French Ridge Road to Leopold; Distance = 5 Miles; People Met = 10+
As we neared Leopold in the morning Dennis Matz stopped by us in his truck, offering to carry our packs up the last hill into town. We declined because we had a short distance left to hike, but that was not the nicest thing Dennis did for me. After being called an old man in Kansas, and Cindy’s father in Missouri, Dennis asked Cindy if we were husband and wife. Yes!! I’m young again!
Dennis Matz offered to carry our packs
Shortly after Dennis left, Earlene Preher stopped by bearing a variety of food gifts. She witnessed us walking by her house and just had to greet us. Ironically, she never saw the Evansville media coverage. What she did watch, whenever she can, were documentaries on the Appalachian Trail, which she hopes to hike herself someday. From the documentary she knew what trail angels were; she played the part beautifully.
Earlene Preher, accomplished trail angel
We arrived at the meeting place for Ky to bring us to Leavenworth and a third person was there. Ky met Ginny Hardin’s daughter at the Abbey in St. Meinrad. She knew her Mom wanted to meet us, this time from the media coverage, and found out from Ky when that could reliably happen.
Ginny Hardin (please forgive me, Ginny, for the windblown look)
We caught the service at the Crawford Consolidated United Methodist Church in Leavenworth at the tail end, just in time to hear Pastor Jason Walton talk about the importance of belonging to others. Those were not his words precisely, but that is how I phrase it in my talks. Too bad I did not catch the whole sermon. However, we did catch the fifth Sunday potluck the church holds after the service. Doing something special on fifth Sundays is a neat idea, one I’ll report back on to my church. I gave a small talk at the lunch based on Micah 6:8: “Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.”
Fifth Sunday potluck at Crawford Consolidated United Methodist Church
In the evening Ken Olin from the church hosted us at his house for wifi access. Ken and his wife are retired teachers in the process of moving everything from their northern Indiana home to the one here in Leavenworth. He is an Indiana history buff as well and delighted in sharing some of his knowledge with us. Ken would have wanted us to stay at his house but we had everything set up at the UMC and returned when we were done with our Internet chores.
