The week started with a rest day in Cimarron to wait out a snowstorm. We stayed at the Cimarron Hotel, the same place where the original team that mapped out the ADT stayed to also wait out a wintry storm. Such historical figures as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday stayed there as well.
The “hotel” was in name only, with no hotel staff or reception area. We landed there because our Garden City hosts called ahead to their friend and “hotel” owner Kathleen Holt to welcome us in. We only managed to speak to Kathleen by phone, who shared a story about the ADT mapping team playing Taboo near the Christmas holidays, otherwise the other guests of the “hotel” were temporary renters and other people Kathleen was helping out.
After sharing the same hotel space as the legendary Wyatt Earp, our next stop was the legendary Dodge City. I spoke at the Lions Club there, where once again I was well-received. In lieu of an unsolicited donation, something strangely related occurred after my presentation when two club members came to speak with me.
In addition to showing excitement over some of the community involvement ideas, they gave me heartfelt thanks specifically for not asking them for any donations. Apparently, many cross country travelers pass through Dodge by foot, horseback or bicycle; apparently, many do so on behalf of a cause for which they solicit support. In contrast, our cause involved more giving to the local community than soliciting, which brought palpable relief to our hosts.
I have hiked in two different eras now. The seventies and eighties witnessed much fewer long distance hikers than now.. A few hundred hiked the Appalachian Trail the same year I first did in 1975; under one hundred tackled the Pacific Crest Trail in 1977; our group of seven who thru-hiked the entire Continental Divide Trail in 1985 likely doubled the number of all previously successful thru-hikers, as claimed to us at the time by the Continental Divide Trail Society.
Back then manufacturers of outdoor gear were more willing to sponsor a thru-hiker; I have been sponsored by several. Now there are too many thru-hikers, and the endeavor too common, to engage sponsorship outside of unusual cases. Instead, there appears to be a rise in the number of long distance travelers doing so for a cause these days, so much so that local communities along the more frequently traveled paths have been saturated with their soliciting.
Maybe our model of giving something to the communities we pass through, albeit what only amounts to advice in our case, can be the next long distance hiker trend. I own a pedicab that I used for transporting Cindy around town when she first no longer could walk; someday I hope to traverse the country again, this time in the pedicab and stopping at children’s hospitals (children weigh less) to provide rides for disabled kids. Anyone could come up with their own unique idea for this model of giving while traveling.
Dodge City was literally a turning point for us, as in we turned to hike due north until we reached Larned. This exposed us to high cross winds of 40+ mph over the open Kansas plains, forcing us to lean into the wind and hiking somewhat at a diagonal. As we hiked mostly on paved roads throughout this stretch, whenever a large truck broke the wind for us we had to catch ourselves from suddenly falling over. “Russian thistle,” tumbling tumbleweeds if you will, would soar across the road too quickly for me to adequately catch on camera.
Sheriff Bobby Blackwell stopped us along this stretch to engage in long, friendly conversation. He advised us that tornadoes track northeast, which means if we encountered one we should always head southeast. Considering this was Kansas, we paid close attention to his expert advice.
Another sheriff stopped us as we neared Larned, but this exchange was not as pleasant. A passing motorist had reported us with suspicion and the sheriff had to respond. We did not mind the interrogation as the sheriff looked embarrassed the whole time for having to ask for our ID, except for having to stand still in the rain. I guess we did not look too threatening to him and he left us with meek apologies. A trucker punctuated this incident soon after by giving us a long blast on his horn. Most horn blasts give us are unmistakably friendly; this one unmistakably was not.
This would seem out of character for Kansas, a state that the ADT grapevine holds as one of the friendliest along the way, but how people behave when hurried or under pressure differs from how they behave when relaxed. Towns in Kansas showed us great hospitality, to which this very stretch attested.
In Spearville we stayed at the Presbyterian Church. Britta, the sexton there, brought us supper and invited us for breakfast while introducing us to her cute helpers.
In Kinsley, halfway point milewise for the country, we stayed at the Methodist Church, as arranged by the Methodist Church that previously hosted us in Dodge City. Our stay fell on a Sunday and I sang in the choir, being asked to come back by fellow choristers who did not otherwise know what I was doing there.
In Garfield we stayed at the Methodist Church that was the former parish for the pastor in Kinsley. We participated in their delicious potluck supper. Unfortunately, our conversation with parishioners revealed how towns in Kansas like Garfield are diminishing in numbers and involvement.
In Larned we once again stayed at a Methodist Church, holding over for a rest day through another storm. We made friends with Frank the custodian, whose wife Linda sent back to the church the second evening to bring us home for showers, laundry and supper.
When I first looked back on this week, nothing of great importance immediately stood out, but as I took a closer look I realized why our ADT journey stands out as the most amazing one of all. Every journey features memorable moments, including memorable moments of kindness, but the kindness along the way on this journey became more ubiquitous than memorable. That realization at the time primed me for a conversation in Larned that did prove memorable.
Jason Toll was the outreach pastor Helping Hands Ministry in Larned, a central organization to combine an existing food pantry and benevolence missions that take care of various needs from fuel bills to funeral costs. They get their funds from various churches, the town and citizens, along with donations for businesses such as Kroger’s. There are no questions asked to help those professed to be in emergency need. Their assistance is not meant to be sustaining, after six years they report no abuse of this benevolence.
Right before I entered Jason’s office to interview him, he had been visited by a member of the community. News got out that the annual Thanksgiving meal was being cancelled because of lack of financial support from the area churches. The woman offered to cover the whole cost of the Thanksgiving meal anonymously, believing that this community function should never die. This generous act by a nonbeliever created a minor crisis of faith for the Assembly of God pastor and my timely entrance made me his sounding board.
Jason confessed he believed that only through faith are we moved towards good works, even though the anonymous woman seemed to refute that. That caused him to ask what motivated me to walk across the country promoting the virtues of kindness and community. I replied that as a long distance hiker I experienced kindness naturally flowing from all kinds of people in all kinds of situations, including this past week of hiking north towards Larned.
Certain conditions can turn off the tap for our kindness, conditions like hurried traffic or stressful work (or partisan politics and “social” media for that matter), but otherwise the natural empathy we feel for others causes us to respond. Just from the short time we conversed I told Jason I believed his heart motivated him, not his faith. He did not readily agree, yet at our parting I could tell he was considering that possibility. Perhaps he still does to this day.
