The Great American Journey

GAP WALK JOURNALS - VI

Tuesday - August 12,  2008    Day 160   20.4 miles

Total Maine miles - 329.0     Walking Days - 77

Washington D.C. miles - 4.6   Cumulative miles 1334.4

It’s been a good day. I got my mileage in and made great
progress.  But before I go into that I want to tell you about two
women we met yesterday that I forgot to mention in the journal.
They are Cynthia and Beatrice at Puffin Stop in Livermore Falls,
ME. Norma and I had stopped there in the morning on our way
to walk to use the restroom.

In the restroom was a picture on the wall of a man walking
across some rocks on a large body of water. Under the picture it
reads: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
When I came out I talked with Beatrice at the counter, and told
her about my walk - which also began with a single step.
Cynthia heard me from her office, and came out to talk with us.
I really enjoyed sharing with these delightful women, and I got
their pictures as well.

Today didn’t start that way. We drove to our start point outside
of Auburn, then decided to drive into Auburn first to check out
the route. It looked like it might do some tricky turns, but in the
end we found it to be pretty direct. While we were there we also
found the post office and picked up our mail. It had been
stacking up quite a bit, so tomorrow while I’m doing laundry I’ll
have some good reading material. Thank you everybody for your
wonderful letters. I really appreciate hearing from you.

Back to our start point to begin walking. It was a late start and
raining. The rain was light, so easy walking. I walked past an
airport for seaplanes, past a small cemetery, and several homes
and businesses. Then just as I was coming into the town of
Auburn and to the spot where Norma was waiting for me, the
sky opened up and it poured for about five minutes. After
refilling my water and drinking some of my Gatorade G2, I
continued on through the town, and out to where Norma had
moved ahead to our second stop near Hwy 95 and Hwy
4/202/100 at a Park and Ride lot.

We stopped for lunch then and went to a restaurant listed on the
GPS that turned out to be the headquarters of a bakery - not a
restaurant. The receptionist told us they had others from time to
time that come in thinking it is a restaurant too. I explained
about it being on the GPS, and we agreed that was probably
what happened with others as well. Two men were sitting in the
waiting area, and one of them offered us some help with ideas.
We explained what we were doing, and the two men were both
very interested. I gave them and the receptionist our card.

Off we went to find Mario’s Italian Restaurant in New
Gloucester. Our meal was delicious, but then we had to get back
on the road. This segment was actually sunny! Wow! I had to
put my sunglasses on.

People were waving to me a lot, some with great enthusiasm.
Some honked enthusiastically and waved as well. Some of these
probably saw me earlier in the day, so now they’re seeing me
miles further and get pretty excited.

One final segment - and the rain started and continued for most
of it. Our road had narrowed after lunch to a two lane highway,
but traffic was still pretty heavy. I had to cross a bridge that had
very little space for me to walk. Fortunately it was short, but still
I had to cling to the side while traffic whizzed by.

The area around me was forested with homes scattered
throughout. It was really beautiful. Finally I came to where
Norma was waiting, got in, and we took off. A little way down
the road I had Norma pull over so I could make a phone call to
my book agent. He’s trying to line up some radio and TV spots
for me, and we had arranged to talk this afternoon.

Then we moved on to Skowhegan and stopped to get some food
to take to our room with us. There we ate and journaled. I’ll call
Dave next, then go get my shower and get to bed. Tomorrow is
moving day.