I dare you . . .

Leo Johnson was more than gracious when I phoned and inquired about doing a news story on him. His neighbor had stopped by the Reporter office and tipped us off about his road trip. It really is quite an amazing story she said of the 88-year-old Johnson who had just returned home after six weeks on the road.

Leo apologized for the mess when I walked through his front door. In the middle of the living room was a piano. “Do you know anyone interested in a piano?” he asked. “Rose always liked to play it.” Propped on a nearby over-stuffed chair was the collection of pictures (still mounted on poster board) that highlighted their life together. His wife Rose had passed away in February and Leo knew the time had come to begin sorting through her items, a difficult task he had put on hold.

We sat down at the kitchen table where remnants of mail held over by the post office were stacked. Greeting him when he returned home was a $136 ticket for a moving violation. Apparently Leo had unknowingly gone through a stop sign in Seattle, Wash. and his car was captured on camera. The enclosed picture was evidence.

Seattle would turn out to be his nemesis.

Leo told me he just couldn’t sit around the house any longer. He was feeling so sad after Rose died and had his fill of old western movies.

“I was reading a book given to me by a friend, I Dare You. Reading it got me thinking, I dare you to . . . 

Read more in the Aug. 2, 2017 issue of The Ogden Reporter