Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo

So, returning back to places that I know has proved much more busy than projected.

I am back in the Bay Area right now with my parents. It's good to be back here and to see them. I also put my clothes in a dresser for the first time since I left for Northern Ireland back in late July! Been living out of a bag ever since. Sorry that there has been so much space in between blogs. Not only has these last couple weeks been full of activity, but it takes quite a bit of effort to sit down and write these stories. They're almost intimidating for me. However, I do need to get all these down. As time goes on, so go the details of events and happenings so without further ado, let's pick up where we left off... (Oh, by the way, I have adopted the habit of listening to my "Explosions in the Sky" Pandora Radio station while I write. Thanks Jeremy Stringer.)

The sun went down on my writing when we were falling asleep in Blasdell, NY. Kevin and I had found a place to camp sheltered from the near by houses and interstate by trees and shrubs. The plan for the next morning was to walk a mile to a laundromat. (I find it funny that "laundromat" is actually the correct spelling. Really Webster? "Laundromat"?)

The knee high grass was soaked in morning dew and after breakfast we trudged through it to the open road. I knew that doing our laundry would take a while, but I was looking forward to being able to sit inside for a good length of time. With any luck there would be power outlets and even a bathroom!

We walked through the door at about 9:30 and was greeted by the friendly attendant. She was a younger women with shorter dark hair and good smile. I asked for some advice as to what machine to use for the amount of laundry that we had. We started loading up the 45 pound capacity machine and the attendant came over and gave us some detergent, stain remover, softener and some dryer sheets. She could tell we had been on the road for a while and could use the help. It was a welcomed blessing. I pressed start and waited for the troubles of the last few days to be washed away.

I plugged my phone in and began to journal. I had to record these stories. After a fair amount of time, I utilized the bathroom. Trimmed up my now undesirably visible beard and brushed my teeth over running water! I also took the opportunity to wash my hair. I felt a little odd doing this, but I suppressed the notion that I was better than that, humbled myself and got cleaned up a bit. At another point I took the opportunity to wash my dishes.

We were at the laundromat for close to 3 hours. The attendant eventually went home, but before she did, she took time to tell us about and show us where some shelters were in the area and where we could find food banks. She gave us at least two boxes worth of Chewy granola bars and offered us some baby food that she had found in her car. I took a jar, but never had to eat it. She was very helpful and didn't mind at all that we had more or less posted up in her work place.

We switched the clothes to the dryer and started another dryer for our sleeping bags and shoes, which were soaked. So far that day it had been nice, but I could see on the news on the TV that more rain was coming our way. It took almost another hour for our stuff to be completely dried, but we eventually got on our way. Our goal for where to hitch from was an on ramp about two and half miles from where we were currently. Almost an hour's walk.

On our walks like this I would get to know Kevin a bit more. Without disrespecting his privacy I'll just tell you that I had begun to trust him much more and we had a few good laughs together. It was nice to have someone along for this part of the trek. He kept me going. This stretch of New York was depressing. I literally felt at times that like I was being pressed down to the earth. I would "joke" about flying home from Buffalo, but he would encourage me to keep going. We had only done about 50 miles since reaching New York and that was four days ago! UGH! It was good to have someone to help me keep my sanity, but I started to wonder if trying to hitch with two people had effected progress so dramatically. Either way, we had to keep walking, I couldn't just walk away from him, we were going the same direction! Plus, he was good to have around.

We reached our intersection of 90 and Ridge Rd., which is more or less in between towns and set up shop. I wrote "East!" on my sign and an hour went by. I had developed a rule that if an hour passed I would change my sign. So, I wrote, "Buffalo". Another hour. Out of frustration and debate with Kevin I wrote "AIRPORT". Not 15 minutes passed before Bill picked us up. He was driving a new black and red Dodge Charger. We crammed our stuff in back and were on our way. He was going to the airport and due to lack of understanding and communication he dropped us off where the 33 comes out of 90. It would have been perfect for him to have driven us right up next to the airport, but I was thankful for the ride anyway. It was a short ride, maybe 10 miles and then Kevin and I had to walk up the off ramp that Bill took to get to the airport and a half hour later found ourselves walking on the sidewalk across the street from Buffalo Airport.

We kept on walking and I was able to locate a potential campsite. We had walked almost as much as we had gotten a ride for that day, but eventually found a place about a mile east of the airport to set up camp. It was about 5 o'clock at this point so just enough time to set up, cook dinner and get some writing in. It was a small patch of woods that had yet to be developed where Kevin found some low horizontal branches to drape his tarp over. I found a good spot for my tent about 50 yards away. I tried to light a fire, but everything was still too wet from the storm that had just blown through. We could still hear the humming traffic.

Slowly but [kind of] Surely...

Hello there! I'm back to writing again, hopefully I will get the rest of the story down by the end of the week! Writing these stories isn't easy for me to do, I like to put a lot of thought and care into them, I want to try and bring you into the story with me. I do my best to make it less a listing of chronological events and show you more of what I was feeling and especially highlighting the people I met. If you haven't had a chance to read the post below, I encourage you to do so, otherwise, some things won't make much sense.

Kevin and I were out on front of that auto body shop for maybe 20 minutes. He had no phone, so I let him call his girl out in Boston to check in. He'd done this a couple times before and just like this time, had to leave a message. He would justify it with explaining her unpredictable work schedule, but I have to admit, having just met Kevin, at times I questioned what was really going on. Should I, could I believe his story? He seemed like a nice guy who had just had some rough times, but I learned that the road is a home to variables. I have always tried to think the best of people and trust them at their word, but I couldn't help but question.

Dan pulled up eventually and could take us to Irving, about a 20 minutes drive. He was a younger guy, went out to get some meat to barbeque that night. Looked delicious. He was very interested in what we were doing. Jealous, even. Kevin told his story and then it was my turn. One of the first things people want to know about a traveler is where did you start and where are you going. I loved it when they asked that. I loved seeing and hearing their reactions when I would tell them I started in Portland, Oregon and I'm going to Portland, Maine. Dropped jaws. Wide eyes. Blank stares. You name it, I got it. Dan's reaction though, was different, in a good way, a really good way.

I was in the back seat of his huge, white Cadillac and when I told him where I came from and where I was going, he whipped around and said, “We're going to Vermont on Sunday.” I was stunned. This could be my ticket out of here! Out of New York! I started to think that we would just spend the next four days hanging out with Dan and his friends and then leave for Vermont of Sunday! We could have good barbequed ribs and whatever else. I would be fine with camping out in his backyard, at least I would be protected from the road. Then he said that if we were on the way for them, he would stop and pick us up. Still good, but no BBQ and hot showers. Before we got out of the car I gave him my phone number and made sure how incredible it would be if he called me on Sunday and was able to take us to VT. It really seemed like he was planning on it. He left us recharged and hopeful.

We took a minute to gather our things and thoughts and then began to make our way out to the road. We were going to scout out a spot to set up shop. As were made our way to the sidewalk, thumbs in pockets (metaphorically speaking, of course) we watched a 1990's, white Jeep Cherokee pull to the shoulder. We'd both seen this before. Most of the time it was someone on their cell phone or someone looking at a map. We joked about how cool it would be if this guy pulled over for us, but knew that he would be confusedly looking at his cell phone as we walked by. I barely made the effort to even look in and make eye contact, but before I could, that glorious action of a window being rolled down took place.

His name was Tom and he had seen us get out of Dan's car from the shop across the street. Once he realized we were going his way, he decided to give us a lift before we even asked! Tom was an upbeat kind of guy. Loved to talk and warned us about a little town near where he would drop us called, Blasdell. He said he has this old timer friend who hitchhikes just about everywhere. Tom told us that there only three patrol cars in that town, but they're all little John Waynes. He said if we tried to hitch onto the toll way out of there, we'd get picked up, by the cops.

Tom dropped us off northeast of Hamburg which is south of Blasdell. He was going on up to Lackawanna and I wish he would have taken us up there, it was only about another six miles up the road, but that evening and the next morning, we ended up walking those six miles in order to reach a good campsite and then an onramp to hitchhike off of. But that's ok, when you're new in town, I've learned to trust a local.

We posted up on US 20 trying to head towards Buffalo, but not too close. Even when I have my own car, cities freak me out, but we decided that trying to get a ride onto the toll way was probably our best option. We weighed out the amount of traffic to what kind of rides we would get. We new that hitching on a onramp would decrease the amount of cars driving by going in our direction, but unlike US 20, they would be more likely to be longer rides; not town to town, but city to city. We thought it feasible to hop from Buffalo to Rochester to Syracuse and then maybe all the way to Albany. The only challenge was making it to an onramp. Six miles in a car is nothing. But when you're walking with a 70 pound pack in new territory, I think we averaged, with breaks, about 1.5 to 2 miles per hour.

While we were still at an intersection trying to get a ride, an old man in a power scooter rolled up. I knew this was going to be good. He wasn't very nice, fairly bitter, but he told us that we won't get any rides where we were. The people around there were yuppy and above helping out. Simply judging by the kind of cars driving by, I could see where he was coming from. He said he hitchhikes all the time (I think he may has lost concept of time), but nonetheless, he told us to walk up and find an on ramp. He confirmed what we were both thinking and we picked up and started waling. It was getting later in the afternoon and trying to get anywhere to hitch now before dark was irrational, but on my phone I had spotted a possible campsite about 3 miles away.

It was on walks like these that Kevin and I really would get a chance to talk about life and everything that circumferences it. I learned that he grew up near the Twin Cities, MN mostly with his brother and his mother. I could tell that he had been wounded as a child. Like so many people out there, Kevin's father had been absent for most of his life. Until recently (which was minimal), he hadn't heard from his dad since he was 13. He's 30 now. He had a basis of faith and knows who Jesus is and what it means to be saved. His language and stories were misleading at first, but the more I got to know Kevin, it became clear to me that he is a believer. The life he leads makes it difficult to live what would be noted as the “normal Christian life”, but he'll be honest and say that Jesus is his hope and couldn't make it without him.

About three and half miles into our hike, we found ourselves in Consumersville, Blasdell, New York. We were walking past restaurants, a Best Buy, a movie theater and you get the picture. We stuck out like a sore thumb. There were no sidewalks so we had to weave our way through parking pots to avoid traffic. My phone was running low on power so I had my eyes peeled for any outlets on the outside of buildings.

We could have gone to a Starbucks, but that would have cost close to ten bucks plus I don't go to Starbucks. We were coming to the end of this buzzing metropolis when we happened upon the back side of a travel agency. There, midway up the wall, was an outlet! I told Kevin we were gunna have to hang out here for a wee while to let my phone charge up. I whipped out my handy dandy backpacking chair and let me phone juice up. It was raining. I guess you could have just assumed that by now, but Kevin took advantage of it and positioned his water bottles under a drain pipe to collect water for that night and the next day. I was all filled up. We knew that maybe this wasn't “ok” to be doing, but until somebody asked us to leave, we were chillin. We even had a cop car swing by, see us, but not stop. The time was creeping to six o'clock and my phone had reached a safe 60% of battery. Dark would be upon us in about an hour so we packed up and finished our walk for that day.

The snapshot you see here is our walk from the travel agency to where we camped that night. The area west of the “B” is where we eventually settled for the night. It was an interesting location because we knew we were surrounded by houses and roads, but once we got back there, all that slipped away. Except for the noise.

The space had been left undeveloped because it was already home to huge power lines and poles. The poles were in rows, sets of probably ten supporting lines that were stretching to who knows where. We went as far away from the access roads as we could and we made a lean-to in between to poles with Kevin's tarp. We used the rope Harley had given us and staked down the low side using the back side of my tent. Much better setup than the night prior. I cooked us up some tasty quinoa and eventually fell asleep. I had located a laundry mat just down the road we decided would be our first stop of the day. Getting clean and dry were priorities at this point. It would be off to Buffalo after that!

That's all for now! Stay tuned for stories of Buffalo Airport, a frat house at Syracuse and of course the finale: PORTLAND MAINE!

Thank for taking the time to read!

Town to Town

Disclaimer – most of this was written yesterday and finished and edited today, Sunday. I have a lot more to tell and so I think for my sake and yours, I'm going to write as much as I can in one sitting, but then post it. This will lead to shorter posts, but more often. I'm “long-winded” when I write because I hope to express more than the play by play of this trek. I am in Portland, OR for the rest of the week plus some and will have time to write, so keep your eye out for new posts even every day!

Enjoy this one!

Well, I made it back to the west coast! Back in Portland Oregon to be exact. Today is Saturday, October sixteenth in the year Two Thousand Ten; seven weeks to the day from when I left this city. I'm sitting in the Peet's (of course) on Hawthorne Blvd. watching all the interesting people walk, ride, roll and drive by. This place has a lot of character and it makes for a very beautiful moving montage.

I left you, hopefully, suspended in New York. The rain was washing the streets away, the cold was sinking to our bones and the cops were hunting us down. There's room for slight embellishment in writing, right? I think so.

Kevin and I had been jolted into an adrenaline filled escape with very few places to go. When I stopped writing last, Kevin and I were all but strapped to the backside of an abandoned auto body shop while the Sheriff's Mag-light was illuminating the bush in search for any sign of two delinquent transients. We weren't breathing. Survival mode kicked in. My heart felt like it was doubling in size with every beat, but outside that, the ability to move had leaked out of me.

In that moment and that moment only, I was glad for the rain. I think it discouraged the Sheriff to conduct a thorough search and less than 30 seconds later, his flashlight turned off, we heard the door close back up and his headlights streak across the bushes suggesting he had pulled away.

Oxogen found its way back to my brain and Kevin went to light up. I stopped him. I was so freaked out I asked him not to. I was genuinely afraid someone would smell the smoke and we would be found. He refrained. We stayed put for at least another 5 minutes just to erase any possibility the Sheriff was still there. Kevin crept around the corner to see if the coast was clear. It was and we continued north on route 5 in the dark, in the rain; fugitives. (Fugitives may be a strong word, but it sure felt like we were!)

Kevin had been traveling quite differently than I. He was less on an adventure and more on a trek to his girl. He was traveling any way he could. Thumbing it, walking, a bus here and there. He had lost his cell phone and ID when he was in Seattle so even when he had money he couldn't get a bus ticket without an ID. He was a true transient, he stayed in shelters when he had to and when it was possible to camp, he would figure out some way to create shelter with his 10x12 brown tarp. His first choice, though, would be a bridge.

With my trusty iPhone I located a bridge about 6 miles up the road near the next town. That was our goal for the night. My pack most of the time weighed around 70 pounds depending how much water I was currently carrying and I knew six miles was going to be tough, but maybe doable. The rain had let up a wee bit, but everything was still wet. We took brakes about every half hour trying to pace ourselves. Around mile 3 I was done. I didn't need a bridge, I was equipped to camp just about anywhere, at any time. I also knew that we would be able to figure something out to keep Kevin sheltered. There was a pause in the rain and some woods across the road. I talked Kevin into at least checking it out.

It was pretty thick wood, much brush; wet brush; waist-high wet weeds. Finding a open enough spot to pitch was a challenge considering the darkness, but with my head lamp or gofer-light as some call it, I was able find a workable location. We had to clear some fallen branches and relocate some hanging vines, but within 20 minutes I was setting up my tent.

When we were back in that motel, I had taken some time to set some things out to dry. This included my rope that I've had since I don't know when. I had draped it over the old TV in the lobby multiple times hoping it would dry out by morning. I bet it's dry, but I'll never know for sure; it's still there. Unless that grumpy old man took it, he probably did and now I can charge him with thievery! HaHA! I'll deal with that later, the point is, that rope would have been really handy to have while we were setting up camp that night, but Kevin came through. He dug through his pack and pulled out a shoe lace and a couple twist ties. We tied up one side of his tarp to two trees behind my tent and then stretched it over my tent and staked down the other two corners where the two front corners of my tent were. Make sense? The picture here was taken half way through tare down the next morning.

Sleep set in shortly after I laid down and I don't think I awoke until the sun did.

Breaking a wet camp is never fun, but sometimes it's gotta be done. We were is an exceptionally poor location to put out our thumbs so we finished the last three miles to the next town. This is wine country. Concord grapes to be exact. Large, plump, and juicy concord grapes lined the road ways. We couldn't resist but to snatch a couple handfuls for breakfast as we made our way to the next town. They were the perfect pick-me-up. Bear Grylls will tell you the toughest part of survival is keeping the mind and emotions healthy. The succulent natural sweetness of those little globes of goodness were so uplifting. They got my mind off the fact that I was only about 5 miles inside New York and had been for what was turning into day three.

We didn't quite make it to the next town, but made our way from route 5, over interstate 90 (where hundreds of people were making their way towards Buffalo without us) and back on to US 20. We were resting/hitching/trying to figure out what to do when a blue utility van stopped at a stop sign across the intersection. I hopelessly threw up my thumb and surprisingly watched his window roll down.

Harley wasn't the most pleasant fellow. Dirty, scruffy, high and the van seemed to be made in his image. The only seats in the van were the driver's and the passenger's and I settled on the tool box with a towel on it. I was sitting next to an ATV that Harley has just cut apart. I was initially fairly nervous, but as I overheard the conversation, I realized that Harley, despite being broke, was very generous. He gave Kevin a big red poncho, he gave us a rope(!) and offered his tarp. We took the rope, but left the tarp. Harley took us about 15 miles up US 20 to Brocton and dropped us at the far side of town at a gas station.

He had gotten us out of the rain, but only for the moment. We took some time to get a little bite to eat and by the time we got back outside, it was pouring. The rain restricted us to the sidewalk just in front of the gas station and not thinking it would work, I wrote “Fredonia” on the sign. It was only the next town up, but Harley said that people around here aren't going very far and would be more likely to pick us up if we tried to go town by town. It was a busy gas station and I thought maybe we would get a ride up the road by someone coming in to get their snacks.

I was so out of it I failed to get their names, but eventually two oversized men in an oversized truck pulled up. One of them went in to get his doughnuts and milk while the other was forced to look at two sopping wet and weary travelers. I caught his eye and with his left index finger, he motioned for me to come to the window. He doubled checked our destination and said we could throw our stuff in the back. They were on their way to work to do whatever it is they do, but they got us closer to where we were going.

They dropped us off in front of a run down auto shop and for now, that's all you get. :) I have to go be a date at a wedding reception for people I don't know!

There is much more to come in regards to this crazy adventure and please keep checking back frequently to see if there's any new stories!

Two Days of Rain and Madness

Wow, this last week has been a doozy! SO much happened, the highs the lows, the good, bad and the downright ugly. One week ago today, October 4th, I left the lovely Van Wingerden home in Oberlin, Ohio and set back on the road. Tonight I find myself in The Huntington House Inn located in quaint Rochester, Vermont drinking a nicely balanced Bombay Sapphire gin and Tonic with a lime. How did I end up in this little Inn in this little village in this relatively little state? Let me tell you a story... :)

Last Monday I had to arise fairly early to meet up with a truck driver for Green Circle Nursery, the business that the Van Wingerdens own. I said my good byes to Tim and Jan Ewing and David drove me over to the offices at 5:40. We met up with my driver, Paul and in no time we were on the road.

Paul was a great guy. For that morning, he wasn't on any time restraints so he had some flexibility in where he could take me. We talked about the route I was looking to take and figured out a good location for him to drop me off. We drove for about 2 hours and talked quite a bit in

between here and there. He was very interested in what I was doing. He said he could never do anything like this; he told me that he would never even think about even picking up a hitchhiker.

He has never been married and told me he never would be married. Curiously, I inquired. He explained to me that it just would never make sense for him. He had no desire to ever be married nor to have kids. He's a brother and an uncle and loves playing with and even having his nieces and nephews stay over with him, but he finds peace in knowing that they will go home eventually. He was a very generous man and was concerned enough for me to make sure he dropped me in a good location. He refused to drop me near the interstate and didn't stop until we reached a Wal-Mart east of Cleveland. It was about 8:30 when he drove away and I had a sense of readiness for anything unknown to come.

I took a few minutes to use the facilities in the 24-hour Wal-Mart and in time, made my thumb visible. I was in small town country now, no big city to aim for so I simply wrote, "East!" on my trusty white-board; and trust me, it's trusty. If it were metal, it would be very rusty by now, but, no, it's stayed resilient to the elements. It's a wee bit scratched up, but all in all, it's road

worthy.

It took about 90 minutes I think before Janice slowed down her life for me. She was just marvelous. She is a beautiful 72 years of age and wore it well. She is full blooded Hungarian as well as full hearted servant of the Lord. She had so many stories to tell. She was divorced years ago from a abusive husband of 16 years with whom she birthed 4 or 5 children (I can't remember exactly). She fervently volunteers at her church and the local elementary school whatever needs to be done. She is a devout Catholic, but understands that even us Protestants serve, love and worship the same God. I think the best word to describe her would be "servant". She told me stories of the days when she would work more hours than considered healthy by anyone's standards just to support her indignant husband and beloved children. Today she doesn't bear the burden of that man, but her children, who are all in their 50's, much off of what she has, which isn't much. She always pays their bills and lets them borrow money knowing that she will never see any return. Janice is a saint when compared to

many other church goers. She drove me over 20 miles out of her way. She dropped me off in front of a Perkin's in Conneaut, OH. She offered to shake my hand and of course I oblidged. She commended me on my strong hand shake and said it was an honor to meet me. She graciously

gave me a twenty dollar bill and she was on her way.

I didn't know it at the time, but I was very close to the Pennsylvania border! It was cloudy, but at least not raining when Janice dropped me off, but as I was putting one foot in front of the other, so the rain starting falling one drop after the other. I was on US 20 which streaks across this entire continent from west to east and back, but unfortunately, this part of this historical road had no shoulder. The shoulder of a road is key when hitchhiking. No shoulder, no where for drivers to pull over. Did I mention it was raining? It was. I was tromping through wet grass on the side of the road, through people's front yards when India passed me a few times and finally found a wee side road to pull into.

I had seen her drive past me once, twice and thrice, but driving a brand new Camaro, for some reason I just thought they were lost. I almost walked right past her until I saw the passenger window roll down. I was in a little bit of shock. She told me that she wasn't going very far, but just couldn't stand watching me walk about in the rain. Thank God for compassion! Camaros are sports cars and ergo have very small trunk space, especially when theres a stroller in the trunk. I had to disassemble my pack a little bit, but we shoved it in there. India was a young mom, like midish twenties and she was the first person to give me a ride that had their baby in the car! She

was a beautiful little red head named Kelsey, I think :/

Anyway, India asked where I was going and after learning about my Journey she offered to take me to Erie, PA. After I informed her that unfortunately it was illegal to hitch in PA, she decided to take me all the way to New York! She had gone into the Army, but never had to go over seas due to her new baby. She told me that she wasn't afraid to pick me up because she was pretty sure she could handle her self. I don't think she was going anywhere really. Looks like she had just gone to the store and had cold milk in the back seat, but that didn't stop her from driving me 50 miles! Totally bypassing the hitchhiker UNfriendly state of Pennsylvania! She dropped me of

in Ripley, NY right on US 20 and I was back into the unknown.

It was only 12:30 in the afternoon so I was pretty sure I could get at least another ride or two. I wrote Buffalo on my sign because I was only about 60 or 70 miles away. I figured somebody would be going up the 20 to Buffalo to avoid the tolls of 90. I was wrong. At least, no one picked me up. I took some time to scope out the area before I started thumbing and decided that if I

didn't get a ride out of there, I would shack up in the creepy abandoned motel near by. Yeah, it was still raining. A few cold and wet hours later I called it quits and nervously checked out the motel.

It is called the Colonial Squire Motel and the most recent news paper in the place I could find was from January of 2002. I located a potential entry point, but it took me a long time to muster up the courage to investigate the innards of this mysterious structure. There was a window that was slightly opened to allow a power cord to go into the building. Just barely enough room between the window and the frame to squeeze my arm in and unwind the handle to open the window. I was armed with my head lamp and fixed blade knife in hand and I made my way in.

Everything was really dusty. It seemed like there hadn't been anyone there for years. I had left

my stuff outside hidden by the overgrown landscaping so I took my time to see if I could make use of the place. Remember, it was raining so staying somewhere with a roof looked really appetizing. All I had access to was the lobby, so no bed, but it was dry in there. There were tables and chairs and it looked like whoever it was, left in a hurry. I have to admit, I was pretty freaked out. There was space on the floor where I could sleep and plenty of room to make myself right at home.

I found another window that I could use as a main entry and exit that was more hidden than the first. I took some time to nervously journal and cook some Quinoa for dinner and considering my early start, I hit the hay around eight o'clock.

I can't say I had the best sleep I've ever had, but I woke up alive and safe and ready for day two in New York. It was still raining; light enough for me to be out there, but nonetheless, it was still wet. I went out to the same corner I was at the day prior hoping to catch any traffic heading east on 20 or 90. They run parallel throughout New York and at this point they were only about a half mile apart.

I had been out there for a couple hours with no luck when I turned to my right to look behind me and noticed a fellow traveler coming up the road towards me. He had a backpack and his head was covered with his hood. I kept on doing what I was doing and he approached me with a humble hello. The initial conversation was short. We found out that we were both heading east and that we had both started on the Pacific side of the country. He started in Seattle. After some small talk and stories I introduced myself and found his name to be Kevin. I know you will read this Kevin, but I also know that you're not afraid to be real and I need you to know that I want to shed a little light on your hard fought story. We shared a little life together and it has become apparent to me that your story is one worth sharing. But first, let's return to that conrner of US 20 and Shortman Dr.

Kevin and I talked for a while trying to get a ride, but by 2 o'clock were soaked to the bone and ready for shelter. I had told him about the motel and we retreated the elements into the dryness of an old lobby. He explored the place more than I was willing to, including the deep, dark and mysterious basement. He found running water. Rain water. Remember the power cord that caused that window to be open so I could get in? Weill that cord was going to a pump to keep the place from flooding. The water was good and clear and I was able to use my water purifier to pump some good drinking and cooking water.

Kevin read his book for a while and cooked dinner before he retired for bed as early as 6 o'clock. I stayed up journaled for a while, cooked dinner and was getting ready for bed around 7. Around that time, I heard some banging somewhere around the building, like somebody was trying to open a door, but didn't think anything of it. Well, actually, I froze and listened for any other sign of life. I didn't hear anything for a few minutes so I stepped out the window I claimed as our main exit to relieve myself. As I was stepping back inside, across the room looking in through a back door was a man! I crouched right there by the window trying to helplessly hide behind an end table. The room couldn't have been more than 15x15 so I was sure he was going to see me, after all, I was wearing my bright neon green fleece.

I watched him bring his hands up and cup his brow so he could see in better. I wasn't even breathing at this point. Just waiting for him to see me. Kevin was in the other room, in bed at this point and all of out stuff was all over the place. I could tell he was doing his best to make out whatever shapes he could see inside the room, but was having trouble. He had glasses and the prescription must have been way off because he failed to see me or any of our stuff! I was relieved, but didn't think this was over.

The man disappeared around the side of the building and I took the opportunity to alert Kevin. I was freaking out. We were straight up trespassing, which as you know, is punishable by law. Yeah, this got heavy, real fast. Kevin and I were peering out the windows to see if the old man was still around. He was. I had taken time to close our entry window and that's where he came next. Kevin was standing right in the middle of the room and I was sure he was going to be seen. The old guy was like only 7 feet away! Granted, it was getting dark, but still, this guy was really blind. He came around to the front window and we didn't move. He was staring in, looking straight at Kevin, but still not seeing him! For a second there, I saw I glimmer of hope that all this would blow over.

Kevin slightly and slowly turned his head left to look at me and that's when we heard him yell, "Hey! Private property! Get out!" We tried to console the man by assuring him we were leaving and to just give us a couple minutes, but no, within seconds, he was on his phone dialing the local sheriff. It was at this point was kicked it into high gear.

Remember, I had stuff all over the place. I figured the night before was so uneventful that everything would be fine. It took Kevin only a few minutes to pack up while he was ready I was still shoving items into my backpack, not really caring what it was or where it went.

It was still raining. I finally got all my stuff packed up, at least I thought so and we were out that window! The grumpy old man had gone back to big Dodge Ram on the road and we decided to go the opposite way up over 90 towards Route 5. The wind was whipping the rain at about a 45 degree in gusts so we took some shelter behind another abandoned building. Well, to avoid the rain as well as the 2 patrol cars roaming around! :)

We stayed put for a little while. Knowing that we were being searched for. At this point, I was really glad to have Kevin with me. Let's just say he's got more experience with the law than I.

We were taking some time to be out from the open when we saw headlights shine up on the bushes just 30 feet to our right. The sound of a door opening. Someone was shining a flashlight in the near by bushes. We could tell they were looking for a could hoodlums. We were frozen.

And, my time is up. I have to stop writing :) perfect timing though, right!?

A lot more happened this week like camping near Buffalo International Airport, staying at a frat house at Syracuse University and meeting up with new found family.

As of now, I'm only 189 miles from my goal and stoked! Tomorrow the people that I'm staying with, the son and daughter-in-law of a aunt and uncle of cousin-in-law are taking me out to Lebanon, NH and I will be that much closer!

Hopefully the next time I blog, I'll be in Portland!

Love you all! Cheers!

A difference in distance.

Mass was beautiful. I had little to no idea what was going on, but Jeremy tried to help me along in the Liturgy. I wish Ed Rybaczyk was there explaining all the different sacraments to me, but I did my best to just appreciate this form of worship. It was difficult for me to enter into worship itself instead of being an observer. For one, I think it was simply because I had never been to an Extraordinary Mass (done in Latin), but also I felt separated from what was going on even deeper than not really understanding it. A lot of me felt like the priest was up there doing all the things necessary to the Catholic Church while her congregation spoke, sang, stood, knelt and sat when qued. This is not judgement towards this beautiful tradition and something that I truly believe is glorifying to God on levels, this is simply what I was struggling with and still am. The picture here is Jeremy's family. Jeremy is holding Mauve, Candice is pregnant with their forth girl and Sage is next to her and then Trinity is on my lap. Gorgeous family, Jeremy. Thanks for the good times, a rekindled brotherhood and all the love!

After a delicious lunch and a few back flips on the trampoline, Jeremy drove me out on hwy 72 into Kalkaska, MI. We said our "see ya laters" and they were on their way back home and I was back on the road.

I set up shop right on the west side of town and not 30 minutes later an officer pulled up and said I couldn't hitch on any MI interstates or county roads. Not true, but I wasn't going to argue. I don't think reciting law back to an officer would go over very well, so I picked up and started walking towards town. He said I could be in town, but if someone called in on me, we could have issues. Good thing I'm not scary looking.

I got to the other end of town about 45 minutes later, only a couple miles, but that was long enough. I was pretty frustrated because I wasn't sure where I could be and where I couldn't, but at one point as I was crossing a street a guy trotted after me from his car at the gas station and handed me a twenty dollar bill. Out of no where. He said it was for my Journey and he was sorry he wasn't going my direction. It was perfect timing for a good encouragement. Not too much further down the sidewalk, I spotted a good place. I've learned that if there's a shoulder, the far side of the intersection at a stop light can produce a ride fairly well. People are stopped and almost forced to look at me for at least 30 seconds.


I was there for, mmm, maybe 2 hours and I could see the light fading. Before Rob came around, I had two other offers! Both of them cars full of girls! The first one was a couple girls near my age, but they weren't really sure what roads they were taking and they didn't even know where I75 was, so I passed. After consulting my trusty map, it was a good decision. about 20 minutes later a car of three high school girls, maybe 17 yrs., rolled up. They weren't going anywhere, but just wanted to give me a ride. I asked if they could just take me to I75, which was 26 miles away. "Oh! no, that's too far." the driver said. I chuckled a little bit and said ok, well, thanks for stopping. Kinda silly.

About maybe an hour after all that, Rob rolled up in his big GMC truck. No hesitation, he knew he was gunna pick me up before he even got to me. I think it's because he could see me from the stop light ;) He insisted I put my pack behind the passenger seat because he had a bike in the bed; I knew this was going to be a fun ride.

Turns out he's a tri-athlete and a dentist. We talked about travel, he asked about my trip and we talked about different adventures we'd been on. We stopped for ice cream; I ordered a small cone, but he told the girl to get me a medium. Later down the road he bought me some dinner. As we got closer to his destination, we began to figure out where he could drop me off for the night, but soon enough, his destination of home became my destination as well. I mention that both my upper front teeth are crowns and that it hurts to floss them more than any other tooth so he said he would have me come in the office the next day so he could take a look.

We arrived at his house and immediately Jill, his wife had food in front of me. It was a wonderful, super healthy chicken soup deal. Very tasty. She also was very curious about my trip and couldn't stop asking questions. I love talking about my trip with people and seeing their reactions. This family seemed very genuine even after just meeting them so "randomly".

The next morning we were off to the dentist office at 9:30. On the way I told Jill that I didn't even have dental insurance let alone enough money to pay for anything. She assured me that this was a gift. "He just does this sometimes and now he's chosen you" she said. We talked about how God's providence is simply undeniable when we pay attention to what goes on around us. He is so good.


I spent a total of 3 hours in the dentist chair and came out of it with a new mouth and a grateful heart. Not only did Dr. Rob fix two or three spot of decay, one of which was getting bad and he said it would have started hurting in the next couple weeks, but he also individually reshaped my teeth so that they line up and I can bite straight down without shifting my jaw! He also hooked me up with a retainer deal thing to wear at night so I don't clinch my teeth. It was an overwhelming experience and everyone in the office seemed so pleased to help and be apart of what Dr. Leach does. Thank you so much Dr. Leach for everything you did. For having the boldness to stop and pick me up and the compassion to fix my teeth at no cost to me.

After my mouth got an internal makeover, Jill drove back to the house to get my stuff and some lunch and then she drove me out to Davison to get me out on I69 East towards Port Huron and Canada. The plan was to shoot through out Northerly neighbors and into Niagara Falls and on through New York and so on. Jill traded numbers just in case I needed to get a hold of her and I, again, was back on the road. I walked straight down the on ramp and set up shop not too far away.

Eventually, Tracy stopped for me. I threw my bag in the back and we were on our way to Capac. Pronounced, Kay-pack. Don't ask me. Tracy grew up in the church but hasn't gone very much at all in the past 25 years and has recently been watching a lot of The History and The Science Channel. After we asked about what I studied in school he said, "hm, that's interesting..." like this was more than a coincidence that he picked me up. He said that his "faith had been rocked" by the different ideas presented on his television. He said they seem to have all the answers and all that contradicted his idea of Christianity. I told him that religion and science don't have to be and shouldn't be pitted against each other. There's room for science in religion and I think visa versa. I told him the one thing that hit me hardest when considering the creation story was to realize that the Bible is not a science book; it's a narrative. We didn't have much time, but I hope I utilized the little time we had effectively.

Next came Chris. Tracy dropped me off at the top of an off ramp and I wasn't even to the bottom of the on ramp before Chris picked me up. He wasn't going very far, but closer is closer. It was quickly apparent to me that he was a believer and I could speak openly about my faith and even my previous conversation.

I told him that I hold the belief that the Creation Story is just that, a narrative given to Moses inspired by God to give an account of how we and all of this came to be. I believe God created the world, but the idea of seven days is how Moses could try and make any sense of what was being revealed to him. Chris on the other hand, holds to the belief that it is a literal seven day creation. I did my best to point out that even though we believe different things about how our God works, he is still both of our God. We are still brothers in Christ.

Chris took me more than he had planned and got me only about 10 miles from Canada and then along came the only man so far I forgot to ask a name of. :( He wasn't even going my direction, but he could see that it was about to rain and his daughter said he should give me a ride. So he did, straight to Port Huron! He dropped me right next to a Duty Free away they went.

I was at somewhat of a loss of what to do next. Do I try and walk across or try and get a ride right near the bottom of the bridge? I decided first that I would try and walk until I came to a sign that informed me I couldn't. I wrote "NO PED XING :(" on my sign and tried to play the sympathy card to get a ride. It wasn't working, night was falling and I was getting anxious to try and get across. So I packed up and found my way to the main entrance onto the bridge and walked up. I didn't even make it to the toll booths before a MI Transportation officer greeted me and informed me I couldn't walk across, but that he'd be "nice enough" to let me hitch where I was before, which means he saw me before! or down near the bottom of the ramp I walked up. I chose the route with more traffic and it wasn't long before Gina stopped for me.

Gina is a very nice lady. She works in Port Huron and lives in Sarnia. Neither she nor I had any idea what we were about to get ourselves into. Obviously paying the toll was fine, but trying to get into Canada was like Carlos trying to get through airport security, only he usually gets through. Yes, I had my passport, but due to the fact that I "couldn't demonstrate I had sufficient funds" and hitchhiking is illegal in Canada 400 series highways (the main vein to NY), I was denied entrance. I think it had to do with the fact I didn't have any money to spend in their casinos, so what was the point?

Anyway, Gina, being "responsible" for me had to drive me back to the good ol' U S of A. I felt so bad I had burdened her like this; she just wanted to go home. And after going through customs again on the US side, she made that clear that she wanted to go straight home. We got out to her car and I was hoping she would drive me down to the bottom of the bridge, but she said something like, "well Tom, sorry we couldn't get you into Canada, but I hope the rest of your trip is great." I took that as a polite get my stuff out so she could be on her way. I oblidged without question, gave her a blog card and she drove off.

There I was walking away from customs, in the rain on a bridge connecting two different countries. Like it was gunna be that easy. Before I knew it, I had one, then two then three guys running after me with their hands on the holsters. They were just doing their jobs, which is great, but I just wanted to get off that dang bridge and pitch my tent. They were asking me why I was on this bridge and what I was doing luckily I remembered half of the kid's name who ran our info inside and he eventually came out and have me the green light. I knew it was going to be fine, but it's really sad they have to think that everyone is a terrorist.

They showed me a safe way to get down to street level through a series of stairs, and elevator and a long ramp, but I finally was off that dreadful bridge and on solid ground, but still in the rain. I followed to bridge toward the river looking for a dark spot to pitch my tent. Finally I found one. The ground had been raised up about 4 feet around this pillar and that was the best I was gunna get. I set up quickly, journaled some and went to sleep. Frustrated.

It rained all night and all morning and all day. I woke up to puddles creeping on my tent and I tried to put off the inevitable of putting away my tent in the rain, but I knew what I had to do. I miserably packed up and found some shelter on the lee side of a building. I text Jill to see how serious she was about helping me out. I was not looking forward to standing out in the rain trying to get a ride. She said I could stay there tonight, but I should try and get as close as I could because she had to work all day.

Five hours. Five hours standing in the rain that day. I have water proof stuff, but things fail at a certain point and I was wet and cold. Finally at about 4:30, Dale comes up to the stop light waiting to turn right, in the direction I was needing. I looked at him, made eye contact, gave the

"man nod" and looked away. Out of my peripheral vision I saw him roll down his passenger window and lean towards it. I couldn't hear what he said, but I knew he was asking where I was going. "Towards Flint" I said. "Well, I'm not going very far, but it'll get you closer..." At that point I would have taken just about anything. I threw my pack in the bed of his truck and I said good riddens to Port Huron.

He is a carpenter. After learning about what I was doing, Dale was inspired to take me further than intended so he could take the back roads home. He was interestingly interested in what I was doing and seemed inspired. He got me to Imlay City and before he drove away he shouted back, "you gunna be ok, right?!" I assured him I would be fine and he was on his way home.

Jill was just finishing work at this point about would be there shortly! I hid out in a patch of woods near the off ramp, it was no longer raining, and called my parents to say hi.

Jill was there in no time and I couldn't have been more relieved to see her. I was wet, cold and tired. When we got back to their place, they let me set up my tent in the living room to dry out and fed me, of course. I took that night to dry out and warm up. My stuff needed the same treatment. Everything was soaked. I spent some time that night trying to help Rob set up stuff on his new Mac.

I spent the next morning packing up and reorganizing things in my pack. We left for lunch and afterwards Jill and her son Bruce drove me out to Fenton, MI onto US 23 South. This route diverted me away from Detroit and still got me into Ohio. We again, said our goodbyes, this time with a hug and that was that. They are such a warm caring family. Jill has texted me just about everyday since I left there just to see where I am. She said today that she doesn't think the Lord is done with the new friendship and I couldn't agree more. :)

Berny, a female was the first to pull of US 23 and pick me up. She is a professor at a university in Toledo, so that was easy enough. She is a very adventurous person so we talked about that adn she was extremely hungry so we stopped at a Bob Evan's along the way. She had lunch and bought me a piece of pie. Entertaining lady, fun to talk with.

She dropped me off where 184 meets US 23 and she was on here way. I walked up and around and found myself in Sylvania, OH. I found a good spot, on the far side of a stop light, but not 20 minutes in, an officer rolled up and said through his passenger window, "You know, it's illegal to solicit rides. I don't have time to deal with it right now, but I highly suggest to keep on walking." and he drove off. Again, incorrect, but I'm not going to argue. So I walked and hitched and walked and hitched. I walk 2 miles until I came to a sign that read, "Welcome to Toledo". New town, new cops. Time to set up shop.

I was there for maybe 45 minutes before Ray picked me up and little did I know, but I was about to get a full tour of down town Toledo! It was an interesting car ride. I had a good time with Ray. He knows a lot about that city and knows how to make it interesting. I could tell he was proud of it too. He didn't take me very far, comparatively, but he got me to the other side of Toledo, which was what I needed. It was about 5 so I decided to call it a day and find a place to pitch.

Pearson Metropark would be my home for to night. It basically was a big patch of woods with a running loop around it, but it's innards was all natural. I worked my way back and found a good spot for the night.

The next morning Sam picked me up and drove me to Port Clinton out Route 2, which was what I was looking for. He told me about his days hitchhiking and all the crazy stuff me used to do. Fun times.

HE dropped me on an off ramp from Route 2 and before long my thumb was out again. Except this time it attracted an Ohio State Highway Patrol Officer. I never got his name, but he was so curious about what I was doing. It was like he couldn't understand what anyone would do this just for the fun of it. After a thorough pat down, I got in his rig and he took me off Route 2 into the booming town on Sandusky.

I started walking from there on US 6 towards the other side of town and in about mile 2 Mike flipped around and picked me up. He said he wasn't going very far, but he could get me to the other side of town, near the turnpike. But not before he got me some food. He had a buy one entre get a another free coupon for the Chipotle-like place and I ate my quesadilla then and saved my burrito for later. Mike took me down near the turnpike, handed me twenty dollars(!) and wished me luck.

There I stood for 2 hours. No luck. I had a couple offers, but they weren't really going anywhere at all and I decided to wait for someone going the distance. Due to all the run-ins with cops and such, I was feeling defeated and treated my self to a room at Days Inn also in celebration of being on the road for over a month. Indoor pool. yum.

(If it seems like I'm burning through this, I'm sorry. I'm super tired and I'm leaving where I am now at 5:30 am, which is less than 4 hours from now, but I have to get this out becasue I have no idea when the next time I will be able to blog next. So please, bare with me)

The next moring I got out there, to that same spot at 10 am. Over 3 hours my sign went from reading, "East!" to "NY!" to Norwalk", which was the next town down to just simply being thrown on the ground out of frustration. I didn't know what I was doing wrong or what I could do differently, but behold, 15 minutes after ditching the sign, Ken rolled up in hid oversized, white Cadilac and took me to Norwalk. That at least got me down onto the US 20.

I got some Subway and then made my way over to the onramp and saw this sign. Awesome. Thank you Ohio. So I stood right there and didn't wait long before Kerry stopped for me. He wasn't goig very far either, but he got me to where US 20 was no longer freeway and I could actually hitch right on it. That was really helpful.

I set up shop and waited about an hour for Vince to drive by and he said he was only going up to Oberlin, about 20 miles, but I was down for that. He is an English professer who loves to drive on his time off.

Do you remember a few posts ago when I mentioned somebody has been texting me annonomisly; sending me Bible verses and encouragments and been praying for me daily? Well, earlier that day, this person told me that if I get to Oberlin to let them know because they had family there. So I did.

Not knowing how this would turn out, but pretty soon I got the text, "stay put". Vince had dropped me on the east side of Oberlin right on the 20 so that's where I stayed. It was this huge, drwan out thing. I got texts from this person that read, "Stay put and wait for a familar face" "A lil slice of Twain Harte is on its way my friend." "You'll know him when you see him" These plus others really got me excited about who was about to pick me up. It took us a while to connect, but eventually a bearded man drove up in front of me and low and behold it was Tim Ewing! A man that had wathced me grow up in Twain Harte E.V. Free from when I was 7 til I left for school! I was blown away. I had no idea he and his wife Jan were here and they had no idea I was in town. They are out here currently visiting one of their daughters who married an Ohioan and they live in Oberlin. In fact, Vince drove me right past their house!

I hadn't seen Tim and Jan for more than five years and it took me a while to put together all the pieces, but once I did, I was overwhelmed with the reality of who my little shoulder angle is.

Cameron McClean was my youth pastor through Jr. high and through some less than pleasent events, our lives became detached from one another's over the years. I had no idea it was him who was texting me this whole time, but I wouldn't have had it been anyone else. This is huge and I am so thankful for the body and of Christ and the redeeming work of the Lord. If you're wonderong about the family connection, Tim in Cameron's father-in-law.

So I have been here in Oberlin in this beautiful house with this amazing familiy trying to wait out the rain, but my time has come to move on. The man of this house, David is the son of a man who owns a huge greenhouse farm, flower/plant growing facility. They ship plants to Wal-Marts and Home Depots and places alike for us to buy plants to place in out gardens! I got a tour of some of the facilities and got to see the orchid rooms. Beautiful.

So, they have a delivery truck going out to Akron tomorrow, leaving at 6 and I figure that's a pretty good ride to get started early in the morning. But I need to get to bed in order to get up! I haven't made it very far in the last week, which is frustrating at levels, but I need to remember the life is a Journey not a destination.

I love you all and thanks for reading! I hope to be to Maine in about 7 to 10 days! Please pray for clear skies!