The Cowboy Museum received over 300 visitors during the Annual Chocolate Festival which was held May 16&17. With searing temperatures above the 100 mark, it was indeed the coolest place to be at the festival. Our guest book indicated that most of the guests came from within Stanislaus County, several from San Joaquin County and also some from Fresno County too. We were also lucky to visit with tourists from Italy and England that were making their way up to Yosemite and stopped to see what all the excitement was about.
However, one of the most interesting visits we shared was on Monday morning following the Chocolate Festival. Museum Assistant Karen Serpa, was opening for business when she greeted a gentleman named Willem Kalkman from Papa Aroha, Coromandel New Zealand. Being a fan of cowboys while growing up, he decided to stop by and learn about Oakdale’s cowboy history. He shared with Karen that he was on a bicycle trip to raise money and awareness towards the building of a Health Clinic in the rural community where he is from which is in the Northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula. Kalkman indicated there are only about 3500 people in an 80 x 15 mile length.
Kalkman started his journey in San Francisco on May 13 and plans to finish in Washington DC on August 9th. While he had planned to camp during his journey the record heat found him looking for an air conditioned hotel room for refuge once he arrived in Oakdale. If you would like to follow Mr. Kalkman’s journey, or donate to his cause, you can log on to
www.fundraiseronline.co.nz/bikeusa.
Thank you, Mr. Kalkman for stopping by the Cowboy Museum and sharing your journey with us.
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