We drove out to Portland where we finished our walk last. We parked the car and unloaded everything into our carts. We had a friend who was helping us move the car forward for us today. It’s a huge help but it means we have to carry all of our stuff in the carts. This would be a 6 day stretch so it was a heavy load. Worth it to not have to worry about the car though.
We met up with Rob and Sarah and their daughter Cedar. I met Rob and Sarah on my last walk. I was on the Katy Trail in Missouri. They were riding their bikes across America. We ending up camping at the same place one night and stayed in touch afterwards. They live in Portland and it was so cool to be able to reconnect over 2 years later.
Cedar gave us some chocolate cake that she made for breakfast and then headed off to camp. Rob and Sarah walked with us for a good 5 or 6 miles. It was great. We got to catch up and tell stories from our travels.
After they left, Stick and I walked on down Hwy 88. It was a great backroad with beautiful shoulders and amazing views of the Atlantic Ocean. The houses were incredible. It was a great morning.
A woman who was out for a walk came over to us and asked if she could join us for a while. Awesome! She happened to be from Fort Kent. That is the town where we are finishing. She asked if there was anything that she could do to help us. I told her to rally her friends from back home to walk with us for the last steps. She was excited about it and told us that she would do everything she could to make it happen.
Then my friends from Georgia showed up, Kathi and Matthew. Kathi lost her son Joe a little over a year ago. Matthew is Joe’s brother. We had a lot of mutual friends back home so we connected through grief and have become friends in the process. I was so happy to see a familiar face. Kathi and her husband Dave have been helping facilitate the grief support group that I started up back home.
Kathi and Matthew walked a good 10 miles with us. There aren’t many miles that I’ve been happier on. We had a busy road and didn’t get to talk as much as I wanted but we still had a great day with no major incidents. We got to stop and talk to a few people and honor our loved ones too. I’m so glad we got to have that experience.
Stick and I headed a few miles north after they left and we found a place called Maine Idyll Motor Court. It’s a cottage rental place. We stopped in and asked if we could set up our tents on their property. They had no problem with it and told us where to go. Sweet!
We set up camp and cooked and ate and that was that.
Now I just found out that my sleeping pad has a slow leak so it looks like I’ll have a rough night’s sleep but hopefully I can patch it up tomorrow. Ugh… always something out here. Gotta do what you gotta do. It isn’t supposed to be easy. Good night. Enjoy your mattress. Lol
So many great experiences along the way. so happy that you’re finding many acts of kindness.
My husband and I met you in Portland. We were the ones in the RV on a 6 month road trip. We were so impressed with your story. Happy to hear you made it all the way.