Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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!

4 comments:

  1. I found a business card for this blog between two stones on a rocky outcrop of the Eastern Prom right, right near the trail :p ... I was so impressed, I came to visit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so stoked that somebody found that card! I was hoping it didn't get washed away by the rain that night. That stack of rocks represented the end of my "trail". I'm so glad you found it, thanks for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete
  3. No problem I felt pretty special finding it :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kevin,
    If you ever read this - I hope you are able to continue to trust in the Hope of OUR God.

    What is normalcy anyways? You keep on finding him in the middle of your beautiful story. Don't worry about anyone elses!
    He will show up for you. We serve a very personal God.

    Tom,
    I like that I actually read new information in this one! Your writing really is insightful and sincere. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete