A Living Magazine - Day 258 - Homecoming - Burlington to Haw River

I woke well rested. It was nice not to have had any rain. The tarp/fly was finally all the way dry. I packed up and said goodbye to another sleep spot.

I really only had one major job for the day: Walk to the Haw River. Oh, and there was a blog post to publish first. As I walked along the street toward Starbucks, a large brown coin caught my eye, so I picked it up...

Ha, ha!! Now I had something to do when I reached Durham!

As I approached Starbucks, I noticed someone had finally delivered my new Lamborghini Huracán LP580-2...

With a car like this, you need not observe strict park lot edicate.

($203,295)

I looked for the person who might have driven that car inside the cafe, but no one seemed to fit the profile (not that I really knew what a person who pays as much as a house for a car would necessarily look like). I published my post and it was late afternoon, when I began my trek. 

I hadn't been to the downtown of Burlington yet, but was about to walk all the way through to get to the other side. It was about six miles to the Haw River. I'm not sure why, but these walks from one side of a town to the other can seem longer than a fifteen mile walk between towns. Maybe it's the constant traffic, or having to cross streets? No idea. Thankfully, there were plenty of things to photograph... 

Portland High School in Maine has Bulldogs too.

In fact, check out how similar the mascot is...

Portland Bulldogs

I found this confusing. But, I'm easily confused I guess.

Empty church.

I miss Amtrak.

Eewww.

Empty church.

Are you serious?

I think I saw this same park in San Francisco. Ha!

A look back at the welcome sign.

All in all, I was not really that fond of my time in Burlington. The downtown was a bit run down. They had some neat things (there was a little train in the park). The town was economically depressed. I've found it so fascinating how some towns seem to be doing so well, as I would find a couple days later in Hillsborough, and others are just barely getting by.

In the same way that I feel for plants, animals, and people, I sometimes empathize with towns. They seem to have their own personalities, bodies...fat or empty wallets. They are made up of all of their parts, from the downtowns, to the box store areas, to the neighborhoods, to the margins. The rich and the poor, the land and the buildings, the pride and the lack thereof... It is all part of the overall image that the visitor like myself can see and often what residents tend to miss. My very subjective description of Burlington--were it a person? Friendly, old, dressed in clothes that could use a good washing, aloof, with a couple wrinkled dollar bills in his pocket--though he'd give you one if you asked. It really reminded me of Gaffney, South Carolina. 

I was happy to finally reach the Haw River... 

This was strange. This sign was on the Burlington side of the river.

Then, the same exact sign was on the Haw River town side.

I stopped on what is called the Three Governors Bridge, where I was able to rest the camera long enough to take a clear shot of the river. It was still too dark to pick up much detail...  

The Haw River

Haw River is tiny town. Still, I wanted to camp before I reached whatever Main Street there would be. I'd located a place on Google before leaving Burlington. And, I found the exact spot. It wasn't perfect, but I liked that there was fence on the woods side and the highway on the other side. I was pretty sure no large animals or people would be visiting, until - as I walked down the length of the fence - I noticed someone had cut it all the way down to the ground. This wouldn't do. So, I pulled out my multitool and fixed it. NOW, nothing was getting through...

It was really thick woods, tons of small trees, some rotten, some living. The leaf bed was thick too, with layers of sticks in it. Excavating wasn't easy. It is one of my least favorite parts of prepping a sleep spot. Mostly, because I know I'm disturbing critters who might thank me by crawling up my leg, onto Saggy, or into the tent. But, that is when I'm thankful for not being able to see very well in the dark...

The tent, looking from the road side of the woods.

I crawled into the sleeping bag and fell asleep quickly and eventually entered a very vivid (but not lucid) dream.

Haw River Sleep Spot