Day 3 – Friendship, IN to Clifty Falls State Park

Two short stories from today:

1) I walked with enthusiasm this morning, despite sleeping terribly. There was a sign at my campground in Friendship advertising Cheryl’s Country Store in Cross Plains, so the promise of fried eggs and hashbrowns helped me pull the first five miles in just over an hour. When Cheryl quickly informed me that she was out of hashbrowns, I bravely refrained from curling up into the fetal position and calmly asked for three fried eggs instead of two.

An older man was the only other person in the grocery when I arrived, and after he gave me adequate time to get settled, the curiosity kicked in. We had the typical give-and-take about what I was doing, and I mentioned along the way how grateful I was for the person who gave me a bottle of cold water yesterday. “Well, there are at least some decent people still out there,” he muttered, and then, as a friend of his arrived, he kicked into gear. “Lots of people in this country are lousy and lazy,” he said. “I worked 48 years, only quit to take care of my wife when she got cancer.” His friend popped in at this point, to note that “It’s only fair–she took good care of you for all of those years,” a conciliatory move to shift toward safer ground. Not to be deterred, the elderly man rebutted that with: “I took good care of her as well–lots of people around here don’t recognize that. I never once laid a hand on her.”

His breakfast arrived at this point and several other locals popped in for food and groceries, so the conversation shifted back to the pleasant and superficial. Ultimately, he wished me well, and I wished him a nice day.

As I left the grocery, I proceeded along the highway through the “center” of Cross Plains. To this point, I hadn’t seen a Trump flag or sign anywhere in Indiana. Immediately, I saw two. In between, I also saw my first confederate flag in Indiana.

2) Near China, Indiana, I was getting a bit worn down. The pavement here–it’s rough. I didn’t do myself any favors with the schedule for the first three days, of course, but I definitely have more foot pain to manage in the last third of each day than I’d like. Anyway, I followed a minor highway along a shaded, winding road, and as I curved left around a nearly 90-degree bend, I saw a striking image–a pleasant house with a loaded clothesline, actually becoming more loaded as I walked. A dog started yapping at me and bounding along the property line, and the woman yelled that I need not worry, that the dog was friendly and wouldn’t come after me.

Soon after, I saw her husband, and he hustled over to greet me, inviting me onto their property. He pulled off his glove, shook my hand, and asked if I was walking the trail. “We’ve hosted three or four people who are walking that trail. Just a few months ago, we had a woman stay here…” The conversation stalls for a few minutes, as he tries to sort out–via smartphone and his wife–who that woman was. With that resolved, he gets back to the hospitality, inviting me in his home to fill my water bottles. “We just finished grilling cheeseburgers and we’ve got one left, if you’d like it.” While I had to turn down the offer, it’s hard not to be stunned when someone invites you straight into their home and extends all manner of consideration. I think, in hindsight, that they were probably disappointed to not be able to do more for me. As I prepared to leave, he told me to take care of myself on the roads, and to watch out for cars. I noted that I was struck by how considerate cars have been through here–they consistently give the widest berth possible, even waiting for opposing traffic to pass so that they can move fully into the other lane. “Yeah, people around here are very respectful. They appreciate what you’re doing.” Before I walked out the door, he made me take down his phone number, so that I could call him for help if anything came up.

——–

Today ended in Clifty Falls State Park, just after Madison, Indiana. Madison is a well manicured town, perched on the Ohio River with the state park just outside of it. It definitely draws a solid flock of tourists. I was excited for it, but I don’t think I got to fully appreciate it–I mainly wanted a supermarket that I didn’t get, and then felt a bit bummed over that. And then, of course, I still needed to get on to Clifty. I’ve pushed myself hard these first few days, but the next two will be a bit shorter, and then I’ll have a much shorter walk to the edge of Louisville in three days.

Technical Notes:

• Today was the first time that the turn-by-turns and gps track disagreed, just before the China-Manville Road turn-off. As a consequence, I found myself off of the gps for a good chunk of the walk, but given that it’s all paved and the roads aren’t too busy, it felt like six of one, half-dozen of the other
• I saw only one ADT waymark today, at the entrance to Clifty Falls
• The restaurant in Canaan has very limited hours
• North Madison has most of the budget friendly food and hotel options, while Madison proper is definitely more of a tourist trap. However, those aren’t exactly close to each other; they’re basically two different towns. If someone didn’t want to see Madison, they could save a ton of miles just cutting straight across, and it would still be easy to see a bit of Clifty Falls. Not recommending that, but it’s an option
• There was a very short stretch (maybe a half-mile) of off-road walking after Madison and it made my day. That was the only unpaved section today

That said, I think I’ll have a nice trail walk to start tomorrow, and I can’t wait for that.

Dave