Cinco de Mayo

I wrote an entry last night but it never showed up.  I’ll try again, this will be two days’ worth.

Apparently I left off at Jerry’s house in Montoursville, after Panda leapt from the moving vehicle.

In the morning he knocked on the door of the room I was sleeping in, told me to get on up, shower and hit the road, he had stuff to do,  So I did just that, and in town I stopped for a quick meal and then proceeded west.

I walked pretty steadily for like 15 miles.  I finally came to a bar/restaurant called Harvest Moon.  I stopped in for a meal and a cold one.  It was stifling out, high humidity and temperatures in the 80’s.

I looked up places to stay, and, oddly enough, the campground I was going to stay at was listed, again, as being a couple miles away. Apparently there are two unrelated ones or something, bearing the same name.  So I called the Susquehanna Campground and confirmed, again, that they would take a tenter for one night.  (Some places cater only to RVs)  The man, Tom, assured me they did, for $15.  I told him my situation; I was walking, I was at Harvest Moon, and when the rain quit I’d head that way.

Tom didn’t want to wait and wonder, he said, so he said he was coming up to GET me.

And indeed he did.  In five minutes or less, he pulled in in a black SUV.  He walked in, introduced himself, told me to finish my beer, he had a friend here anyway.  So I did, and some dudes I never met bought me one for the road.

We loaded the gear into his truck and Panda rode in his friends pick up.  When we arrived at the campground, Tom ended up giving me a cabin to sleep in and he didn’t charge me even the $15!  The cabin was cute, had a futon type bed, etc. And was next door to the shower and bathrooms.

A small bird had a nest full of hungry babies under the eaves on the porch.  I watched her feed them.

I slept fine and woke at dawn, to yet ANOTHER drizzly, foggy, wet morning. I packed Panda, took a shower, and before I pulled out, I took a brief stroll around the campground.  At an intersection, a lady yelled out her car window, “Are you Shawnee Moon?”  (okay… weird I’m thinking….)  She told me she’d met me the night before at Harvest Moon.  I didn’t recognize her with sunglasses on and stuff.  She told me she had left a small flowered bag with that man (pointing to a tent down a hill).. She apologized for being in a rush, she’d love to talk, but she had to go.  “I’ll follow you!” she said.

So I walked towards the man in the tent, and walked to approach me, and gave me the flowered bag.  I thanked him and went back to my cabin.  In the bag were little spa soaps, shampoos, lotions, makeup puffs, energy bars, like a woman’s care package.  I busted out crying for the longest time.  She took the time to put that together for me, and drive to where I was, and see that I got it, and she had only talked to me for like 5 minutes.  (I’m crying again as I type this)

Now, Google walking directions informed me (via GPS) that I needed to make a big, mountainous loop to avoid walking on the 220, which was turning into interstate apparently.  So I blindly followed the directions, which had me cross the 220, go up the 287, across some other road, all apparently up hill.  One man stopped and got the map out and showed me the best route back to Jersey Shore, a man and his son came out on an ATV and gave me a cold Gatorade, and when I finally topped the damn hill, I realized I was getting a blister, so I stopped and cut moleskin , when another man and his grandson stopped to check on me.  He told me I was “miles” from Jersey shore, all that to avoid a few hundred yards??  He offered me a ride back down, so I took him up on it.  Turned out to be like 5 more miles, it was already mid afternoon and I was hot, tired, blistered, hungry and pissed off at Google.  The nice man who gave me the ride said 220 is NOT interstate through there!

So he and his grandson Caleb unloaded Panda at a tavern.  I’d said I’d like to place with a sandwich and a beer, while I RE-route myself. Place was fairly empty, except one nice looking 30-ish man who struck up conversation with me.  He ended up giving me his name and number, and talked to the bar owner, as above the bar were 2 apartments, one of them was vacant, and they let me stay!  So I hung around the bar awhile, talked to some people, drew a few people, and then pulled Panda up the steep staircase to the apartment.  It has a full or queen bed, and I rolled George out (the  sleeping bag) for bedding.  I didn’t sleep too well, I’ve been feeling really stressed lately, I think it’s feeling like I’m making no progress, and indeed, yesterday, I didn’t.

I’m up fairly early, need to patch up my feet (haven’t had a new blister in a while, empty and clean this place as if I’ve never been here, maneuver Panda DOWN those stairs (that won’t be easy), find a breakfast joint and see if I can make some miles.  Someone told me to follow the 120 as it goes on for miles.  I don’t trust Googles ideas anymore.

All for now.