the ditch

Yesterday was the Volkssport walk at White Clay Creek State Park in Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania. But officially, it's just in Delaware.

I took Khawala, Dila and Bonnie with me. It was nice when I picked up the girls. It was still nice when I picked up Bonnie. By the time we reached Lansdale it was getting dark and gloomy. The girls fell asleep, and I missed the exit. By the time we reached the park it was dark and gloomy.

So we signed in and got back into the car. Bonnie isn't cleared for hiking yet, so the plan was to go to the Arch Monument (which marks Pennsylvania/Delaware line), park, and then hike to the tri-state marker. I pulled into the macadam spot, left everyone out and as I was locking up noticed a no parking sign. Shit. In my role as Debbie DoGooder I could not leave the car in a no-parking zone. By this time it was drizzling. So I spun around and parked on the other side of the road where there were rocks. I found out quickly they were covering mud. I sunk in and couldn't get out.

We decided to hike and deal with it later.

The rain had slowed down a bit and we could actual take our jackets off. The marker only says M and P, because that portion of Delaware was still Pennsylvania then. We saw a lot of other people on the trail. It's quite popular. At the checkpoint we even saw another group of hikers.

 We continued walking and ended up at this funky bridge.  Shortly after crossing it it started to rain harder. It continued for the next hour.

 Part of the girls program is to volunteer. Bonnie and I were to do the table. They were to do the checkpoint. They were troopers in the downpour. Khawla is wearing Bonnies raincoat at this point, and Dila is using Bonnies umbrella. The check-off sheet was soaked, even with plastic over it. Bonnie sat in the car and played games on her phone.

Meanwhile I had to deal with the car. Several people stopped and tried to help. They tried to push me out and got covered with mud. Since there was no cell service, another went home to call AAA from the landline. Good thing because, as always, my battery was dead. (I really need to take it to be fixed. There is clearly something wrong with it.)

Ten minutes later he was back. AAA wouldn't let him call it in. He was going down the road to a spot he thinks might have service. Five minutes later I heard beeping and his arm was out the window. I ran down. She needed to talk to me. First thing she did was confirm my info. Fine. Bt then she wanted to add email. WTF? The worse part was she insisted on an address. We told her multiple times were were in the WCCSP, on Hopkins Rd., at the Arc Monument. Any local would know this. We are now 15 minutes into the conversation. This good samaritan was going above and beyond. Finally he says, will longitude and latitude work? He turned on the GPS and gave her the info.

The final straw was when she wanted a call back number. We told her repeatedly that there was no service and I was depending on the kindness of strangers.  Finally, we were done. The wait would be 60 minutes. WTF.

I was still waiting in the rain, it was slowing down and more people offered to help.  The organizers came to pack up. I sent Bonnie with Pat to ride back, and  send sent the girls with Bill Ridge to walk back.

We were packing the car when the tow truck came. There was nearly an accident because going one way someone stopped to let us cross. Since they stopped, so did the person coming the other way. But the person behind him wasn't paying attention and had to throw on his breaks. It was a nasty mess.

Khawla took a video of the tow truck. He was a big guy, but like my sister-in-law Rae. And he moved like a ballerina. My golly he was flexible and agile. I was a tad jealous.

I was really stuck. It took three different wenches to pull me out.  I got back to the start point before the girls got back. They slept most of the way home.

I'm sure they had stories when they Skyped mom.

Miles/Steps:  4.3 of actual walking
Bathrooms:   L-3.5  OMG it was dark. The "windows" were covered with vents, and I think they painted the fiberglass.
Wildlife:        1 pair of mallards
Weather:      high 50s, rainy, damp
Extras:         More than 20 cars stopped to help. Restores my faith in humanity.