Tales from the Trail #19: Crashing through Crothersville …
I thereafter made it to and through the town of Crothersville, where I encountered another batch of disinterested (& sometimes downright scornful) gas station attendants (What’s with that?!? I mean, I get thinking off-hand that I’m “just another bum” – even though that thought process is more than a bit sad in & of itself – and yet I’ll never understand the choice to get openly angry at a Peace Pilgrim; or any other humble mendicant, for that matter). Thankfully, these disappointing engagements were cleansed by a handful of meetings with folks of a far different bent – mostly taking the form of really cool employees at the local Subway, where I was allowed (encouraged, actually) to chill out a bit and see if anyone wanted to win the “Help an injured Peace Pilgrim” lottery. No one did, of course, and so it was upward & onward for yours truly – first to the local Dollar General at the edge of town (where USPS worker Trish was fully amazed by the Walk and joyfully received the link to my Blog) and then out into the post-town wilderness and back onto the blazing hot roadway …
A light but steady rainfall briefly cooled off my overheated & aching bones, and yet as usual I was having no luck with hitchhiking and was getting very tired once again. So for the first & only time on the pilgrimage to that point, I intuitively asked two youths – who had just pulled their motocross bikes into their roadside driveway – if their father might be able to help me get further along the Way. They were a bit taken aback at first, but quickly realized that I was quite the opposite of dangerous, and so went inside to relay my humble request to their parents. And it didn’t take long at all thereafter for Corey (their father) to came out of the house, hear the story of my Walk, indeed become inspired by the same, and indeed without hesitation offer his assistance, driving me thereafter some 30 miles all the way into the town of Columbus (all while engaging me in some deep & meaningful conversation – about kindness and politics and the downtrodden and selfless service – the whole way). Then he dropped me off at a roadside McDonald’s, bought me some French fries and a cold Coca-Cola, and then wished me well on my Walk (and I, him, Peace in his life) as he drove back homeward.
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