People Met = 14+
We wanted to get our errands out of the way on our first day of rest. Some of those errands led us to preview our town stops ahead.
I wanted official trail maps of the Buckeye Trail, which led us to Roads Rivers and Trails of Milford. We met three of the four owners there: Emily, Kara and Joe. Joe has hiked the Appalachian Trail before. Their employee Vince is about to hike the AT starting this June. We encouraged him to drop in on us when he gets close to Norfolk.
Vince, Kara, Emily and Joe
The owners treated us like rock stars. An outfitting store is the one place where the first woman to complete the Continental Divide Trail (Cindy) and the third person to achieve the Triple Crown of National Scenic Trails (me) might receive any kind of appreciation. While we were there Joe flagged down to people who walked by their store; he knew one of them to be embarking on a long foot journey soon. Josh and John walked in. John was moving to Montana and Josh was going to walk out there to visit him; first along the ADT and then the CDT. I found out from Josh that the Continental Divide Trail Alliance was closing up due to lack of funds. That was strange, considering that earlier in our trip we talked to a person on a CDTA trail crew. He gave no indication of the impending troubles. Well, I’ve always been partial to the Continental Divide Trail Society myself and Josh might be able to get resource their that will help him with resources for his journey.
Josh and John
Hopefully we will hook up with these good folks again when we hike through Milford on Friday.
From Milford we went on to the Northeastern Lions Club meeting in Williamsburg. Lion President Kermit Beckworth invited me to speak for a few minutes in addition to showing slides of the journey in the background. My original contact for here was the former president, Dan Ladrigan. Dan has an interest in hiking and we may hook up with him again when we walk through Williamsburg.
Lion Kermit
Two kind things happened at the meeting. We sat near Lions Chris and Debbie Nichols and overheard them describe their experience about finding and helping a homeless man. I interviewed the couple about this experience, but will “save” this interview for the Ohio newsletter. Which reminds me, the Southern Illinois and Indiana newsletter will be coming out soon. Sign up now if you want to receive it.
Lions Chris and Debbie
After I gave my talk rallying folks to kindness and community involvement, the Northeastern Lions Club voted to donate $100 for our journey, an unexpected and touching gesture.
Lions Linda and Dan
The Buckeye Trail can be very hard to follow in places. It also does not go through many towns. The rest of your hike will be easy after getting off the Buckeye Trail.
Thanks for the heads up, Jim. So far we’ve been following it OK, though we are meeting up with spring like conditions (wet and muddy).