We parted ways this morning in Bowling Green, OH. For the record, he walked 8 miles on Monday after meeting me in the afternoon, and then 23, 20, 22, and 23 miles on each of the following days. He's a tough ol' sonofabitch!
So there's art on the sides of buildings.
Bowling Green, OH
"Vote Friday on Tuesday"?
"Vote Tuesday for Friday"?
"Vote Friday, but do it on Tuesday"?
"Take Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday out of the equation, and there's a 50% chance you'll get it right"?
A nice elderly couple let me stay in their barn last night, sheltering me from the huge thunderstorm that rolled through in the wee hours of the morning.
Or, more likely, willingness to have things painted on one's barn in exchange for money.
I can't find anything about this guy or his parkways. Any nerds out there up to the task?
The Google results are basically people asking "Does anyone remember TV Time Popcorn?" Well, do you?
Last night I was on a road with no houses anywhere in sight. It had been raining on and off all day, and there were some menacing clouds in the sky, so I ducked into an old barn I saw just off the road. The people you see pictured were out riding their four-wheelers and stopped by the barn to give me a beer. Jerry, all the way on the right, also made a financial contribution, bringing the total for this trip to over $100!
And I'm glad I finally took the time to read about them.
I ducked inside this abandoned barn yesterday evening to escape a storm, and decided to spend the night here as the rains kept on pounding until near sunset.
As soon as I crossed into Indiana, I spotted the first flowering dogwood of the trip.
Once the longest highway in the country, a title now held by US 20, which my dad and I were on just before we got to 6.
This morning a very nice postman named Todd stopped to talk, and he gave me the banana out of his lunchbox. His professional eye noticed the tip of an envelope sticking out of my shirt pocket (Mother's Day is coming up!), and he offered to mail it for me. I tried to take his picture, but my phone didn't store it. Sorry Todd!
Matthew just might be the nicest high school freshman on the planet. After Greg said I could camp out on their lawn, Matthew asked if I wanted him to go fetch my cart, which I had left down at the end of the driveway. And later, when I was setting up my tent, he came over to see if I wanted him to make me some chicken nuggets. I certainly wasn't that thoughtful when I was his age! The three of us sat and talked for a while as I was eating, and there was a wonderful positivity and peacefulness to these guys. Plus they had really good-smelling soap in the shower (I'm clean, Mom!).
A really big, burly guy and his feeble old father spend quality time together shooting baskets next to each other.
She'd also make an excellent dog boarder or bag porter.
Doris (pictured with Baxter) was standing at her mailbox when I came wheeling by. I told her I was walking to Oregon, and she told me I better come in and rest up while she made me some food. She whipped up a nice big lunch and packed me some snacks for the road. She wanted to make sure I had everything I needed; I think she would have given me anything in her entire house if she thought it would help me.
Not too far down the road, another woman came out and asked me if she could feed me a hot meal. My stomach was full and I was anxious to make some progress, so I had to tell her no thanks. I felt kind of bad about it: I could see she really wanted to help me. Who would have thought I would find too much kindness to fit in my schedule?
