Throughout our ADT journey we encountered a variety of sleeping arrangements. Most often we slept outdoors, due mainly to the western, wilderness portion of the route. Sleeping on church floors was not far behind, due to the wintry, heartland. Much less often, but still significant, were stays at motels or inns paid for by hosts of my talks, trail angels or the motels themselves. With some regularity people hosted us in their homes. This included trail angels just met, old hiking buddies of ours and people connected to the ADT. In the week leading up to finishing the ADT portion of our journey, we benefited from every single one of these prior sleeping arrangements.
First up was the Community Church of Greenbelt, headed by Pastor Dan Hamlin. The town of Greenbelt originated in 1937 as a planned community, with a focus on affordable housing and diversity. Residents for the community were selected to reflect proportions on the 1920 census. The theme of community continued to be infused throughout the town to the present day, such as the credit union and cooperative supermarket where we resupplied.
No surprise then regarding the vibrancy of the Community Church. For one thing they were among the churches outside the DC area taking turns housing the homeless with a rotation. They also renovate a low income house for someone every year, and often lead all UCC churches in raising money from CROP walks. We caught Pastor Dan just before he was to transition from the Community Church pastor for 28 years to working for Church World Service and CROP walks.
Greenbelt’s reputation extended beyond town boundaries. At Greenbelt Lake we met Kent and Julie McCullough, organizers of a NASA-Goddard Flight Center 10K run. They endorsed Greenbelt’s care for the elderly.
Next up as our evening hosts were Kyler Kamp and husband Craig, who lived in Annapolis. Kyler was the twin sister of Torria (TJ), who hosted us on the Eve of Easter after seeing us on the road as a motorist. Both sisters became art teachers. Apparently with advanced warning from TJ in regards to our appetites, Kyler prepared lasagna, chicken pot pie and a vegetarian pizza for supper.
Our third evening host was a Best Western on the east side of Chesapeake Bay. We spent the day hiking through the charming city of Annapolis, with its preserved historical buildings and tours, innovative community initiatives and the Naval Academy. At the far end spanned the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which bans pedestrians and forces ADT travelers to find an alternative means of getting across. Fortunately, we had Ky to drive us over the bridge. After dropping us off on the east side she went on to Grasonville, where she persuaded a Best Western to comp us a room, the third Best Western on our journey to do so.
The next evening we camped outdoors at Tuckahoe State Park, staying at the only lean-to along the southern route of the ADT. Much of the day before and morning after our stay at the lean-to we traveled by farms, as well as people who actually knew about the ADT, not all that common across the country. Then we hiked into the town of Ridgeley around 11:00 pm, right when the United Methodist Church service began. We attended the service and went out with Pastor Joe Smith and wife Dolly afterwards.
The next two evenings were our first in Delaware, the final state along the ADT. We stayed with Jean Hinckley, the Mom of our good hiking buddy Mike. We dropped in on Mike while driving out to California; we stayed with him a few days while in Denver; now he came out to his Mom’s to be with us again. While the five of us were having dinner together the first evening there Jean commented on how jovial us old thru-hikers were. The bond created by people hiking long distances together, along with the memories shared, results in such jovial reunions.
Knowing about our kindness mission, Jean brought us on a field trip to meet her friends Ken and Lori Ockel’s, and specifically daughter Emily. Emily collected “gently used” shoes, over 10,000 of them at the time I interviewed her. The “Waterstep” program funnels shoes to new owners in developing countries via an exporter, the funds exchanged in the process then applied to clean water projects in developing countries. At the time Emily was their leading “shoe-getter,” and eventually was awarded a national humanitarian award for her efforts.
When Mike joined us hiking, for much of the time I hiked ahead a few paces while Mike and Cindy hiked together. Paired with such a good friend from our hiking days, Cindy nearly became the “Gabby Galvin” of old. Maybe, just maybe, this journey healed Cindy.
While they chatted I reminisced about our journey, with plenty of visual aids along the way. The whole state of Delaware called up the flat farmlands of Kansas, as well as the border between Illinois and Indiana. Earthworms on the road after a rainy night reminded me of our last morning in Ohio. Caterpillars crawling across the road reminded me of California, also a reminder that we started and were finishing the ADT in spring. The hot conditions on the second day in Delaware reminded me of the Utah desert in summer.
To round out the nostalgia tour of sleeping arrangements we stayed with a friend of the ADT on our next night. Serinda Connor, like a few of the other friends of the ADT, kept us on her radar far in advance of our arrival into Delaware. She welcomed us into her home on the final night before we would hike to the Cape Henlopen beach and the end of the trail, though not of our journey. More about Serinda and the finish next time.
