Joog and Joogina, the Spargurs, arrived in Winnipeg via train from Churchill in the far northern regions of Okar. To impress the two passengers from Dayton, Ohio, the "Bullet Express," from Churchill to Winnipeg via Pukatawagan, set amazing speed records and made the trip in record time -- only three hours late! 

To celebrate we went immediately to Chinatown where Ginnie gave us all a lesson in chopstick technique. After a week of surviving on Beluga whale blubber in Churchill they were ready to tackle everything on the Dim Sum cart: chicken feet, shark fin soup, pork and shrimp dumplings, jelly fish, squid noodles, hundred-year-old eggs and sticky rice in lotus leaves. Joog's knowledge of Asian culinary oddities was impressive -- he didn't even attempt to eat the lotus leaf wrapping on the sticky rice packets. The only disappointment was that there was no southern-style pork brains a la the Clarksville ECOF adventure of a few summers ago. Before we left the table Ginnie demonstrated a another very practical use for chopsticks by showing how they could be used for after-dinner tooth brightening (see photo above)

First on the agenda was the mandatory ERB book crawl. The most successful stop on this literary safari was at the exclusive, appointment-only Greenfield Books. Dick had made numerous cyber purchases through this store's Website over the years and was looking forward to perusing their wares "in the flesh." Joog used his height to great advantage as he was able to peer into ceiling level shelves inaccessible to most customers, where he discovered a few rare dust-covered volumes -- lonely tomes that begged for a new home in the land to the south. We left Dick and Ginnie to explore downtown Winnipeg, while we attended son Ja-On's graduation from the Wellington College massage therapy program.

By the time we rejoined the southern giant and his princess a few hours later they were lounging contentedly in easy chairs in the McNally-Robinson Bookstore coffee shop, poring over an imported copy of USA Today.  Having been isolated in the north for a week they were desperate for news from their homeland.  By now we were ready for more sustenance but not before we strolled through one of the artsy districts of the city. We were headed for a Greek restaurant when we were sidetracked by a "retro-candy" store. By the time we entered the restaurant we were weighted down with bags of Cracker Jack, Pink Elephant and Big Top Popcorn, licorice cigars and pipes, Thrills (chiclet style gum with a soap taste), Pop Rocks (exploding candy nuggets), jelly babies, chocolate coated ants and coffee beans, coke in chewable wax bottles and a variety of novelty items, normally found only in the ad pages of old comic books. A two-and-a-half hour journey to the west on the Trans Canada highway brought us home before dark -- about 10 o'clock -- summer days are long in Okar. 

After a warm, slobbery greeting by China-Li's giant four-legged white calot, Atticus, our guests were given a quick tour of the OkaR 'n' R digs and wearily retired to the guest room.  We offered to customize the oak bed by cutting out leg room but our visitors graciously declined, saying they would manage somehow by dangling their feet over the foot board. They seemed to feel right at home among the Tarzan posters, stuffed mangani, and other jungle artifacts that decorated the room. We are especially proud of the hand-made jungle quilts that our friends Billy and Bonnie York presented to us at a Tarzana gathering a few years ago. The quilts are the envy of our friends and a topic of discussion among visitors to our lair.
 

 
We spent Friday morning helping a service man install another satellite dish antennae to give us a few more channels at the computer desk in our ERBzine office. Then, after an exhausting, in-depth tour around the city of Brandon (20 minutes), we headed north on a wildlife photo safari to Riding Mountain National Park. The Spargurs got some good shots of bears and bison roaming the wild and along the highway, as well as in penned areas. The hunt was successful. We had barbequed bison steak for supper.

PIPER'S FAREWELL CEREMONY

On Saturday morning, before our departure for Winnipeg, our friend Don Roy -- a military piper, and China-Li's bagpipe instructor -- regaled our friends (and neighbours) with a special concert of Scottish melodies in our Amtorian Garden. China-Li did a few Highland Dance steps while Atticus wailed along mournfully with the pipes. After a short jam session we embarked on a journey that would eventually take Joog and his Princess to a southern-bound flier... but not before a day of exciting and often danger fraught visits to treacherous Okarian palaces, dense Manator-ban jungles and lavish tribal feasts.

 

A few hours later, Joog and his Princess winged safely back to the land of O-Hi-O. 
Their daring adventures and exploits across perilous Okar 
will be recounted and remembered for many years by their northern friends.

Upon our return home we happened to glance into the now-empty guest room. 
On the bed ~ framed by our York jungle quilt ~ was one of the rarest of Tarzan items.
Tarzan On Mars ~ a pastiche by John Bloodstone, 
personally handbound by Richard Spargur.
We had admired this very limited edition 
when it sold for over $300 at the Louisville Dum-Dum 03 auction.
Thanks Joog.

The expanded photo record of this visit is located at:
ERBzine 1167a