6/22/2015
I never expected grinding loud gears and people mowing lawns with industrial mowers in a town with a tiny population. The trick was to keep the focus off the sounds. I coaxed myself back to sleep for a couple hours. When I was able to finally pry my eyes open and start my day, Crystal had the kind of news that had been known to put a frown on my face. She showed me a large crack on the window of our truck. The damage had to have happened when we chose to stay asleep. Perhaps I should have heeded the sounds of nature. My shoulders slumped as I walked to start my day. I had no joy in my steps as I asked myself, “Why did we have to have issues with our support vehicle every week?”
My legs struggled to find happiness throughout the day. The weather mirrored my mood and stayed glum. There was no rage in the sky; only gloomy clouds. It took Crystal hours to elicit a smile from me. She succeeded when she brought me news that we would be spending the night at Genesee Country RV Park in Caledonia. I picked up the pace after hearing the news but my feet still weren’t happy. The steps were still a struggle but the thought of relaxing kept me going. I would use the hot water at the resort to rinse away all the ill feelings. It was not normal for such a small incident to wreak such havoc on my cheery disposition.
My arrival to the camp was greeted by many warm smiling faces. The campers helped pick up my spirits. My stories wowed the youngsters that asked me dozens of questions. I remembered why I was on this journey. I was reminded that we didn’t achieve great feats without obstacles and difficulty.
The next day we had another late start. It had become the norm. It didn’t bother me. I just rolled with it and enjoyed running past farms, galloping deer, and baby goats. I ran happy even though we didn’t have a place to stay. The town of Batavia had plenty of places to park but I didn’t want to tax myself unnecessarily the following day so I continued past the town. We ended up on a plot of land that had a business that was closed for the weekend.
The sun went to bed and the darkness surrounded us. There was very little noise except for the occasional passing car. When Crystal stepped out of the car she saw something she had never seen before in her life. It was an electric light show put on by fireflies in the night. We watched the lights sparkle and blink until our eyes grew heavy. We didn’t have the energy to stay up late. We relaxed and fell right to sleep. It was the best course of action since we wanted to have an early start to a thirty plus mile day.
The journey to Buffalo was a straight line. Homes were peppered about on each side of the street. It wasn’t until Cheektowaga that the population grew dense. Franchises sprouted up around me and of course came the invariable ghettos. Once I was in downtown Buffalo the air smelled like a real city. The Father’s day holiday left the streets barren. I felt like I was running through a ghost town. The Hampton Inn appeared in the distance. It was bigger all the Hampton Inn’s we had stayed in except for the one in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I took advantage of the hot water and soaked away all my aches. Suddenly my stomach rumbled. It signaled a new mission for me and Crystal: the search for food.
Leave a reply