CDT Day 91 (8/17/23)

Zero Day

Verbatim

I’m happy to have stayed for the hiker night here in Anaconda. I met so many cool people. I met the tomato guy, who may have inspired me the most. He was selling at the farmer’s market tonight. I met Alexis, who was a really charming lady who put on the farmer’s market. I would definitely enjoy getting to know her more. I could have friends here in Anaconda! There’s Matt and Emily at the bike shop. There’s Steve and Marsha at the Pintler’s Portal hostel. There’s Jason from the running store. That’s six friends. It would be a cool place to work and live.

I also met Jill tonight, from the CDT association. I got to show everyone at the party all the plastic I’ve been carrying. They were intruiged and asked lots of good questions. Mostly they seemed interested in whether or not I avoided plastic use. I answered that yes, yes I did. I didn’t mean to, but definitely did avoid certain plastic use. Chocolate milk is what I avoid the most because I can’t have a bunch of bottles hanging off the back of my pack.

The pizza here in town is really good. And frankly, so was the food tonight. I ate Buffalo! It was spiced well and very tasty. Definitely a better texture than ground beef.

Post Note

Taking two full zero’s in a row was really taking its toll on me. I’m an introvert, and look how many people I met that day! Ugh. What was I doing?! Everyone was so nice. And I was so lonely. To get in touch with people just living their summer lives was really powerful. Walking all the time isolates you away from all the normal ways to spend a summer that you grew up with. At first that’s the joy of thruhiking. It’s what gives it its joy. It’s the reason to do it. But after a while that gift is also realized as a burden. It remains a gift; but it is a weighty one.

The tomato guy was awesome. I think his farm was called Sugar Beet Row? I don’t remember. But with him I found a certain kinship. And this is all my projecting, mind you. But I felt the twinship in my bones. We were doing completely different things, but both of us were in love with the Land. We were both aware of just how screwed we all are. We both looked forward towards engaging the problem, rather than falling into some other career to make ourselves feel good. He did the hard work of farming. I did the hard work of walking in a way that might say something useful. Both of our influences were pitifully small. Both of us had so much more to give.

Those tomatoes were so sweet. So good. He gave me a few cherry tomatoes for free after we chatted. I gave him the individual dollar I had in my wallet. I tried to really enjoy the tomatoes because I knew the person behind me in line was watching me. I did really enjoy them; quite naturally I think.

I wanted the person behind me to buy all the tomatoes. I do a little farming. I’m just a hired hand. I get pulled in as an axillary troop to help when extra manpower is needed. I turn beds. I harvest. I smile and chat and listen. Small scale. Organic. It’s impossibly hard to make ends meet. I know that’s the case with Sugar Beet Row too. All I had to do was look and listen to him to know. Maybe I’m wrong. But I don’t think so.

So, yeah! Buy all the tomatoes please. They’re incredible. Buy them and make and can sauces rather than watch TV. You’ll thank me. It’s fun! And then all the hard work and gift which tomato guy has created will go to use. Don’t leave his gift at the door.

How do you get someone to buy the tomatoes? And how do you get someone to experience a difference after hearing about your CDT walk? I’m not sure what the answer to either of those questions is. But, I know that when a tomato is bought it’s generally eaten and then the mission is accomplished. But how do you measure success with an idea? Do I get to know if my mission was accomplished?