Distance = 7 Miles; People Met = 15
Let’s work backwards for this day, and please read through to the end. Most of the people we met this day were located in the campground where we stayed at the end. We were told by Bruce, the pastor at Redstone, and by Larry Darien, a cowboy we met on the road to Marble, to talk to Miriam at the campground and use them as a reference to stay for free.
Larry entering truck, in front of former railroad station now used by cowboys
The campground office was closed when we arrived and we entered the campground to find the host’s campsite. I asked the first campsite we encountered if they were the hosts and they pointed me to another campsite beyond theirs. As we passed through I told them what we were doing and they invited us to dinner. We took them up on their offer. When we could not locate Miriam after several attempts we also took them up on their offer to set up a tent on their site and to join them for breakfast the next morning.
L to R: George, Rachel, Maddy, Randy, Vaughn, Greg, Matt, Terri, Zoe, Michelle
Our hosts consisted of four different families come together. George and Michelle were the hub, the main organizers of the trip. George is in real estate and was very gracious towards us. Their son Matt, formerly home schooled and artistically talented in several ways, was their as well, as was the family of two of Matt’s instructors at the college he attended, Greg and Rachel. They were their with their two daughters, Zoe and Maddy. Rachel went to school at UConn and, additionally prompted by her coursework in Sociology, took the greatest interest in our community involvement advocacy.
I did not uncover the connection between George and Vaughn (originally from Zimbabwe), Terri (married to Vaughn), and Randy, but the latter three were from the same town of Bailey, Colorado. Once Vaughn opened up he was quite affable in telling his story of going from country to country, then state to state, until he ended up in Colorado. We perhaps talked to Randy most of all because: 1) he asked the most question of us; and 2) he has a son the same age as ours that is also struggling a bit.
Before we left Redstone we ran into Bob and Tammy. We first met Bob at McClure campground when he came over to find out if we had enough water. There are some folks you can find yourself chatting easily and forever with and Bob is one of those folks. He and Tammy now live out of their motor home and seem quite delighted to be doing so.
Bob and Tammy
That leaves the most important and unexpected encounter of the day, an encounter that provided new direction. We obtained some food supplies at a City Market in Carbondale. Jean Owen was handing out ice cream samples to customers and you can bet that attracted us like bears to honey. The gaiters we were wearing stimulated Jean’s curiosity and we began to learn each others story.
Jean Owen
Jean and her husband Cody bicycled up to 4 1/2 months for causes, initially for Alzheimer’s, but for others as well. We talked of community involvement and cooperation between folks. We learned that her husband had passed away, ultimately a victim of Agent Orange. Towards the end he rode hand powered bicycles for causes. Jean keeps forever in her heart the following passage included in the celebration of Cody’s life.
“Aho Matakuye Oyasin (a native american phrase which means – honoring all my relations) The two-legged (homo sapiens), the four legged, the winged and water ones, the one-leggeds (tree, grass and flower sisters) and the rock and crystal sisters. Walking along the path…let all your relations bless each step of your journey. They are wiser than either you or I and have never left the path of harmony. Their spirits are teachers to us all.”
It was clear that as Jean learned more of our story she looked to us as torch bearers, people that were keeping up the good fight that she had been involved in. Her eyes started to get puffy and her voice wavered. She cried. We cried, including Ky who was with us. We hugged.
That image was implanted in my mind as we walked from Redstone to Marble, an image enhanced somewhat by the mountain beauty we were entering. A couple weeks earlier I was also in tears, as first Dre then Brandon thanked me for providing a voice to their housing struggles. It occurred to me the irony in my message that Lions Clubs and our youth need to start doing things WITH others in community, not just FOR others through volunteerism, yet I considered I was doing something FOR humanity by bringing this need for more community involvement to people’s attention.
There now seems to be a much higher purpose to our journey across the country, a purpose that dawned on me as tears welled up again on the walk to Marble. There are people and communities that need their stories told, and I’m in a position to tell them. This is not something I do FOR them, as indeed I have gained the most from these encounters. Besides telling their stories here, I’ve now decided to postpone my original plans for The Five Forgotten Truths and write another book first. The title:
A Walk WITH Humanity: Inspiring Stories of People and Communities Across America
By the way, if you haven’t yet, check out the podcast on Redstone for Day 101; it’s one of the stories sure to be featured in the book.
