More Walking in New York State – and a Homestay: September 3-5, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
A Day of Reminiscence
At 5 am I woke. I didn't fancy being woken up or moved on by some land owner or police officer, so I packed up before sunrise. There was mist and a heavy dew. Even at this early hour, trucks and cars were already moving on the road.
A truckstop called Pfifers was open, but I carried on. In the reflection of a shop window I combed my hair. By 6 am I saw AJ's Restaurant. There were only two old men inside, but at 6 am it had just opened. I ducked inside. A no-nonsense looking woman in her early forties, with blonde hair and black top and trousers told me to take any seat. For breakfast I ordered scrambled eggs, home fries and toast.
My coffee cup was constantly refilled. It was good. After the long walk and four hours broken sleep I was exhausted. I was in AJ's for about 1 hour. In that time I ate breakfast, used the restroom, cleaned my teeth and face and refilled my water bottle and came back to life.
The walk through Wysox was difficult, with no sidewalks, only lawns that were wet from the heavy dew. A man stopped in a car to offer to drive me across Wysox. I explained I had to walk all the way. He wished me luck. A big smile came to my face as the bridge over the Susquehanna appeared in mist before me. On the other side was Towanda.
The Weigh Station – Good Company
I'd just turned right into the town when a car pulled up behind me.
Inside was a lady called Barbara She had seen the TV news report on me and wanted me to come for a coffee at a place called The Weigh Station. It was a disused railway waiting room, close to the river and had been made into a cafe. I walked down to it. Inside was a friend of Barbara's called Jane. There was also a table full of men in their late 50's or maybe 60's.
The lady running the Weigh Station cafe was called Peggy. Peggy gave me a marker pen to put my name on a wall where visitors from all around the world had left their names and messages. We also got the men from the “coffee club” and Barbara and Jane to stand with me for a photo.
I had a coffee with Barbara and Jane. We talked about Britain's national health system and whether something similar would work in the U.S. I gave Barbara and Jane my website details and also showed them the copy of my book that I carried with me. Jane said she would try to get a couple of copies from the hospice in Corning for her and Barbara.
After sleeping in a cold tent it was great to have some company. All too soon though my coffee was done and it was time to go.
Towanda Newspaper Connection
I walked off through Towanda. I hadn't gone far when a young woman flagged me down in a side road. Her name was Betsy Barnett and she was the receptionist at the Daily Review newspaper in Towanda. She took a photo of me and details of my journey and the message that hospices needed volunteers and money to take care of people. I thanked Betsy and headed off and onto the 220 North to Sayre. Again the day was hot with blue skies and burning sun. A sign said Sayre 16 miles.
An old Native American trail called The Warriors Path cut through a gap in mountains. A plaque told of how Native Americans used to travel from New York State to North Carolina.
The road cut through a gap between rocky cliffs and then down into farmland around the small town of Ulster.
Revisiting the Mather Library
Back in 1988 I had visited the Mather Library in Ulster and met a 98-year-old librarian called Aunt Mary. I wondered if the library would still be there.
Just as I was trying to figure out where the library would be, a young newspaper reporter called Steve Reilly stopped me for an interview and a picture by the Ulster town sign. I had lunch at a gas station market that did sub sandwiches.
Just down the road was a small white building with columns at the front...and the words Mather Library on the eaves.
I had a big smile on my face.
Grasping the same door handle I had held 21 years earlier, I opened the door. Inside was a woman in her thirties and an assistant who was in her twenties. I explained that in 1988 I had walked across the States and had stopped off at the library during a thunderstorm and met a lady called Aunt Mary. As I said this a voice piped up from behind the counter.
“I know...I was here!” The voice belonged to a woman called Rosemary. When I had come through before she had been in her late forties, now she was about 70. It was good to see her again. I showed Rosemary her picture in the book about my walk in 1988. Her hair then had been long, dark and big...very 1980's. Her hair now was short and light brown.
I took pictures of Rosemary with Deneen, the new head librarian and Becky, the young assistant librarian. Deneen said she would try to get hold of a couple of my books from the Southern Tier Hospice.
A Teacher Will Spread the Word of My Walk
I said I'd better get moving and said goodbye to the library and the women. Through farmland around Milan and Green Landing my walk went on. A school teacher called Jessica stopped in her car to ask if she could buy me a coffee or something else. I said I'd better keep moving, as I wanted to find a motel in Sayre. She said she would show her students my Web site and talk with then about the walk.
Respite at the Hampton Inn
On entering Athens I asked a man called Chuck for directions to a motel. His directions were to take main street three lights down, do a left and try to find Pitney Street and the Hampton Inn.
As dark fell I walked to the three stoplights. At the third one I asked some people sitting outside of their home having a barbeque if I was on the right track for the Hampton Inn. In the dark, down roads with no sidewalk, I really wanted to get to a motel. After asking for directions two more times I staggered across a parking lot and reached the Hampton.
The room cost $162 but I was glad it there. My blisters, sore legs and mosquito bites and sunburn all drained me of energy. In the room I ran a bath. When I got into the bath I fell asleep. It was good to soak away my aches and pains.
When I got out of the bath I was hobbling around like an old man. I wondered if I would be able to reach Elmira by tomorrow. Somehow I needed to get my body to repair itself. I put clothes back on over my sore body and walked slowly to an elevator to take me up to drink dispensing machines.
I managed to get a 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew. All other sodas had sold out. Still for me Mountain Dew would do. All I needed was some sugar to give me some more energy. In the room I drank the Mountain Dew, cleaned my teeth and curled up on the bed. Hopefully tomorrow would take me closer to my hospice visit and the chance of a place to stay for more than one night.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Walking to Elmira on Route 17
Breakfast at the Hampton Inn saw me eating a banana, fruit and cereal. I had almost forgotten what a healthy breakfast was!
From my room I phoned up Paul Rossi at the Southern Tier Hospice, to see if I could stay with a volunteer from the hospice for several nights. Paul said he would ask and I said I would phone him when I reached Elmira.
I asked the hotel receptionist for directions on how to reach Elmira.
She said the back road way was bad, with nowhere to walk along the edge. She suggested getting onto route 17. So, Route 17 it was. 220 North led me towards 17 West.
Just as I was about to get onto 17 a man in a car held up a newspaper and shouted:
“Hey...you are in the paper!”
I smiled. And kept walking down a grassy bank and past a sign saying Elmira 15.
It was about 11 am, so by rights I should be in Elmira by 4 or 5 pm.
Snakes!
Onto the desert of Route 17 I set out. Cars and trucks rushed on by, just feet from me. I listened to the radio and some CDs to pass the time. The sun was bright and the skies clear blue. Hour followed hour.
There were turnoffs for Wilawana, Chemung and Wellsburg. I didn't take the turn offs.I stopped to drink water every couple of hours. At one spot where I was making for some shade for a rest a snake about two feet long slid its way ahead of me. It was brown with a coppery line running down the centre of its back. I was trying for photo, but the snake melted into the grass. I sat for a while and took my shoes off.
As I sat there a garter snake slithered up to me. I moved and it made for the undergrowth. I also spotted a small baby snake. There was certainly a whole lot of hissing going on.
At bridges over the Chemung River and other rivers the thundering trucks made the bridges wobble up and down.
More Police Questioning
By 4:20 I reached the Newtown Battlefield and walked up a grassy bank into some shade. I drank the last water from my bottle and it was from the sun.
As I sat there a blue police car pulled up and a large police officer with a bald head and sunglasses climbed out of the car.
“Excuse me sir? Did you know you aren't allowed to walk on the highway?”
My heart sank...Elmira was just about 3 mikes further on. I walked down to the police officer and explained, “I'm walking from New York to North Dakota for hospices. I want to get onto 352 to Corning. Is that the next exit?”
He gave me permission, saying, “As it's daylight and you'll be coming off at exit 56 I've got no problem with that. I'm not going to give you a ticket, but try to stick to the roads that are not expressways. Good luck with your walk too.
I headed down route 17 for the last three miles. It was with much relief that I left 17 and walked on down to the Holiday Inn on Water Street.
A Holiday Inn—and Some Vegetables!
Outside the Holiday Inn I phoned Paul Rossi. I got Paul's voicemail and told him that I would check into the Holiday Inn and get some food there, then phone again later.
With sunburn on my left arm and leg and huge blister on my right heel, it felt good to stop walking.
In the restaurant at the Holiday Inn I drank a large glass of orange juice, a large glass of milk, two glasses of coke, then ate broiled haddock, salad and--at last, after two weeks in America, I actually got some vegetables.
A second phone call to Paul Rossi put me in touch with a hospice worker called Linda Vandergrinten. For the next three nights I will stay with a hospice worker.
Now it's 1 am and I'm about to go drain the blister on my heel. I just hope my body forgives me for all this punishment it's getting.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Start of Three Great Days at the van der Grintens’ Home
Saturday dawned bright and I began to wonder if the sun would ever quit!
I had breakfast at the Holiday Inn restaurant, packed my gear and headed through the streets of Elmira. Fancy old buildings passed on by.
At one spot, just past the grand City Hall, an old red popcorn van, built in 1929 and used on the streets of Elmira until 1971, was preserved behind a wood and glass show case.
Through Elmira, then West Elmira I walked on route 352 North. My destination was the home of Linda van der Grinten, a woman who works at the Southern Tier Hospice. Her house was on route 352.
By 2:45 I spotted the white two-story building and walked up to the door. As I knocked a teenage girl called out inside the house and I could see Linda working in the kitchen. Linda opened the door and thus began three great days.
Linda, her husband Martin and their 15-year-old daughter Ashley were fantastic hosts.
After two weeks of motels and camping, with a different place each day, it was great to be able to stay at one place for three days.
On that Saturday afternoon I sat in the kitchen of the van der Grintens, drinking orange juice, while. Linda helped Ashley make a cloth bag for school books.
In between giving Ashley instructions, Linda checked out my route on Google and we hatched a plan where I would walk to Bath on Sunday, then try to reach Dansville on Monday.
Linda would ferry me back to her house and get me to the Southern Tier Hospice to meet the staff and volunteers.
A Bit about Southern Tier Hospice
For most of the afternoon I talked to Linda and asked he questions about Southern Tier Hospice. Linda told me that she had begun working part-time in the hospice office and now worked full time for the hospice on the finance side. Linda also told me about a Sunshine Fund, which was from donations from the staff at the hospice office. The Sunshine Fund had been used to take a hospice patient off to see a car race that he had always wanted to see. Another patient was given rose bushes. There was another scheme called Angel Food, where hospice patients ‘families were given food if they had financial problems. Linda had also taken several hospice patients to lunch. Much of what hospice did was aimed at giving people things to look forward to, or meeting people's basic needs. I began to get a feel for what the Southern Tier Hospice was all about.
Dinner, Music, Laughter – It Feels Great to be in a Home
Afternoon became evening as we talked. Linda cooked dinner of pork chops, sweet potato and zucchini. It was so nice to be eating real food and to be sitting with two other people while eating. There was a fantastic family atmosphere to Linda's house. Linda's husband Martin was at the State Fair and would be getting back home late. After the dinner we had lemon meringue pie. One taste and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
We played some music CDs that I carried. I had made compilation CD's with Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Procul Harem, Al Green, The Eagles, R.E.M., Pink Floyd, The Doors and many more. Linda and Ashley liked the music. They had some CDs of Flight of the Conchords music. The Flight of the Conchords were two guys from New Zealand who told funny stories, “bantered” and sung their funny songs. They had me in tears of sniggering. Linda's husband Martin got home from the State Fair. We talked about my walk and Martin made a map to show me the way to get to Bath by back roads.
After a good hot shower I slept sound in the happy home that belonged to the van der Grintens.
