There’s a section in the live version of The Legend of Pedestrio where I talk about how there’s not a patch of ground anywhere on the planet that Pedestrio hasn’t walked across too many times to count. After all, Pedestrio has been wandering this Earth for a thousand lifetimes. No matter how big the world is, it’s only a matter of time before he commences to see the same landscapes over and over again.
Well, I haven’t been wandering for anywhere near that long, but occasionally I’ll walk down a road or trail and realize I’ve been there before. Happened today, while taking a country road out of Brattleboro to avoid the much busier Route 9. It was a dirt road, well-maintained and oiled to keep the cars from kicking up dust. I recognized the curves in the road, the scenery, the houses. I walked that route six years ago, when I did a storytelling tour on foot across New England.
Of course, I couldn’t have told you anything about the landmarks that lay ahead of me. I didn’t remember the clean, clear freshwater spring flowing out of a pipe by the side of the road until I saw it again. If I had, I wouldn’t have hauled any water up from town. But the minute the spring came into view, it was like seeing an old friend.
Anyway, I managed to avoid Route 9 for a good part of the day, sticking to country dirt roads that wouldn’t have occurred to me to travel back in the days before everything got put on the Internet. I did meet a guy named Wiley who told me about one shortcut, but the truth is, I probably would have missed it if Old Man Google hadn’t pointed the way.
It’s evening now — beginning to get cold. I should be okay camping out; my sleeping bag is pretty warm. But I’m a tad concerned about tomorrow morning. This is the Green Mountains, and it could take a while for the day to warm up.
Ah, well. That’s tomorrow’s problem.
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