The pastor of the UCC in Boonville, Julia Fiocco, and her husband Larry Jones hosted us at the start of this stretch. While our presence midweek prevented us from attending a service, the Advent season found us participating in a candle lit ritual with our hosts. While sitting in a circle, we shared our Wows (something good that happened), Pows (something bad) and Hows (how God affected our lives that day. I do not recall the specifics of what we shared now, but I do recall a feeling of closeness resulting from the ritual. Evidently Julia felt the same, at least with Cindy, as she commented before we left that she felt a warm glow in Cindy.
Julia’s affirmation of Cindy’s well-being came at an opportune time, as I had just received an email from our last hostess in Kansas City. She surmised that Cindy had Alzheimer’s and chastised me for bringing her on this journey. She even demanded that I should get an advocate for my wife, presumably to protect her from me. Her chastisement shocked me.
I sent an email back with an indignant tone over the implication I was irresponsible with Cindy. Since five doctors denied Cindy had Alzheimer’s before the journey, I echoed their denial and ironically claimed we would not be doing this if she had Alzheimer’s. I instead countered we were addressing an anxiety disorder and the journey was working in that regard.
Julia’s counter claim that Cindy glowed also surprised me, but at least in a positive way. Sure, Cindy showed progress, but any perceived “glow” was just Cindy being who she is, a warm and kind person, without even being fully recovered yet. In any case, I dismissed the suggestion to get Cindy and advocate to care for her properly.
From Boonville we began our hike along the Katy Trail, a converted rail bed. For much of the way we followed a level, gravel path that threaded between the Missouri River and neighboring limestone cliffs. As we were now entering winter the leaves were off, providing scenic glimpses of the radiant cliffs, while blackbirds and cardinals fluttered around us. In contrast, the Missouri River appeared gloomy, due in part to the often gloomy days that escorted us along the Katy Trail section.
As Ky slackpacked us along the Katy Trail we next stayed with John Hooker in Columbia, MO. John is the son of my brother Ernie’s significant other, making him the first and only of our hosts during the journey with a family connection. When not hiking we joined John and his girlfriend Staci in exploring the vibrant college town of Columbia.
Staci has a hobby of carting her inherited red couch, known as the Divine Divan, to different places and taking pictures of people sitting on it. John met Staci when she asked him to be a subject and he refused. Now they both cart the divan around for photo ops, including one of us on the Katy Trail.
The Katy Trail passes near the Peace UCC in Hartsburg, which became our next base camp after John. I gave a talk about kindness and community to the youth group and parents when we arrived. Afterwards, Pastor Clairnel Nervik arranged for Ky to stay at the church while Cindy and I went home with Wendy Gustofson. This turned out to be a great place to stay a week before Christmas, and not just because of the outdoor hot tub.
We first began experiencing Christmas along the American Discovery Trail in early November, with Christmas decorations along the streets of Great Bend, Kansas. As we continued we witnessed more towns decorated for Christmas, along with attending the KristKindl Markt. Now in the Gustofson home we experienced the anticipation of Christmas by Wendy’s nine year old son, Daniel. I particularly enjoyed looking on as Wendy helped Daniel read the letter he received from Santa. This helped put us in the family mood for Christmas.
We learned two tales of kindness speaking to Pastor Clairnel. One was how the congregation rallied around a homeless family transplanted from Michigan. Within a week they had a home and the father a job. If someone thinks this shows no excuses for homeless people they are missing the point; it took a whole congregation to help this family out of homelessness. The Peace UCC and Hartsburg benefited from kindness as well, being located too near the Missouri River during a flood. We heard similar rescue efforts occurred for Hartsburg flooding as with the Holly and Wellington tornadoes.
The Katy Trail greeted us with an uptick in coverage, with one article in print media and two radio spots. Wendy contributed to this further by reaching out to a former work connection at CBS. The day after the local CBS station interviewed us, we chanced to see the interview in an unexpected way.
We left the Gustofson home full packing along the Katy Trail to the Turner Katy Trail Shelter in Tebbetts. A woman bequeathed the shelter to Missouri’s Department of Conservation for the express purpose of being a low expense hostel for Katy Trail travelers. The hostel was closed for the season but still accessible to two hikers crazy enough to be hiking during winter. Our contact for an upcoming presentation at the St. Paul UCC in Hermann, Jack Wendleton, came out early to meet us and bring us to a local tavern for dinner. We were just leaving the tavern when the proprietor rushed out to tell us we were on TV.
In looking back on that television interview now I could see how dedicated I came across to the message of kindness and community. I could see why a person might get the impression that my dedication to the cause made me oblivious to what was going on with Cindy. That was not true, but I understand any false impression. Fortunately, the folks at the bar just offered us a drink instead.
The next day we arrived at the McKittricks stop for the rail trail, where we stayed at “Joey’s Bird House,” a quaint little cottage just recently set up for Katy Trail tourism. The Katy Trail rail bed traversed private properties via right of way, and were embraced by locals in general because of the revenue brought in by the rail trail. That was not always the case. Local landowners were vociferously opposed to this “taking” before the value for generating revenue became evident.
Ky got to experience what that resentment must have been like. As we hiked on roads in northeast Kansas, Ky explored a portion of rail bed that was destined to become a rail trail and part of the ADT. An angry landowner chased her away. I can only wonder if ten years later the folks from Kansas have softened to the idea as much as the folks from Missouri.
Our stay at the Bird House was comped to us, in consideration of the presentation I gave during a potluck supper at the St. Paul UCC in Hermann. Jack once again met us and became our chauffeur to the presentation. He also had a friend help out with a little camper repair for Ky. We were far from home, but the spirit of Christmas still found us.
