One Year Ago
Aug 15th, 2009 by Lyn Hanush
GAP WALK JOURNALS - VI
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.
