One Year Ago
Aug 20th, 2009 by Lyn Hanush
GAP WALK JOURNALS - VI
I will tell you the tales of Norma’s woes, and the fun we had finding each other. Now that should get your curiosity up, but you’ll have to wait for the end of this to find out just what happened.Our day started out with me feeling a little sluggish, so I walked a bit slower. Soon I saw a lady with a beautiful black dog. I asked if I could greet the dog, and she recommended I put down the walking stick. Her puppy (4 months old) is being trained to be an attack dog because she has been attacked twice. Wow! I put down my stick, and took off my glove - my glove was attacked by a dog one day, so I figured I’d better not leave it on.Maximus let me pet him after he sniffed my hand and decided I was no threat to Tammy. We talked awhile, and then I got a picture of the two of them.
A little later I saw a man sitting on his lawn leaning against a stump. He said he had arthritis in both legs. He wanted to know where I was walking to. He looked like he had no teeth, and his smile was delightful. When I asked about taking a picture he told me “No.” I guess I looked a bit disappointed, because he had a change of heart telling me I could take a picture, but he hoped he wouldn’t break my camera. I got my picture and said good-bye to him before walking on.
Then came the forest that Norma and I both wanted to get pictures of. This particular forest was already changing color, and several trees were a beautiful red. Norma had stopped to take pictures too. It was beautiful.
Time for lunch at Minor’s Seafood Restaurant. Now neither Norma nor I care much for seafood, but there were plenty of other things on the menu.
When we sat at our table, a couple at the next table greeted us and we talked quite a bit. I got a picture of Robert and Eleanor before they left.
As I started what was supposed to be the next to the last segment after lunch the sky was clouding up, and thunder was booming. We’ve been having a lot of thunder lately with no sign of lightning, and thus was the case today as well. The temperature was comfortably cool. I grabbed a couple of zip-loc bags to put my camera and phone in if the rain started. I left my rain jacket figuring everything else would be ok if the rain came.
With the cooler temperature I walked swiftly. All of a sudden I realized I was coming up to the “Welcome to New Hampshire” sign. I stopped to take pictures, then continued on. Real soon I came to the big curve to the right where I was to turn left. I thought to myself, “I wonder if Norma will remember this turn. Should I call her?” We had driven it two or three times, so I decided she will certainly remember it. Wrong.
As I walked down Eastern Rd. I kept wondering about Norma, thinking I should have seen her by now. And then my phone rang, and I heard Norma’s voice at the other end saying, “Lyn, I’m lost.” I laughed, and asked where she was.
Fortunately it wasn’t too far away, and I knew the area well enough by now that I could tell her what to do to correct it. I told her not to worry about the mileage for now. We could go back at the end of the day to check out the last segment. She told me it was starting to rain. Later she told me it just poured buckets, and she could hardly see anything.
I continued walking, and sure enough here came the rain. I quickly put my phone and camera into the zip-locs, and kept going. Soon I was at Columbus Rd. and Summer Rd. Columbus is also Hwy. 125, and Norma should be coming down that soon. I was walking fast, and seemed to be staying ahead of the worst of the rain. In fact, the rest of the day I seemed to be staying right at the edge of the storm, so I only got a heavy mist.
Soon my phone rang again. Norma told me she was at 125 and Summer. Good, I told her where I was, and she came on down my way. We got together, and I told her where to meet me for the end of the day - or at least an approximate area. She stopped again a little later to see if she was in the right area. No, not yet - a little further. She moved on, and soon I came to where she was sitting in the parking lot of Dunkin’ Donuts. A perfect place to start on Monday morning. Dunkin’ Donuts are on almost every corner along the east coast states. Maybe we’ll have another chocolate eclair Monday before we start our day. Ummmm, they are good.
Finally we drove back to the restaurant where we had eaten lunch before the “Lost in Rochester” experience. Oh, yes, the town we were moving through was Rochester, New Hampshire. The mileage for that longer than normal segment was 6.3 miles.
It helps to have a good sense of humor at times like this, and we both do. Now it was time to go to dinner. We chose Chili’s for tonight. Our waitress was a delightful gal named “Kat.” We talked with her quite a bit, told her about our walk, and she told us about her time in India.
Every night when we get dinner we both look at the menu, then without telling the other what we’re getting we both order the exact same thing. It’s nice that we both like the same things. Sometimes we get just one meal and share it.
Now we’re ready to get to bed, so I’ll bid you all farewell.
