the people you meet along the way

I've had some interesting encounters along the way today. The first was while I was passing through the tiny town of Toledo: a 40-something man who was sitting on his porch called out, "Where ya' headed?"

"All the way to the east coast," I said. "Three thousand miles!"

"Good luck to ya'!" he called, smiling and nodding. I thanked him and walked on.

Several miles later, and back on South Jackson Way, I was walking past a property when a gentleman on the other side of the fence started walking my way, moving as though he had a purpose. He asked me where I was going, then produced a freezing can of Pepsi and a huge plastic cup filled with ice, just for me. You can't imagine how grateful I was for his kindness.

The man's wife came out and the three of us talked about my walk and my options for heading south and east. The Missus brought out a note pad and I wrote my blog's address on it. Before I left, I asked them to spread the word about my blog; I'm sure they will.

Thanks, you two!

A not-so-pleasant encounter occurred earlier, when I was walking past a lake park and envying the kids swimming in those cool waters. Some idiot sitting on the passenger side of a pickup that drove up from behind me yelled something that sounded like "Beggar!" but could have been much worse. I didn't hear the shout clearly, and even though I've been yelled at by random assholes on many occasions thus far, this particular incident bothered me because of its potentially racist nature.

In any case, that bit of unpleasantness was the second of today's encounters, not the third, so it won't echo long in my brain. Freshest in my memory is our Good Samaritan and his can of ice-cold Pepsi: he was clearly representative of the better side of humanity, and a far cry from a cowardly passenger in a speeding vehicle.

I'm about to leave the truckstop cafe I'm at (thanks to our Good Samaritan again for telling me about it) and do the final leg of today's 21-miler. I might have to stop another two nights after this one: my pinky toes are killing me, so I'm back to using both trekking poles to minimize the pain.

Come on, Kev... just three more hours to go...


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