We depended on Ky to slackpack us along this stretch where we stayed at a church, a hotel and two homes. Usually, our stays at people’s homes occurred from us meeting them, such as our last stay in the home of the Coopers, but in this case Ky scouted out and arranged for this hospitality before our arrival. As a result the quotient of kindness received and observed continued to be the highest for Indiana out of all the states we traversed.
Sandwiched in between our two home visits was New Albany, where my contact with Lions Club member Donna Robinson led to a variety of mission related activities. With her training as a distant runner Donna had no problem coming out to join us on our walk into New Albany. Ironically, one thing I did not do in town was present at a Lions Club meeting, though we did gather with a few of the members at a Mexican Restaurant our first evening in town.
With Donna as our guide, I instead presented at a bookstore and a church meeting at St. Mark’s UCC. I also performed at a talent show held at St. Mark’s. A children’s choral group singing “Seasons of Love” at the show brought me to tears. The lyrics of the song ask how to measure a year in one’s life, with the resounding refrain: “How about love?!” Indeed, with our year long journey focusing on kindness observed and received all across the country, what better theme song for us could there be?
One of our days in New Albany Donna brought us to a community meals program at St. Mark’s for lunch. There we chatted with Snow about all the different organizations that communicate with and supplement each other to help those in need, similar to the approach in Tell City, Indiana and Marion, Illinois. Donna also brought us to a clothing thrift shop as part of this network, where I picked up my 6th pair of sneakers to wear. All our activities required us staying in New Albany a few nights at the Holiday Inn Express, which they comped us thanks to Director of Sales Mandy Cobb.
Before arriving at New Albany we stayed at the home of Frank and Annette Price, thanks to Ky’s diligence on our behalf. After New Albany we stayed at the home of Jay and Fran Munk near Henryville, also thanks to Ky’s connections. We arrived at the Munk’s in time to watch the New York Giants win the Super Bowl.
Jay Munk was a contractor who built his own home as well as the one next door for his widowed sister. Jay and Fran gushed with pride over their children, including their special needs daughter who was a very confident and happy person. They also had an extended family whose birthdays they celebrated while we were there. One was for their nephew’s daughter, the other was for an African-American named Rich who called Jay “Pops” in recognition of all Jay did for him. Rich was attending the University of Kentucky on a football scholarship, drawing an obvious parallel between the Munks and the Tuohy family in “The Blind Side.”
The first morning we were in Henryville, and had yet to visit the Munks, I entered a restaurant to gather information. My maps indicated a back road that would be more suitable to hike after Henryville than the main road on the ADT route. I wondered what unforeseen problem might have caused the ADT to avoid the back road and consulted a table of after service gatherers from the local Methodist church, which included the pastor. They assured us of no problems with the back road alternate route. They then included us in a prayer circle for our journey and took up a collection for us on the spot.
The morning after we spent the night with the Munks, Jay arranged for me to give a talk at Henryville High School. We ate breakfast at a diner across from the school, then I spoke to the school’s Key Club, a charity driven organization affiliated with the Kiwanis Club. As usual for this audience, a couple of young people approached me afterwards to ask what they could do to make a difference in their community.
Little did I know at the time that a couple weeks later an F4 tornado would destroy Henryville High School, while tossing a school bus like a javelin into the diner where we ate.
After Henryville we slackpacked our way into Madison, where we stayed at the St. John’s UCC. Madison stands out as a town with a part European, part old time feel. The town survived the 1937 flood that decimated most Ohio River towns. As other towns were modernizing in the aftermath, Madison focused on maintaining and restoring their existing charm. To underscore this quaint history, one of the first things we witnessed in Madison was a paperboy, in the employ of the oldest family owned newspaper in Indiana.
St. Johns faced the same struggle of many church denominations with a dwindling congregation served by a now oversized church structure. They held an intimate soup dinner for us, echoing the homey vibe of Madison as a whole. I did not give a talk, but rather just ran a slideshow of photos from our journey in the background as we chatted with each other family style. Pastor Mike Straub and wife Harriet were particularly welcoming to us and we could tell he took great pride in his church in his town. Mike also availed Ky and myself of his familiarity with the region to map out alternatives to some of the main roads on the ADT route.
One thing I noticed in looking back on this week, indeed all of Indiana, are all the gag photos I took of signs and other oddities along our route. Does Indiana have a greater sense of humor than other states? Was I naturally in a better mood to see the humor in most things? Or was Cindy’s increasing health having a positive impact on me as well.
