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Aaron is walking around America. This blog exists to help him connect with people while he is away and for anyone who is interested in following him on the path. Thanks for visiting!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Railroad Tracks

Alright it has only been over 24 hours and a lot has happened since my last blog post. I am not sure if I am going to get to everything tonight so here it goes:

Lets go back to yesterday. Back to a time when my feet were less sore and I was more eager with the way this journey was going. I had just left the Community College outside of Astoria and had decided to take the railroad tracks east. It was exactly the kind of thing I was looking forward to when I had this trip in my mind. A nice calm walk alone through someplace I have never been or ever will go again. My steps crunching the gravel between the wooden planks and reinforced steel rails. Sun shining on a cool day. Birds talkin' to me as I stroll by. Ducks running for fear that it is more than a camera I might be brandishing. Beautiful scenery all around. Easy thoughts drifting in and out of my head as I cleave my way to some unknown destination.

Here are some pictures I took as I made my way down the clearly abandoned railroad tracks:



















I moved along like this for about 40 minutes/3 miles. It was about as perfect a part of this journey as I could have imagined. Until I came to one of those obstacles I have heard so much about....

I was not happy. In bold, with italics.

I did not mention this but but I was stymied the previous day about a mile out of Astoria by a similar situation. Unused railroad bridge is out. Then it was not that big a deal. It had been raining most of the day and I was looking forward to going back and getting a hotel anyway. But for the same thing to happen again...

Fool me once, shame on someone. Fool me twice, what an idiot.

So I had a choice. I could sit on the edge of the tracks and wait for a train that would clearly never come. Or maybe for the Dukes boys to swing over in the General Lee to jump the fucker. Either case seemed unlikely so it was time to double back, for the second day in a row.

So I am pretty down on the railroad tracks thing. I hope to give them a try again, but I don't know...

4 comments:

  1. Count the train cars. It has been my past time in years gone by. Deb

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  2. I have had days like that! Okay, maybe not with RR tracks, but huge endeavors. Starting out when out of the blue....WHAM...it's the dreaded unforseen obstacle. Course if it was 90 degrees out you could have waded across, Indiana Jones style.

    So you back tracked and......

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  3. Hey Mom,

    I remember counting cars with you. Down at Titlow, or when we used to go out for pizza, all the way in downtown Puyallup. You always have been a counter. :)

    Leslie: More coming on the continuation in the next couple posts. Stay tuned...

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  4. Oh, my! This video of yours totally cracked me up. Thanks for the laughs even though it's not that funny that you got stranded with nowhere to connect. But, i'm still laughing 'cause it speaks a lot about what life can put ahead of us when you think you got it all figured out. Besides, it's so you, Aaron, to be looking at the scenery even at a time like this. Thanks for taking us along your adventure! Ahn-Young!

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