We left the smokey motel room as soon as we could this morning. Breakfast was at the "good sisters" in Saint-... sausage, eggs,potatoes, fruit, toast and coffee went down quickly and well.
The drive to the walk start point was an easy one and after a quick stop to look at the Henryville Church we were on our way. As we came out of town, over a small rise, we could see mountains in the distance. We had little glimpses of mountains all day. There were lots of soybeans and cornfields at the edges of the road today but no stores. The first two km were over very quickly and I returned to Henryville for the van. The empty church parking lot that we had left less than an hour before was now packed. Latecomers were there to take the spot I emptied almost before I was out of the lot.
I quickly caught up with Fleur-Ange and Pauline, paused to let Fleur-Ange take a couple swallows of tea that she had left in the car, and then moved ahead 4 km. I saw a yard sale on the side of the road and guessed, correctly as it turned out, that it would be a stopping spot. Not many minutes further along a cyclist came up behind me and called my name. It was Phyllis T. , An old friend of mine that had moved to Vermont about 25 years ago. I had been in contact with her and knew she was going to try to meet us today but had been expecting her in a car. She had left her car at the border and decided to cycle to meet us. She cycled ahead of me to surprised Fleur-Ange and Pauline. By the time I caught up with them they were chatting like old friends. Phyllis cycled on a bit and returned just as we got to the yard sale.
There were several items that were of interest, if we had been closer to home. We were not. Nevertheless, Fleur-Ange bought a butterfly net. It turned out that the net had been used in West Africa back in the 60’s to collect butterflies and beetles. Hearing that we had to ask about his collection. He went into the house and brought back a box to share some of his collection.
Phyllis rode ahead to the border and I walked with Fleur-Ange and Pauline for a couple of km and then returned for the car. The next car move was all the way to the border. I saw Phyllis walking back as I drove and then followed her after I parked at the van. I met the three women about a km and a half down the road and we all walked to the border together.
It took quite a while to get the the border as the official wanted the whole story of the walk and then took our passports and disappeared for quite some time. Apparently we were all ok as he let us through. Phyllis drove ahead to show us the way the the state park where we had reservations. When we got there, she only stayed long enough to give us some special baking she had made for us. She is hoping to join us some time later.
The first night of camping went well.
Maybe photos tomorrow? Limited power and limited we-fi makes blogging a bit of a challenge.
No comments:
Post a Comment