One Year Ago
Aug 15th, 2009 by Lyn Hanush
GAP WALK JOURNALS - VI
I began walking without rain gear for the first time in several days. It was so beautiful! I felt invigorated, and moved swiftly along. The temperature was nice all day. There were several hills to climb this morning, and some really beautiful scenes with the sun shining on them. I took quite a few pictures.
One of the pictures I took was of three horses and a donkey on the crest of a grassy hill. Another was one of the homes with all the other farm buildings attached. The house is at one end, connected to an in-between room (maybe like an enclosed breeze-way), connected to the garage, connected to a big barn, connected to a smaller barn. This is so typical here in Maine, and for good reason. It makes a lot of sense to have all the buildings connected in the harsh winters they have here.
Soon a man stopped to say he had seen me yesterday back in Norridgewock, and he just had to know what I was doing. I explained and gave him my card. He was very enthusiastic. I was going to ask about taking his picture when another car came up behind him and he had to leave.
I turned onto Highway 133 and walked on it through Beans Corner, and Stones Corner, and on into Livermore Falls where I met Norma for our lunch break. We ate at the Chuck Wagon Café where we both ordered the exact same thing. This has been happening with us a lot. We seem to like the same things, and our orders are almost always the same. 
While we were eating lunch we looked outside to see rain pouring down. Wow. By the time we finished, the rain had stopped. Now we drove a short section to make sure we would both make the same turns. Then back to walk it.
This part took us across a bridge over a river that I cannot find the name of on any of my maps. I looked for a name at the bridge, but didn’t find one there either. It’s a huge rushing river that goes over a large dam at that point, and it’s incredible to watch all that power.
Once across the river I turned onto River Road - appropriately named. This was a small road with no shoulders, but very little traffic. Much of the time I walked down the middle of the road where it was easier, and just moved over when cars came. But the scenery was great, and I so enjoyed it.
Norma met me twice on this road, the latter time was at the finish for the day. Just before I got to her I went past several calves separated in three different sections by size. They were quite curious about me.
Then I noticed a few sprinkles of rain, and heard approaching thunder. I called Norma to alert her so she could come get me if it got any closer. Just then I rounded a bend in the road, and there she was waiting for me at the end. After I got in and we headed back it began to dump buckets of rain on us. I had made it through the whole day without rain while I was walking. Though it had rained at lunch and again after I finished. Now how cool is that?? Thank you, Lord, for the joy of walking in great weather today.
Now I have to tell you that Dave reminded me the other day that at least I’m not in D.C. now where it is very hot and humid. He said our neighbors in Paso Robles just returned from there and said that the heat and humidity were dreadful. He also reminded me that heat and humidity kill, while the rain will only give me web feet. I was wondering what that was growing between my toes.
Back to Skowhegan to shop at Wal-Mart, then to Charrier’s to eat dinner. It was packed, and we had to wait. While we waited we got to talking to a gal named Theresa. She and her husband are from Texas, but they’ve been on the east coast for awhile in their RV. They are actually full-time RV’ers. Because of the wait, and because we got interested in one another’s stories, we decided to share a table.
What a delightful time we had with Michael and Theresa. When we finished eating we went out to their truck with them to meet Happy, Christmas Carol, and Kris Kringle, their three adorable dogs. This was a doggie fix for me, which I need every once in awhile.
Back to our room to get ready for bed, and do the journal, etc. Russ called to see how we were doing, and he and I had a good talk. It’s fun to be able to tell him where I am in the walking, knowing that he can picture it on the maps that he worked so hard at putting together for me. It’s great.
