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!