6/8- Todd's Return to Hillsdale

Sean was a cool kat. I liked the guy right away when he took us on a little tour of the radio place. He just seemed full of energy and I could tell he had a lot to say.

We piled our packs in the car and soon enough were off heading back to the town of Todd's youth. The two of them were in the front as we sped down the highway and they quickly embroiled themselves in stories of old radio days which mutated into politics... of course. Sean had been in the first Gulf War back in '91 and was an avid self proclaimed liberal, more so due to his war experiences than not it seemed. The ride, however, was only an hour so the visit was short. Before long we were weaving around the streets of Hillsdale trying to find a green van marking Todd's friend Bobby's house which was not, in fact, in front of his house.

Finally navigating the problem Bobby walked us in until we could see him strutting up his lawn on the phone talking to us. A few pictures with us and Sean, then us and Bobby, and Sean was gone again. There was talk of getting together at some point again with him which I think would be a good time.


Bobby was another interesting guy of a different breed than Sean. He was an old time softball buddy of Todd's from his high school days and beyond. I was now about to witness my Springfield reunions from an outside perspective through Todd as he re-met his old chums. Hanging out with Bob was back to good old fashioned fun. They ragged on each other, pulled pranks on one another, but also dove into the serious friendship catching up business as well.

We spent the afternoon unwinding at his house for a bit then went out to hunt down others of their crew around town to the point that bordered on stalking. In the end, we gave up and fled to an old drinking hole, the bowling alley. For a Saturday night it was pretty dead, so in lieu of this old haunt we opted for where people actually gather which was in a bar a few towns away.

This place was packed, so much so there was a $3 cover for the band on the way in. We had no luck in running into people they knew, other than a co-worker of Bob's, but we did nearly close the place out and have a good time chatting, drinking, and tapping the top of Todd's beer bottle to make it foam everywhere. On our way home again later that night we grabbed a ton of junk food at a gas station and stopped in at "The Gravel Pit" in contemplation of sleeping there.


The Gravel Pit is a little oasis on Todd's mother's land where he grew up in the center of the fields out there. We could only see by the headlights of the car, but I'm at a loss for why they called it a gravel pit being that I saw nothing but tall grass and trees around a giant puddle. Perhaps another time in daylight will explain a thing or two. Thankfully we opted against sleeping out there and returned home to nice beds to pass out on.

In the morning Todd's friend, Steve, another high school buddy, drove down from Detroit to have breakfast with us. This was another guy we had too short a time with. He was steeped with insights and thoughts on our trip, and was actually the one who had showed us the way to a few key books we reference often and the stoves we've been surviving on. As it turned out in that night out before, Bobby was on the same wave length as us in the way of our metaphysical interests and preparations as was Steve. As I said though, breakfast came and went too quickly and I was hoping that Steve was to be another revisit later on in the trip.


After breakfast we did nothing for the rest of the day. Mainly we just laid about the house gobbling up the junk food we'd bought the night before and watching TV. Several hours of that went by before I suggested to Todd we go for a walk to shake the lethargic feeling of a beer hang over, but more the junk food affects. It was just a little stroll around sunset for about an hour, but it livened us up again pretty good. All that grease and beer was not doing me good and walking a bit, talking, and taking some pictures really made a difference.

When we got back we returned to being lazy again, but the sun had set and none of us had any desire to do anything, so it felt good. Bob had to head into work the next day early so he retired for the night, Todd drifted back to the computer, and I watched TV. In the morning we gathered up the laundry we'd done there, some of the fishing tackle Bob had given us to experiment with, and by afternoon we were out the door to Todd's mother's house.

Todd's mom had called while we were at Bob's which was part of the motivation to go at the time. She lived just around the corner, but when we got there no one was answering the phone or the buzzer so we were left to stand in front of the building. Across the street was a gas station and coffee can never go wrong with us. In addition to that, an old fashioned sitting in front of a gas station was something I think both us needed at the time. We were quite surprised by what we found there.

Having grown up in this little town, Todd had expected to find no reaction if not negative ones toward a couple backpackers sitting by the door sipping coffee. Instead we discovered the friendliest town we've gone through yet, even more so than Denton. People frequently were coming and going out of there asking what we were up to, where we'd come from, and one guy even gave us $10 on his way out after telling us about some friends of his biking the country right now. Thanks again.

Eventually we decided to move back across the street and try his mom again to no success. We sat ourselves down on the lawn in front and started pulling out things to occupy our time. Becky, however, had a hankering for curiosity that she needed to satisfy so she drifted over to inquire. She was hanging with the gaggle of folks milling about in front of the building. It seemed to me like the sort of gathering you find among high school kids at gas stations or parking lots, but this was a gang of seniors in walkers and wheelchairs. Becky was of the wheelchaired lot, though I'm not sure she was quite a senior yet.

Either way, she was aching to know what two backpackers were doing hanging around there and she had to ask. A few seconds into giving her our story she called over her friend, Darlene, and the two of them bantered away with us. Once they knew a bit about the situation with Todd's mom Darlene went upstairs and knocked on her door for us. Still nothing.

This went on for a bit until we were right about to start working on what else we should do when his mom popped out on her balcony seven stories up and hollered to us. Salvation, and up we went. The rest of the night we spent there in her apartment going over photos of Todd as a rambuncious teen, wandering toddler, and weird ass posing baby. A thunder storm brewed outside, and after a little bit of Todd wanting to get out in it, we ended up just staying the night watching the storm and taking pictures into the sunset from her balcony. It was a quiet night all told.

Click here for Todd's perspective.