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The blind date at Second Cup (d)evolved into an epic adventure for five unwitting souls. Gower and Marilyn set off in Gower’s Jeep to take photographs of Newfoundland scenery. Flatrock was too icy this early April day so Gower instead drove them down a very snow covered trail to Biscayne Cove. The sun was shining. Photographs were taken. Gower and Marilyn’s return to St. John’s stopped half way up the first hill. The Jeep lost traction and the tires buried themselves in 8” of snow. Ever resourceful and prepared, Gower declared he had a shovel and an axe to cut down pine tree branches to provide traction. He returned with a tiny hatchet and a windshield washer bottle for a shovel! Two hours of shoveling, repositioning branches and spinning tires, Gower and Marilyn realized they needed help. Biscayne Cove has no cell service so they began walking a mere 5km to Pouch Cove. Gower and Marilyn weren’t planning on hiking that day so both were wearing sneakers walking through the wet 8” snow. Part way to Pouch Cove, Marilyn got cell service and called one of Gower’s friends saying, “Hi Jerry, you’ve never met me before but I’m stuck down a 5km trail with your friend Gower. Can you bring 100 ft of rope and come rescue us?” Jerry and Steve met Gower and Marilyn in Pouch Cove with too little rope so the four of them set off for Kelly’s house. Kelly joined the rescue party and got rope from a relative. The party were forced to walk carrying shovels and rope once the truck became encumbered in the snow 1.5km down the trail. At the Jeep, the men pushed and pulled the Jeep up the hill to safety. The two-door Jeep was only large enough for Gower, Marilyn and the shovels inside so one held the spare tire, while the others grabbed the roll bar while standing on the running boards while Gower floored it down the trail to safety. Marilyn and Gower never stopped laughing at the ridiculousness of the day. Would things have turned out differently if Gower had shovel and a winch?...

Gower had a plan. He was going to propose in the Canadian Pacific Railway dining car restaurant at the Aspen Crossing, Mossleigh, Alberta. A little over one year earlier, he had sat across from Marilyn and contemplated marrying her. Try as he might, he couldn’t convince Marilyn to drive from Brooks to Mossleigh to see more trains. She had more important things to do with her vacation. She instead gave him an opportunity. On a hike through Red Rock Coulee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rock_Coulee), Marilyn saw two ironstone concretions (boulders for non-geologists) laying side-by-side touching each other. It reminded her of the stuffed animals available at Valentine’s Day that touch noses and make a kissing sound. “Look over there, those are the kissing concretions,” she shouted to Gower. This was the moment Gower had been waiting for… well not the moment… but a moment and how can you pass up such a romantic opening as that? Gower went to get down on one knee to propose while standing on another large concretion. Gower, in a characteristic state of disarray, nearly fell from the rock while getting down and then nearly dropped the ring down a six foot crack in the rock while removing it from his wallet. While not a fairly tale proposal, Marilyn obviously said yes. Marilyn had the ring on her finger and beamed at her soon-to-be husband. The picture of Gower and Marilyn sitting on one of those two kissing concretions was taken just minutes after their engagement.