McBaine to Hartsburg; Distance = 16.3 Miles; People Met = 10+
Today marks our longest hike ever, longer than the 3,000 mile Continental Divide Hike. We started out by reclining in a red divan. Staci inherited the divan from her grandmother. She brings the divan to unusual places and photographs people sitting on it. You can find the Divine Divan: the red couch chronicles as a group page on facebook. In a sense that’s how her and John met; he refused to be photographed in it and that stuck in her mind when she ran into him again later that day.
John and Staci placing the Divine Divan in position
The Katy Trail goes by many small towns, many of them former railroad stops. In between the towns are farmer’s fields, residential property and some unusual places like Cooper’s Landing. The initiative of Michael Cooper, I first learned of Cooper’s Landing from John. As we approached it from the trail we ran into “Naked” Dave Brady and “Dam It” Janet Moorland. Dave is one of the musicians involved with Cooper’s Landing and strongly encouraged me to talk to Cooper about the Landing. So I did.
We came to Hartsburg at the end of the day, where we greeted by Pastor Clairnel Nervik of the Peace UCC Church. Pastor Clairnel gave me some examples of the kindnesses the church is involved in, but I’ll save the podcast I made for tomorrow. I gave a talk to the youth group of the church, my first talk to this particular audience, over pizza and potluck. The adults asked more questions than the teenagers, but both audiences were engaged in the talk.
Pastor Clairnel had our schedules planned for us. Ky was to stay at the church, where she could plug in her camper, shower and “take a day off.” Cindy and I left the church with Wendy Gustofson, with whom we would stay for the next two nights.
Boon, John, Lola, Staci
A camp by the river, but no banjo music
"Naked" Dave Brady and "Dam It" Janet Moorland
