During the year after Denvy's graduation from JC, he attended the University of Wyoming. During the same time Gary, Denvy's roommate, was developing a continually more serious relationship with Denvy's sister, Avis. Avis was in Minneapolis at that time for some nursing training and Gary decided to drive from Laramie, Wyoming to Minneapolis during a break. He invited his friends, Howie and Denvy to ride along.
     Since Howie and Denvy didn't have anything in particular to do for several days, and there was a house full of junior nurses, Denvy and Howie invited a different pair of girls out each night. Then, bingo, surprise, Gail and her friend, Bonnie, showed up, during their break to preview what they would be doing the next year during their junior year. It was a great opportunity for a date and the four went to a movie. It wasn't a great movie but it was a movie about Alaska and in particular about the glacier calving during the Lake George breakout. And so it was.

A Long Boring Glacier Tour
     No one was ever very exicted about living in a 8 by 12-foor A-frame with two bunks on a glacier for eleven days with glaciologist Larry Mayo. In the evening while Larry poured over numbers of snow depths and daily temperatures, Denvy wrote a letter. With no daily postal service, Denvy chose to continue to write one very long letter to one person. For some reason the letter recipient was Gail. Daily activites were mundane and routine and so the letter contained more personal feelings and philosophies than descriptions of daily treks. Gail replied to this boring letter which started a series of exchanges of letters in the fall of '68.
     In December Denvy's sister, Ruth married Tom. So Denvy flew to North Dakota for Christmas, borrowed his parent's car and drove to see Gail for Christmas eve and back to Hebron for Christmas day. The wedding went well and the next day Denvy and Gail announced that they planned to get married.

Spring Break and a Ring
     Fate had it that Gail's spring break and Denvy's in-service training in San Francisco came on the same week. Denvy flew in first in the middle of the night, rented a car and while waiting drove around and was stopped by the police who were curious why I was out at that time of the morning, but were very pleasant when Denvy explained the situation. Gail arrived just after sunrise.
     They drove to an overlook of the Golden Gate Bridge, and Denvy presented Gail with an engagement ring. The marquise diamond was mounted on a ring encased with Alaskan gold nuggets. Former president Eisenhower died that weekend so Denvy didn't have to work Monday, and they drove to Monterey to explore their first look at California.

Days before the Wedding
     Being much too practical, Denvy decided that when he came to North Dakota from Alaska, we would buy some riverboats in Arkansas and haul them to Alaska for resale. Ruth and Tom who were also graduating from college that May, decided to move to Alaska and travel with Gail and Denvy. So two pickups were purchased, two trailers were built and a side trip to Arkansas to buy 18 riverboats and four canoes was made in the week before the wedding. Shells for the backs of the pickups were built as well as an insolated box with dry ice and a side of beef. Gail's personal items were loaded and the caravan was ready for the wedding day: June 21.
     Gail on the other hand, had her hands full graduating from college, studying for and taking her nursing exams, packing for her move to Alaska and planning a wedding.

There's More to the First Dance Date
     After Gail read the first entry in this website, she narrated "The Rest of the Story." After the dance, Denvy and Gail dressed down to some recreation clothes and canoed up the James River where Denvy have arranged a post-midnight picnic.