My New Friends

Last weekend was interesting. I spent some time with Jacqueline, Pete, and Alex, three folks I never would have met had I not decided to limp 500 miles around Indiana, and getting to know people like those three has been one of the truly delightful experiences I’ve had along the way. On the other hand, I was robbed Saturday – in broad daylight, no less – which I could have done without.

I met Jacqueline and Pete Friday night in Nashville. Jacqueline runs the campground we stayed in, and Pete hangs out on the grounds. Jacqueline says that she’s lived in all 50 states – lived, not visited – and at one time spoke seven languages. Now whether that’s true or not, I couldn’t say. She did run a couple of them past me, but since I often have a hard time understanding English, I had no idea what she was saying. In addition to running the campground, she directs a local group of volunteers at a learning center, where the adults work with children that either have learning disabilities or difficulty maintaining good grades. All of that was impressive enough, but the real reason I was taken with her is that she helped us get situated without mocking us, no easy task in that Kent, last week’s driver, and I are to camping what Dan Quayle was to the Vice Presidency. Trying to park the (gratuitous sponsor mention #1) Camping World RV and then hooking the beast up to power and water are simple tasks for real campers, but the two of us consistently managed to turn this simple task into the outdoor life equivalent of a three year old trying to explain the Pythagorean Theorum. Though clearly amused, she kept her editorial comments to herself, for which I will remain forever in her debt.

It wasn’t really ever clear to me what Pete did, other than live on the grounds, but I inferred that he was some sort of jack-of-all-trades type that filled in where needed. He told me that he was an ordained minister (he had two weddings booked Saturday), and he claimed to have fallen into a well in 1854, where he supposedly remained until 1920. Normally, I would dismiss such a tale out of hand, but he did appear to be about 200 years old, with a wild shock of white hair and a long white beard that ended somewhere around his collar bone. Picture a cross between Santa Claus and Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. One of my quirks is that I’m drawn to people like this. Throughout the course of my career, I’ve met all types of famous people, from Ronald Regan to Nicholas Cage, but given the choice I would much rather hang with a guy like Pete than any of them. In fact, I was so captivated by Pete that I took him up on his offer to drive the RV and  he’ll be our pilot for a few days later this week. He says he used to drive a school bus, so I’m cautiously optimistic about his ability to handle the job. We’ll see.

Saturday morning, I set sail for Bloomington. We decided to pass on trying US 46 because of safety concerns (too narrow, no shoulders, etc.), and that put me on some beautiful back roads. About an hour and a half in, I came across a woman walking two dogs. Faithful readers of this blog will recall that I don’t like dogs and was nearly torn to shred by two curs earlier in this journey, so I was understandably wary as I approached her. The dogs turned out to be mild mannered, and the woman, who introduced herself as Alex, ended up being a teriffic walking companion for about 45 minutes. She had four kids, none older than 18, worked as a free lance photographer and a waitress in a local restaurant, and on top of that was getting set to start classes in a week. Any of those alone would be enough for me, and I was impressed by her energy and desire to better herself. Normally, I’m perfectly happy to walk alone, but pounding pavement for four to five hours a day tends to get tedious and it was nice to have company. It made the walk, which was one of the more difficult I’ve had so far because of the twisting roads and steep hills, go just a little bit faster.

So things were going really well until late Saturday afternoon. We had a stop scheduled at a (gratuitous sponsor mention #2) Marsh store, and as always the folks there were great. Angie runs the place, and she made sure we left with supplies and full bellies, plus I was looking forward to an off day Sunday, so I was in excellent spirits. That lasted until we got to the car, where it was immediately apparent that my computer had been stolen. Needless to say, this put a damper on my enthusiasm. At the very least, I wish I could have confronted the scofflaw responsible. Ever since watching the movie The Karate Kid (not the lame remake with Will Smith’s son, the original with Ralph Macchio and Mr. Miyagi), I’ve spent years perfecting The Crane and The Wax On, Wax Off move, but have never had a chance to use either one. And here’s an idea that Dell, Apple, HP, and all other computer manufacturers should consider. Why not invent a computer that has an internal mechanism that, when activated by a remote control device that can only be used by the computer’s owner, immediately exposes the person in possession to huge amounts of radiation? Who wouldn’t pay a few extra bucks for that? It may not be The Crane, but I think it would still be an excellent deterrent to computer theft.

On to Spencer….

Tuesday’s Journey: Spencer to Clay City

Mileage: 21.3 (if every one of the 109,000+ that attended last Saturday’s Michigan-UConn game in the newly renovated Michigan Stadium walked a foot for me today, they’s still be 2563 feet shy of Clay City)

On the iPhone: The O’Reilly Factor, PTI, Stevie Wonder’s The Millenium Collection CD