A friend of mine from France in 1984, Nathalie Doux, caught up with me in Lyon, 22 years later

August 1, 2006

Nathalie was someone I got to hang out with during my first trip to Europe in 1984. Her Dad was the French Wildwater coach, and you would know her brother, Toon, as the owner of Kayak Session Magazine, and her other Brother Joel as the owner of Canoe/Kayak Magazine in France. I bumped into her in Washington, DC in 1989 when she was a nanny randomly, and then planned on seeing her in Lyon with her kids, who are Dane�s and Emily�s age. She took over Dane�s Fun 1 and her husband has already been taking the boys out in it in Switzerland where she now lives (Interlaken).

I got this email from her…

Hi Eric, Kristine…

Actually I am not too sure I have been using the right email last time… on the way back from Lyon.. I have sent you guys those pics of Dane… but did not know if it had worked or not… I was also asking about the boat… and never heard back from you … might be that i did not used the right mail… anyways… a few lines to say that it worked out well with Toon ! We would like to thank you guys lots… Tom has a great fun with his boat..loves it ! He’s even able to carry it himself !!! Cool ! Enclosed are a few pics from Dane in Lyon… if you did not see the 1st mail, then, it was on the sunday night, late, around 9.00pm, nobody around, I was looking for Dimi, Tom & Maureen.. i finally found them on a rock by the water, watching really quietely Dane paddling and playing in the wave !!! That was cool to see Dane having fun with nobody looking at him you know … Oh well, some other pics are from Tom in St Pierre, you could never recognize the place though… as you can see trees & plants have grown since 1984 !!!! The river looks really cool now … kids have lots of fun there ! Tom & Felix spend a lot of time playing & learning a bit… photos on the lake are here in Interlaken a few days ago… Hope everything is going fine for you all right now, I guess you will meet with Toon soon over there, Thanks a lots once more for letting us get the boat like this !

Stay in touch, good luck for your house, have a great end of summer !

Nathalie