Geezer V, Driggs, Idaho - Introduction

In 2008 a group of four old friends all turned 60.  In honor of that milestone, it was decided that there should be a gathering of these "geezers".   The "Gathering of Geezers" has now become an annual event.  The original geezers were myself (Dave), Val, John and Jack.  Also attending were Jack's wife Steph (a geezer trainee) and John's partner Greg (who became a geezer in 2011).  

This year will be Geezer V and will be held in Driggs, Idaho which is at the Southwestern end of the Tetons about 30 west of Jackson, Wyoming.  Val and I have been there several times before and love the area.  Driggs is a very small town situated in the beautiful Teton Valley that has none of the crowds of Jackson Hole.  Just to the Northwest is the little known Grand Targhee Ski Area, a great place to go to beat the crowds.  We are renting a great house on the Teton River for the week.  Another big advantage of Driggs is that the cost of rentals is really low compared to areas like Jackson, especially when you go in the off season like we are.  Val and I are leaving today (Friday) and will take a leisurely three days to get there.  I hope to be able to report on this trip as it happens because the Driggs house is supposed to have a wi-fi Internet connection.

One final note on John, Jack, Val and I.  Val has known John for close to 50 years; they lived across the street from each other growing up in Tulare which is a small town in the central valley of California.  Jack and I first met on the first day of junior high school, 52 years ago and have stayed best friends ever since then.  We grew up on the same street about a block apart in Woodland Hill, California which is a suburb of Los Angeles.  When Jack graduated from college he went to work for one of the big ranches in the central valley and became friends with John.  John introduced Jack to Val and they became friends.  Several years later, Jack had moved back to Woodland Hills and he and I were on our way north on a motorcycle trip and as we went though the San Luis Obispo area and being the thrifty person that he is, Jack said, "hey, I know somewhere where we can stay for free tonight".  Well that somewhere turn out to be Val's house who had moved to SLO from the central valley.  Val and I hit it off immediately and spent most of the night talking and finding we had a lot in common.  We both had other things going at the time so nothing serious happened, but we stayed friends over the years and gradually we discovered we felt more than friendship for each other and the rest (as they say) is history; we just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary on August 14th.  So the four of us have not only been friends for many years, but our lives have been interwoven, and Val and I owe our happy marriage to these lifelong friends.

See you in Driggs.