Days 238-239 – 1/17-18/12 – Shawneetown

Garden of the Gods to Shawneetown; Distance = 22 Miles; People Met = 5

Photos at the end

From Garden of the Gods we left the River to River Trail and slack packed to Shawneetown, with some company part way.  Originally, we were to do this stretch in one day, but fierce thunderstorms delayed our start the first morning and necessitated a second day.

A beagle hooked up with us right at Garden of the Gods.  We tried to discourage him at first but he had a collar with information.  We figured it was best for him to follow us out of the wilderness area towards town where we might be able to get in touch with his owner.

After awhile we could see why he might have got lost.  First he flushed out a flock of birds.  Then he found some animal in the woods that led to him howling up a storm.  We just kept hiking until he finally came back to us with a look that said:  “I found something for you back there, what is wrong with you guys?!”

We flagged down a car whose driver promised she would call the owner; our cell did not have coverage there.  About an hour later Russell Hunt drove up to us on Leamington Road to claim his son’s dog.  He explained the dog had been gone for four days, having disappeared while they were hunting.  He left a coat out overnight for the dog but when he came back the coat was gone.

Owner and dog reunited

In Shawneetown we first met Larry Uselton who was trying to start up a new grocery store in town; he had only been in business for about two weeks.  We wanted to pay him for the few food items we selected and he wanted to donate it to our cause.  Larry won out.  He recently overcame a slew of health problems and we are really rooting for him to succeed.

Larry Uselton's overcoming some health issues to start a new store in Shawneetown

The second person we met was James Head, chairman of the United Methodist Church board.  Most of the members of the church were related to the Head family.  James opened up his church to us where we slept a few nights.  He was 82 years young and very sociable; we got into several long chats during our stay.

James Head

We found out he was an 18 pound baby and mainly farmed throughout his life.  He told us of the time his grandpa walked across the Ohio River when there were plenty of trees to control water flow; of bootleggers that would have shot us if we were hiking back in the day; and how he lost three toes to a combine.  I’m going to miss James Head.

Other Photos

They needed two signs for all the information

Did they run out of paint?