08/11/09
OD Start: 99891.9
OD End: ? 13 1/2 hour day. Seems I did 485 klms or 290 miles?
Started at 10:00am from Whitefish South on #93. At "Kalispell" I turned West on #2
Hot day, needed an ass break, nice spot.Sat on the dock for a while and watched jet skis and boats.
I Like Waterfalls OK
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This was a good story
I hadn't eaten and was starving, I had put off food for long enough.
I pulled into a gas station around "Marion". It was 1:00 pm or so. As I parked the bike I noticed a yong guy walking along the hwy. I noticed he did not seen to be interested in thumbing a ride. Parked when in and met the owners of the place. Sat down at a diner like counter and ordered some breakfast. Summer holiday for the kids, so the owners daughter was at the counter. Cute kid "Brieanna" , same name as my eldest.
I sit and chat with Brieanna and her mom and this guy walks in. He's the same guy I saw walking toward the station on my way in. This is difficult to write because I don't know how to put what happened into words.
He comes into the counter area and sits down. There is something in the air, something different, a feeling of uneasiness,anxiety, assurance weired vibe and yet strange feelings of hope.
I like to think I can sit and read a lot about people so I immediately go into that mode. I notice he has a baseball cap with some words on it. I start up a conversation with him, at one point I see his cap says "Walk for Peace". I went to high school with a guy who walked across Canada in 1978 and I started to put it together.
I asked him if was walking across the United States?
He looked up and said yes!
He looked as though he was a traveller in need, so I asked him if I could buy him a meal.
He was extremely grateful and with a wink and a nod to the owner she went back into the kitchen to make this boy some food.
His name is "Troy", we talked about his sleep last night under the porch of the local church and of his travels
Quite a unique experience. Turns out he walked from Florida to Arizona last summer until it became to hot to continue to the coast. He was now walking from Seattle to just inside the Montana border to complete his 2 year commitment.
We chat some more, I finish my food, pay for the "HEAPING" mound of food he ended up with slip another $20.00 under his coffee cup and say my goodbyes.
"Troy" asks me if he can take my photo and get my address etc. I ask why and he pulls me off to the side and in a very natural manner explains that the reason he is doing is this walk.
Said he got tired of hearing nothing but bad news on the media, he wanted to see if the USA was as bad as he was seeing on the NEWS
Explained to me that he decided he would walk the Country and see what happened.
He was looking for those moments where people helped one another without thought of credit or reward.
He wrote the 1st 9 chapters of a book last winter, and now apparently I'm in the book .
All let all that sink in till my next post
TROY "no Forest Gump" comments please
