walking anywhere from two to six hours a day wearing a 15-pound backpack plus water.

So…on 8/22/17 I arrived in St. Jean Pied de Port, France. I began my trek on August 23 in the dark…complete with headlamp. Finished on 9/23. Approximately 475 miles. Coastal Maine, where I trained, isn’t known for its elevation, so I got a real taste Day 1 – crossing the Pyrenees!

Met a woman that night at dinner who was also traveling alone and the next morning we set off together each day there-after. Covered 15-18 miles/day for 32 straight days. No injuries, weather was incredibly agreeable for the most part, and the sense of accomplishment was and is still overwhelming.

Beauty abounds in the geographic diversity of Spain. The Spaniards were welcoming and supportive, and the opportunity to meet other pilgrims along the way was particularly special. I met a retired minister from Williamsport who remembered Rev. Phil Lambdin, Marj Lambdin’s dad. Midway through my trek I met Frederick’s very own Joanne McCoy. She was blown over when I shared I was Hood ’74! The next day I received an email from Nancy Gillece ’81 saying, “I understand you ran into a good friend of mine on the Camino!” It’s a smaller world than you think!

Santiago was a bit of a letdown with the Cathedral of St. James shrouded in scaffolding and debris netting, and it was flooded with tourists, but the Mass for Pilgrims was very moving. I took one day off and then took off for Finisterre, the End of the Earth. From there on to Muxia, an additional 85 miles. The last week was the most special heading to the coast, leaving the throngs of humanity and consumerism behind in Santiago.

Sally’s other adventures . . .
In late October Doug and I took a Hurtigruten cruise (working ferry boat, no cars) up the coast of Norway and back. 70 ports of call…many in the middle of the night dropping off stores, equipment, materials and taking on some goods and mail to move up the coast. 100 cabins. No sequins gowns. Jeans and polartec were the order of the day. It’s a pristine country with warm people. I was surprised to see so much development north of the Arctic Circle.

Camino Portuguese is scheduled for 4/1/19. Lisbon to Santiago and back to Lisbon. Any takers?

And this from Dot Herdle Files: Like so many others in our class, I retired last year, and I love not going to the office every day. I can swim in the heat of the day in summer and see sunlight during the week in winter. Eben and I have freedom to visit our granddaughter (and her parents) and other family. I’ve been to the East coast a couple times to see family, especially my granddaughter in Virginia. God is using me in music ministry, but also in less expected ways like disaster recovery (after Hurricane Harvey), substituting for the church secretary, and teaching youth.

Finally from Susan Adams Prevost who shared the first semester with our class at Hood: I married in July 1972 and have three children and seven grandchildren. Lou & I lived in Lausanne, Switzerland for a few years after we were married and I attended the University of Lausanne and then l’Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne. I worked for a privately owned hotel in Wayne, PA for 18 years and then, when our last child entered college (1999), I went back to college myself and ended up finally graduating from WCU in 2002 with a BS in French. I taught French at Strath Haven Middle School for the next 9 years, while studying for and earning a Master’s degree in French and a certificate in TESL. In 2012, I decided to retire.

I am living in a home that we bought in Wellsboro, PA (an hour north of Williamsport and home of the PA Grand Canyon!). We travel a bit to visit with friends from Europe and are planning a Rhine River cruise for the fall of 2019. If any of you who may remember me ever get up to the PA Grand Canyon, which is well worth the drive, please look me up. We love to have visitors!