MEET RICHARD

No, this picture of Mike and his boyhood friend, Richard, is not an optical illusion because Richard is closer to the camera or something. Richard really does dwarf Mike. They laughed that in high school they were basically the same size. But Richard is one of those guys who grew tall and filled out after high school, and Mike – well, it didn't happen for Mike. Anyway, some of you have wondered for awhile about this Richard, so here he is.

Richard is retired and now lives in his hometown, Moss Point, MS. Well-versed on Moss Point history, including the "who's who" of then and now, he was an excellent tour guide for us. I don't know whether we spent two mornings with him or he with us. He was tolerant of Mike's geocaching and we made our way to some interesting spots – driving, walking, and talking. I could say Mike is obsessed with geocaching, but he also just can't sit still. He wants to be doing as he visits and I think Richard probably understands that. These are guys that grew up together.

So I'll give you a pictorial overview of some places we went with Richard. Here's the original Boy Scout Troop 220 hut, one of our first stops. It's located on private property behind this house, still boarded up since Hurricane Katrina. It might look okay but it has sustained enough damage that its owners can't afford to fix it – not a unique situation, we learned.

And here we are at the largest tree in town, though Richard did say there are others that rival it in size. When the guys were young, this area was dense woods, they explained. The tree is now in the front yard of a house. Wanting more info, Mike marched to the door and knocked. The homeowner, who happened to be the son of one of the original developers, was happy to discuss trees, etc., for the next 20 minutes. Richard and I stayed at the car and he told me about his daughter and her family.

This photo was taken at the Scout reunion the evening of Thursday, July 23. Richard is talking with Mrs. Wilkes, the troop leader's wife (and the only other woman there).

Friday morning Mike wanted to geocache some more, so we called Richard and invited him along. He readily agreed and showed up on 15 minutes notice. We were amused when we came upon the place pictured here, and since it is for sale and no one was around, I felt free to take pictures unabashedly.

Friday evening we attended the reunion of Mike and Richard's graduating class, the class of 1959. Then we said good-bye to Richard since we would leave the next day for Memphis. KW