I gave four presentations while in Cincinnati: one to the Sisters of the Transfiguration with whom we were staying; one to the Bethany elementary school; one to the Northeast Lions Club in Milford; and one to Northern Kentucky University. The previous university talk I gave was back at the University of Colorado, Denver, and the Director of Student Orientation there connected us to his counterpart, Jeff Iker, at NKU. Unfortunately, I competed with a Blake Sheldon concert on campus that night, but at least Jeff got his staff to attend.
We were first greeted at the Northeast Lions Club by my contacts before the journey started, Dan and Lin Ladrigan. The event became another example of receiving more inspiration about kindness than I presented in my talk. I interviewed Lions Chris and Debbie Nichols about their assistance of a homeless man. During that interview they expressed how good helping the homeless man made them feel, a testament to why altruism has been found to enhance brain health and longevity.
On the day I presented to the Northeast Lions Club we stopped at the Roads, Rivers and Trails outing store to buy maps. The owners Kara, Emily and Joe treated us like rock stars, not so much because of our present journey as our past ones, with Cindy being the first woman to thru-hike the Continental Divide Trail and me being the first person to achieve both a hat trick (having hiked the Appalachian Trail three times by 1983) and the Triple Crown of backpacking. A friend of the owners, named Josh, took a particular interest in us, as he was planning to hike a large portion of the ADT on the way to a friend’s home in Montana.
Our reception at Roads, Rivers and Trails led to the store being our destination on our first day hiking out of Cincinnati. The city walk reminded us of St. Louis in terms of the upscale skyscrapers and upscale neighborhoods along our route. With the temperature in the sixties on February 17, Cincinnati also reminded me of Sacramento in reverse. Cold rain greeted most of our days at the beginning of our hike in “sunny California,” with our hike through Sacramento epitomizing that contradiction. Now “wintry Ohio” in February treated us to gorgeous weather, allowing us to bask in the sun during lunch time near the Krohn Conservatory.
We (meaning me) had trouble navigating the Cincinnati streets. I discovered that following the ADT route description in reverse was easier to do with a Forest Service map in hand than a city map. Fortunately, I never have a problem with approaching strangers for assistance. First Deandre, whose job was to keep the streets clean in the neighborhood around Cincinnati Reds Stadium, walked with us for a while as our guide, treating us to his infectious laugh along the way.
Lawyer Bob Smyth similarly guided and walked with us for a ways. He then tried to explain how we might proceed through the Mt. Adams neighborhood when it came into view. Lawyer Kathleen Brinkman, a former resident from that area witnessed our scene and came over to provide further assistance. We thus became the catalyst for introducing these two lawyers to each other.
We met Jean Abrahamson in the Hyde Park section of our day. Jean was an author that insisted on mailing us books she wrote about manners. Let me clarify that Jean wanted to do something kind for us, not remedy our desperate need for manners; at least that is what I think.
We finished our trek into Milford on a bike trail in the company of Lauren and Laney. Milford was not their original destination, but Lauren made a call to her boyfriend to meet them there so they could join us. The owners were there waiting for us past their store hours and treated us to Mountain House freeze dried dinners that we cooked on the spot. Josh made a point of being there again to speak to us about his future ADT hike. Kara Lorenz and her roommate Joyce Brockman welcomed us into their home that night, providing us a great breakfast with strong coffee in the morning.
The next day we journeyed to Batavia. Lo and behold we ran into Josh a third time, now sipping beers with his two friends John and Jillian, the people he would be hiking out to visit in Montana. We found them sitting on the opposite bank of the Little Miami River, obviously expecting and waiting for us to come by. Once Josh spotted us he came over a bridge to our side of the river, delivering a couple of beers for us.
We stayed at the Faith United Methodist Church in Batavia that evening. The combined impact of coffee and beer that day, both diuretics we seldom drank, led to me getting off the church floor seven times to visit the bathroom. We still managed to get up and clear the area before church activity started Sunday morning. I gave an hour talk to the church school and a 10 minute talk during the church service about Micah 6:8 and kindness.
Sunday, February 19, happened to be Cindy’s birthday. Pastor Dave Phaneuf and wife Bonnie took us out to lunch after the church service. After a half day of hiking to Bethel, Ky picked us up and brought us back to Batavia, where we ate supper at McDonald’s and took advantage of their wifi for Cindy to read her Facebook birthday greetings. She considered her birthday a success!
Ky continued to slackpack us even though we now hiked on backcountry portions of the Buckeye Trail. We had packed snowshoes in the support vehicle with anticipation that we would need them on the Buckeye Trail in particular, but the warmer winter in general, capped by the recent temperatures in the sixties, gave us mud instead of snow to navigate.
Our next stop was Williamsburg, where we were met by Dan Ladrigan again from the Northeast Lions Club, who filled in for Ky while she had her hatch repaired. Unfortunately, Lin Ladrigan was not at home for our stay, but she knitted us a pair of scarves in Lions Club colors. She also wrote a kind note to us that referred to Ky as our daughter. I had gone from being an old man with a young blonde in Kansas, to a father hiking with his “daughter” Cindy, to a father being supported by his “daughter” that was actually older than me. I did not like the age appearance trajectory I was on. Dan prepared “Cincinnati chili” for us that evening, basically chili substituted for sauce on top of spaghetti.
Our last stop on this stretch was Russellville, where Jim Potts served as our host at the United Methodist Church there. Jim’s personality resembled a religious version of John Nicholas, our humble host back in Leadville. After bearing us a variety of gifts and singing the hymn Safe in the Arms of Jesus to us, he asked for us to pray with him for his church, which had reduced to about 15-20 members at a service.
Attrition was common among denominational churches across the country like the UCC, Methodists and Baptist. This was part of the larger societal issue of shrinking community involvement, the issue my talks on kindness and community addressed. Nondenominational and community churches fared better across the country, and before we left Ohio we would witness a Methodist Church with astonishing growth in membership, yet this provides no solace for Jim. In his eyes the center of his faith is dying, taking along a part of this kindly, humble man.
