DAY 23 - Outside of kuna - 444 miles from home
- Esther Lisa Tishman
- Jul 27
- 4 min read
[written on Day 24 - July 27]
Okay. This was a rough day - with a nonetheless smooth finish. There were some fiddly bits with today's route itself, including a kind of U-turn at the end of the route and some roadblocks for Libby due to the Boise Ironman Triathalon (the outdoors badassery of Boise - and Idaho in general - is kind of breathtaking. I mean: our hosts in Kuna, Ken and Ginny Greger, backpack in the mountains with their llamas!).
And so - I hit a bit of a wall in my morning walk. The endless logistics - the technical issues (this was the morning I tried to set up our new Starlink wifi) - the stress of being both driver and walker and knowing zip about RV maintenance - the realities of continual movement - the challenges of being both team leader and teammate - the heartache of reading the news... All of this hit me at once. I started my walk feeling woeful and irritable. In a funk. Weepy and pitiful.
And then the Universe gave me Barker Road. Well, it's not really a road. It's an ATV path alongside the railroad tracks. First there was the barbed wire that snagged my new trail pants, and my skin. Then there were the giant bull thistles that I had to machete out of my way with my trekking poles. Then there were the grasshoppers, biblical in number, popping off from the ground and flying across my path with each step. And then there was the extremely memorable scent from the Darling Ingredients rendering plant. ("Darling"?? Their motto is "Redefining the Waste Mindset.") Oh, and then there was my brilliant decision to film a train passing by, as I continued to walk.... Don't worry. I also managed to film my faceplant in the dirt.
Sometimes the Universe takes us out of ourselves with rapturous joy, with our beloved's smile, with an incredible sunset. But I'm learning that stinging nettles and barbed wire can also do the trick. There's more than one way out of a deep funk. There's more than one way to land smack dab right back in the present moment.
To be fair, there were more challenges to come. After Barker Road, the guys and I had to suss out the next day's route: our trek to Mountain Home. I've known about the challenge in getting from Kuna to Mountain Home for a couple of months now. Rich Duncombe, head of our Route & Lodging team, had been consulting with me about options since he started crafting our itinerary. Well, there are no great options. You can't get there from here, as they say in Vermont. At least not on foot while also accompanied by an RV.
After a couple of hours and about 50 miles of bone-rattling driving on ashphalt roads that suddenly turned to dirt, we figured out a workable solution. But by the time we three pilgrims got back to Kuna, we were all a little bit crispy.
And yet: we rallied for another freaking awesome meal at the Gregers. This time, we were joined by Kuna United Methodist Church pastor Mia Crosthwaite, her husband Brian, their daughters Sophie and Maggie, and their two dear friends, Terry and Mike. Beef raised by Pastor Mia along with homemade sourdough buns, more sweet corn, macaroni salad, brownies and cheesecake and lemonade.
We talked about faith and community, and the dividedness of the times. We talked about the difficulties of talking - how just a choice of words can shut things down. How hard it is to move into simple presence and connection. We talked about social media. We talked about discernment; Pastor Mia came to her ordination later in life. She had spent a lot of years satisfying the call to pastoral service in other ways, doing other good works. But the call kept calling. (I can relate, by the way.) And she shared the substance of her homily for the next day's Sunday service: the lessons of Sodom and Gomorrah. It's not what you think! A key point: pester God! (Abraham talks back to God - would you save this town for a hundred good people? how about just for one???) Pastor Mia's faith is one of questioning, of curiosity, of talking back.
And we talked about walking. Pastor Mia, Terry and Ginny all did a section of the Camino de Santiago earlier this year. And Terry is tempted to join Liberty Walks. She and I talked about the pandemic, about Catholicism and Zen, about healing and energy, about the witches of old and the wise women of today. October in Pennsylvania, Terry? November in D.C.? Come find us on the road, Terry!
Comments