I am doing this part of my trip diary as a tribute to a wonderful friend ...... 
Someone who lived life to the max and shared himself and his knowledge of birds with people all over the place. He was one of the kindest and most generous people I have ever met, he gave so freely of himself.

From Atlanta , Georgia , Barbie and I hired a car and drove up to Ken's place in Otisco Indiana. 
We had 3 great days there visiting with Ken and Randy ..  We Also got to meet Connie as she is in Cincinnati and drove down for the dinner Ken's mom had arranged for us.
This turned into a birthday celebration as I had been able to coincide the dates to include both Ken's and Barbie's birthdays.

I got to know Ken in early 1998 when he became a regular chatter on NCS real time chat. Our friendship grew into a strong bond from here. 
Ken was diagnosed with cancer around the middle of 1998 (I'm terrible with dates so this may not be 100% accurate)  He had surgery and then went onto chemotherapy . After the first lot of chemo , they discovered the cancer somewhere else and the chemo started all over again . 
Ken Always had the most positive and bright outlook on life and that is what kept him going during the bad times and there were a lot of those for him. 

I loved Ken very much and will always be grateful that we got to meet and spend some time together before he passed away on the 13th June 1999 less than 2 months after my visit.