I'm a map person. I will choose a good map over GPS any day and prefer to travel that way. Which is why the encounter I had with an unknown man two days ago sits so oddly with me.
It was Friday, and I had to be at work at 5am to open the pool. I had made an agreement with another lifeguard to come in at 8am to give me an hour break, before I worked my other shifts. He wisely obliged, as it was his opening shift I was covering. Anyway, he arrives at 8:00 and I head out for a coffee break. I half jog and half walk to a delicious local coffee shop for a tasty egg sandwich and another cup of coffee. along the way I am stopped by a guy who appeared to be in his mid-40s, wearing hiking boots and carrying a duffel bag. He asks me if I am from "around here?"
Sure, bud, whatcha need? He asks me where Omaha, Nebraska is from here (here being Davenport, IA). I tell him he needs to go west. Omaha is west of Davenport. I even remind him which direction North is, so he can get his bearings. He says something about just coming in from Chicago and how he's walked about 250 miles so far. Fine, I guess. We talk a bit, me trying to explain to him how to get to Highway 6, so that he can stay off of the Interstate. I remind him another couple of times which direction is North.
Just before he takes off down the street, (headed due West), he asks me how far it is to California. Oh, I say, a long way. 2000 miles, more or less. Okay, he says, and we go our separate ways.
This man didn't strike me as a foreigner, or even as a Canadian, but I suppose that's possible as he said he just got in from Chicago. And I probably should have told him that he is on the Eastern-most part of Iowa and has a long way to go to get to Omaha, I also wondered why he decided to walk across an entire country without so much as a road atlas. Shouldn't that be the first item on your list if you are planning a cross-country trek? Of any country?
And that's all I have to say about that.
