Kimmo and his family have received tourists here in Ojanperä long time before Mummola Travels. Here are Kimmo’s Sunday morning memoirs as we browsed through an old photo album.
The two German men had cycled from Rovaniemi and were on their way North. They had spent the previous night in a tent and asked the village grocery store about a place to stay and they had been directed to Ojanperä. And yes, there was room for them to stay at Mummi's Guesthouse.
Kurt, the older of the men had been a translator, so he spoke good English. He had also served in Rommel’s Desert Foxes during World War II.
Kurt visited later with car several times and sent Christmas cards to Kimmo’s Grandmother for many years!
On a bike ride in Lapland near Kurtakko, Kurt had a cold and a needed for a place to stay. He had found a courtyard sauna that he had heated and spent the night there. He had left a letter to the owner of the house telling him who he was and how he had acted.
A man from Kurtakko (according to Kimmo's memory, perhaps a pastor) had been in contact with Kurt later and they had become friends. Later, he had also acted as a support and always provided Kurt with a bicycle ready for trips, so that he didn’t have to transport the bike separately from Germany.
Do you have more information about the story? Who is this man from Kurtakko and the owner of the sauna? Or maybe the next generation tourism companies already operate in Kurtakko or somewhere around Ylläs, as we here in Kaukonen now.
