Sun Feb 22... Back from the Villa Vosilla and feelin’ Good!!!

We just returned from an evening outing with Vick’s parents and her brother, sister-in-law and their two kids, Katie and Kenny. We all met at six o’clock at the Villa Vosilla for dinner and to listen to Joe (Vick’s Dad) perform for the dinner crowd. After a delicious meal and hearing a lot of really great entertainment, we bid them farewell and headed for home. On the way down the mountain, we saw a backpack laying in a parking area on the side of the road……… and after a short discussion with Vick, I turned around and went back and picked up the backpack. I figured that someone would be really upset that they left it setting along the road, but I never expected it to contain what it did. There was probably two thousand dollars worth of ice/mountain climbing equipment, such as ropes, Screw-Lok Locking Carabiners, Tactical Doval - Wire Gates, a Guide Belay Device, a Petzl Microacender, Quicksilver Quickdraw peg rings and many, many, pegs, belts, water bottles and clothing. On the outside of the backpack, there were two Petzl Nomic Ice Tools which are worth approximately three hundred dollars each and several pairs of ice climbing cleats. We went through it all, looking for a name or address or something to be able to contact the owner of the bag, knowing they were probably out of their mind with worry that they would never see this equipment again. We emptied the backpack looking, but found nothing useful. We were now becoming less and less convinced we would be able to find the rightful owner. I told Vicki we would have to try something else, but giving it to anyone except the person who could tell us where it was left and what was in the bag, was out of the question, because of the value of the things in it. They were items highly sought after on eBay and you could easily move everything for a good thousand dollars…… and quick too. I would never trust a cop in this area… not in a million years. They would take it and when no one asked for or reported it missing, they would keep it and sell it. Anyway, we were now looking in every little nook and cranny and finally, in a zippered little pouch in the shoulder strap, we found a bunch of receipts. After going through them, we found a cell phone number in Utah and called it. The guy who answered knew the fellow that owned the bag and gave us his cell phone number and his girlfriends cell phone number. We didn’t get an answer on his, but did on his girlfriends cell phone and Vicki said we had her boyfriends backpack. She was overjoyed and she was with him! They were looking for the bag because some of it was rented and the rest was his, and they had to get the stuff back to the rental place tonight. They immediately came to the house to pick it up and we chatted with the three young people for a good half hour before they took the equipment and left for the rental place. After that, they were driving back down to the city. Some days just turn out good for people and sometimes not. These three young folks were pretty lucky today, but not as lucky as they could have been, because the owner who lost the backpack, also lost his wallet with all his cards and money, up there, somewhere on the mountain, today too. Now ain’t that a bummer on top of what he has already gone through!!!



This is but a small sample of what this backpack held. The owner estimated the contents at over two thousand dollars. I'm glad we picked it up and could find the owner. I think the owner did too!!!