Meeting folks from another country just strolling through the downtown of your community is always a moment in time.

Simon Latham had brought his family from Northern England to vacation in Yosemite National Park. when they stopped in Ripon last week.  They were just standing on the corner eyeing the rest of the downtown when I asked if I could help them find something.  That’s when they told me that they had just come from San Francisco and were driving eastward to see Half Dome and other Yosemite wonders.

Olivia, 16,  had her Nikon SLR and was obviously the historian of the trip as her younger brother Theo was tagging along. Both were very polite and energetic youth their parents could be proud.

Dad Simon is an IT specialist in England and Mom Julie works in an optometry office at home. They seemed charmed with the small town atmosphere where they had taken a chance stop off of Highway 99 to visit Ripon.  It was a natural choice to stop for lunch at Laurel’s Vintage Café at the main intersection at the corner of Stockton Avenue and Main Street.

To their surprise they found their credit card didn’t work. One of the locals, though, was so impressed with the family that he paid for their lunch.  The dad said this is so different from home where in some cities a person has to keep their wallet in their front pocket and hold on to it with their right hand.   Ripon admittedly was a good stop for them coming through California.

Goofs grab my attention

Two things that got my attention Wednesday morning were “goofs” I didn’t expect to find as I went to work.  The first involved the opening of the Hi-Five Nutrition shop in the Manteca Marketplace Shopping Center.

The second event of sorts was driving down South Main Street with my periphery vision picking up the stainless steel reflection of engine parts on two Manteca police motorcycles.  Officers had radar units in hand.  Whoops!  My focus went right to my speedometer which was at 42.  Not quite fast enough to draw their attention, I guess, or just maybe my calibration was wrong?

The owner’s name of Hi-Five Nutrition was confused with a peer in the nutrition business on North Main Street and it should have read “Leesa Vargas” who was pictured standing next to her circular sign in front of what was once the Rooster Juice shop next to the Big Lots store on West Yosemite Avenue.  Some wise individual once told me years ago that “haste makes waste,”  and this was certainly at least one of those times for me.

Hopefully the graduates from Nile Garden School and Manteca High School who were with her in class years ago recognized her by her first name and picture – a lovely person by any name who displays a passion for helping people to lose weight and develop a healthier life style.

I can’t wait to drop by for her special shakes that are said to reduce your hunger pangs and help you lose the beer belly that age sometimes accentuates.  It was just a couple of months ago that a 5-year-old grandson made a “point” about my abdomen.  I was sitting alone in the living room and he quietly walked up to me.  Standing quietly for a few seconds and looking at my waist and pointing at my stomach said, “Grandpa, is there a baby in there?”

So I am looking for anything that will help – in addition to exercise – but his comment has stuck with me and Hi-Five Nutrition might be just the answer with some very nice people behind the counter with choices of drinks that contain 21 different vitamins all in a three step process in over 40 different flavors in a whole meal replacement.  Favorites are the Vanilla and Peanut Butter and the French Toast Smoothie.

Following up on the motor officers I soon found them in the center divider turn lane behind a black pickup truck.  The motorist had apparently stalled out and couldn’t get it started again.  After talking to him, one officer stopped southbound traffic and then both pushed the truck across the halted oncoming flow and onto the side street.  All was well as they had unexpectedly done a fine public relations effort with helping the driver out of that major arterial.

Later in the day – in the early evening – I got to meet some neat people from Crossroads Church who were volunteering their time to remodel and furnish several bedrooms in the Raymus House for those less fortunate.  The church team could have been home having dinner or watching a ball game on TV but instead they were giving of themselves for homeless moms and their children.



To Contact Glenn Kahl email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3539.