Goreville to Burden Falls Wilderness; Distance = 20 Miles; People Met = 21+
We got a late start on the first day as I had to be interviewed by a radio station out of Cambridge, Maryland. The interview went well and when I get a podcast of the interview I’ll share it on this site. Being the ecumenical folk that we are we left the UCC in Marion, stayed at a United Methodist Church in Goreville that evening and had breakfast at a Freewill Baptist Church the following morning.
Breakfast with Baptists
After a fine breakfast Ky dropped us off at Tunnel Hill for a three day stretch. We met three college students from Southern Illinois University who were in awe of what we were doing. College students in general have been the most enthusiastic about our journey and cause. Unfortunately, outside of Colorado I have not done well at finding college venues for my “Believe in Humanity” presentation. It’s hard to get in direct contact with the decision-makers. Being on the trail I can only contact them infrequently and they seldom get back in touch.
Bill, Tiffany and Garrick (birthday boy)
I’ve always thought of the Ozarks as being in Missouri but we’ve been informed different by some Illinois folks. There’s even a town called Ozark that we went through and we followed Ozark Road for a good bit. People offered or gave us some roadside assistance three times along our route.
Larry Davis checked up on us along the Ozark Road (he looks different on TV)
The first assistance was provided by Greg, who hailed us from his porch to tell us the back road we were on came to a dead end with barbed wire fences obstructing further progress. He drove us back to a road intersection where we could follow an unobstructed route.
Greg and Steve
A few miles later we ran into Mel and Karen for a second time, the first being at the Ozark General Store. A golden retriever mix dog, without a collar, had been following us for miles when they stopped by to say “hello” again. They agreed to take him back down the road from where we came and let him loose. The dog hopped into their truck on his own volition as if he belonged to them. He was a docile, loving dog but we just can’t take care of one while on a 5,000 mile journey.
Mel and Karen
We also had run into Dale and Vaughn at the Ozark General Store. Dale lamented that he wished he could not have us for lunch but he had a commitment to check out a milk cow right then. I told him we did not taste good, anyways.
Vaughn and Dale
We set up camp amidst red pine inside the Shawnee National Forest and braced ourselves for a long night.
Other Photos
Becky offered us a place to stay, but we needed to move on
Can you list all the anomalies in this sign?
