I’m Kirk Sinclair, aka the Hiking Humanitarian, now a twenty-thousand miler.  The Kindness Blog got its origins from a 5,000 mile, year long journey along the American Discovery Trail where I “discovered” that kindness abounds; something that needs to be shouted out in our jaded world.

Now you can experience my ADT journey vicariously through three slideshows.  Enjoy some of the mirth along the trail with the captioned slideshow “Signs and other Silliness along the ADT.”  Fathom the beauty of this great land with some of my best photos set to “America the Beautiful,” including some of my own journey-inspired lyrics.  You will be inspired as well by kindness, the main focus of this blog and the journey, with photos set to the song I composed, “Can Kindness Help the World?”

The market value of these slideshows would be $45 if they were available to the public; the inspirational value is priceless.  I’ll send them to you via email or the Internet with a donation of $20 or more in support of this Kindness Blog.  Just click the Donate button in the upper right corner of the sidebar.

In addition to the kindness experienced along the American Discovery Trail, the Kindness Blog continues to feature kindness experienced on my further travels.  Everyone could use a dose of kindness to go along with their morning coffee.  One is just as likely to pick you up as the other.

Our last “civilized” stay for this 5,000 mile, year long journey would be at the Community Presbyterian Church.  That they should be open for sojourners is not surprising, considering they open their facilities to a wide range of uses by the community of Chester.  They also are very active with missions.  While we were there they commissioned one of their young adults to work as a staff member for the Appalachian Service Project, a position they funded themselves so that ASP might use those funds in other ways.  One novel means that they use to raise funds for mission is by members volunteering to repair items in return for donations.

Our last stay in "civilization" on the CPC floor

Ky’s first contact in leading us to CPC was Lisa Burns, a bundle of energy that works in family ministries for the church.  On Saturday evening and Sunday morning she was busy guiding the young people to be in charge of the Mother’s Day service, which went beautifully.  I loved the bell choir and the poignant messages about the gifts of the spirit from a few members.

Thanks for taking us in Lisa and Ann Marie!

The next church we come to will be our own home church; the CPC was a fitting place to serve as our last stop before then.  Coffee hour after the service was much like ours, with lots of people socializing.  Pastor Chris Scriven reminded me a bit of our own pastor back home, Erick Olsen, adding to the nostalgia of the event.  What a nice way to transition back.

Adam, Nora and Jonathan at the CPC Mother's Day coffee hour

We wanted to get one last shower in before our final ten days which would be mainly on the Appalachian Trail.  That last shower was at the home of CPC members Andy and Martha Smith, who also invited us to supper.  This also provided a delightful last experience spent in someone’s home, getting acquainted with new friends if only briefly.  Andy and Martha met from work and share a few hobbies together, including both being jazz musicians and both having a love of old cars.  They both also love to joke and laugh.

Thanks Andy and Martha for a great evening and our last shower!

During the journey we invite people to come visit us, Andy and Martha could possibly take us up on that.  Their hobbies could lead them to a car show at Lime Rock or a jazz concert at Infinity Hall.  We will be ready and waiting if that occurs.

For those good friends we’ve made all across the country who are reading this now let me invite you to our house once again.  Cindy and I always host people; we are not just being polite.  We take in AT hikers we come across; we volunteer to host people connected to church events; we’ve put up a few young adults for months at a time; we host students for Yale’s summer music festival.  We sincerely would love to host you as well.  Our house is modest but homey.  Most people who visit have an easy time feeling at home.  So come on down!

We still had some hiking to do during the time spent at CPC.  That meant more kindness and more new friends to meet.   For our day hiking into Chester we were hailed by a family from Paraguay, along with Marvin from Puerto Rico, now living in Gladstone.  We sat down with them for a spell as they brought us out both water and Cokes.  Marvin had read the Celestine Prophecy and thought our journey resembled that a bit.

Thanks for the hospitality Marvin, Sady, Luis, Ricky and Benita!

Also in Gladstone we hiked along with Patricia Semple for a spell, who was out walking her dog (I can’t remember the dog’s name).  She continued to walk with us beyond her block to chat some more and give us a little guided tour of the pastoral highlights of Gladstone.

Thanks for being our guide Patricia Semple!

Our day hiking out of Chester (though we returned for one last evening and that shower!) was wet with little to no shoulders on the road.  We learned that the next day, the day we head for the Appalachian Trail, is supposed to be even wetter.  Why should the end be any different than the rest of the journey in terms of rain?

Our final morning at CPC started out with abundant activity.  An exercise group was working out while the Midday Friendship Center was busy preparing for Meals on Wheels.  They the “meals” folks used to rent the use of the kitchen until Pastor Chris came, when he pointed out to the congregation that this was a form of missions.

Tabby and Bonnie get meals together for the Midday Friendship Center

We had one last, delightful chat with Chris who, once again, reminds us a bit of our own pastor.  He brought us a loaf of freshly baked bread by his wife Michelle.  He drew parallels with us closing our journey with those of Presbyterian Kenyans for whom he served as hosts on the close of their visit to this country.  We talked of ways our respective churches might stay connected in the future.  This is our one stop of our journey where that is a realistic possibility.

Chris also shared that he dreamed of us the night previous.  He conjured an image of us walking for kindness juxtaposed with the night rain at 3:00 a.m.  What touching parting words to hear!  That this should be our final “civilized” stop seems to place an exclamation mark on the serendipitous events that have occurred throughout our journey.

Pastor Chris and Cindy (with a mystery man in the mirror)

Other Photos

Good luck to Richard and Dan on their new home!

Jordan and Bruce of Bill's Luncheonette

Roger of Dover Auto Repair gives us directions in Dover

Thanks Ants (Antonio) for your suggestions!

You ought to see the side roads in Hibernia

Low maintenance orchard

Photos at the end

We stopped at a Deli to use the restroom and got into a conversation with Sonny, the owner who hails from India.  Upon learning what we were doing and that I would write a book about it, he had every confidence the book would do well.  He explained that in his country there are people who give up everything, go climb a mountain to find their soul, and return as impoverished, nomadic preachers.  He then observed that in this country people climb mountains to find their souls, write a book about it, and then make a million bucks.  Well, with that certainty in hand I might as well end the “pledge drive!”

We stopped at a Starbucks near Hillsborough to use up gift cards given to us by Kathy Ruis of California, barely a week into our trip.  We sat outside, sharing a table with Maria and Zack.  Zack worked next door at the Pretzel Factory.  He decided that people doing what we are doing deserve a free pretzel and persuaded his manager Randy to do just that.

Ky picked us up in Bridgewater and brought us ahead to Chester where we would stay at the Community Presbyterian Church for a few nights.  They were working on their Mother’s Day service when we arrived.  Our connection Lisa Burns, who worked with families of the church, welcomed us with enthusiasm and was a bundle of energy.  We also met Ann Marie and Christy that evening.

After some misfires with churches throughout New Jersey that were worried about insurance we landed in a very good place for our last church stay of the journey.  I was partly feeling nostalgic and partly looking forward to the Mother’s Day service on the morrow.

Insurance!  How ironic that our stumbling block with churches at the end relates to what I’ve been writing about lately in regards to “Be Safe!” vs. “Be Happy!”  I know that insurance has become a necessity in our society.  Yet insurance brings us security while interfering with the happiness that stems from kind society.

Thanks for the pretzel Zack! You have a good boy Maria!

Sonny insisted his cook Alejandro get his picture taken instead

Thanks for chatting Ricardo and Fred

Sandy at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton

Who's the judge of this?

Isn't that just a fat tortilla

Photos at the end.

The good folks of New Jersey, like many good folks before them, continue to wish us to “Be safe!” to which I respond with “and we’ll be happy!”  The distinction between “be safe” and “be happy” derives in part from the distinction between civilized and natural humanity.  There’s an emphasis on delayed gratification in civilized society.  I recall my college textbooks referring to delayed gratification as a virtue; the enlightened pursuit of the better educated and disciplined.  The point of delayed gratification is to be financially secure with the quantities of life.

Early nomads, “primitives” in accordance with Enlightenment philosophy, pursued an immediate return on the quality of life.  The high quality of early nomadic life was characterized by lack of want (since they only wanted the essentials), high sociability and about twice the amount of leisure of civilized humanity.  In other words, immediate return societies focused on happiness and were low on stress.  They also lived longer than the inaccuracies of Paleolithic dating indicated.  They certainly lived longer than those in developing countries of the civilized world, as one might imagine from a stress free life, but I guess it serves the purpose of some civilized institutions to lead us to believe that “primitive” humans only lived into their thirties.

No matter.  New Jersey, as with everywhere else, abounds with kindness.  People want to be happy and kind in the present even as our society persuades them to focus on security for the future.  The past two nights were spent first at Timberland Lake Campground, compliments of the owners, then at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton.  Ky arrived at the church in time for one of the three community meals they offer each week, and they prepared meals for Cindy and me to enjoy when we arrived later in the evening.

Lisa at St. Peters Episcopal Church in Medford

Becky, Gloria, Candee and Kenny were enthused at WaWa

Thanks Michelle and Miriam for inviting us for pizza. It's the thought that counts!

Thanks for guiding us through Crosswicks, Barbara

Nice chatting with you Danny, Sam and Brian!

Thanks for the directions, Lisa. Best wishes for your next child.

Postmen are a good source for directions. Thanks, Rick

The place needed livening up

W hat C oincidental W ord C rafting

I learned about ugly quilts today, which I will share in a podcast.

I forgot the memory card for my camera today and all the pictures come at the end.  Except for when we walked through the pine barrens we were in populated areas, which once again meant using restrooms.  Robin at the Mighty Joe Deli and Grill served us ice water before we left.

At the end of the day we stayed at the St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Medford.  Father Don Muller and his wife Lynn came to meet us and took us out to dinner at the Mexican Food Factory.  Our waiter Brandon and trainee Maryann were quite entertaining.  Photos are below.

After dinner we came back to the church where I learned about ugly quilts.

Other Photos

Maryann, Brandon and Ky at Mexican Food Factory

Father Don, Lynn, Cindy and Ky at the Mexican Food Factory

Walter, Stephanie and customer Ann at Subway

I did not think I would be reporting on kindness much in New Jersey due to our high mileage days throughout the state.  Yet the “kindness density” over our first three days matches any other state on our route.

We’ve gotten friendly beeps of the horn from New Jersey drivers, more frequently than any other time except for during the terrific media coverage we received in Evansville, Indiana.  A few people already have offered us rides (which we still refuse, even though the ADT part of the journey is finished.  People like Dan Loper, Mike Schultz and George gave advice.  Ashley, Isabel and Brenda treated us to food.  Noel and Jeff assisted us with camping.

The original photos and text got deleted from this site.  I’ve truncated the text and expanded on the captions for the photos, which are all below.

Thank you Tina, owner Carina, and trail angel customer Isabel of Southville Corner Restaurant Diner

Now that's a fine!

Thanks George for offering us to stay at your house, but we already had plans

Thanks Brenda of Gregorio's Market for the ice tea!

Ky and owner Noel of the Scenic Riverview Campground who comped us a night

Thanks Jeff (and Mason) for allowing us to cut through your yard to camp

Josh and his buddies Brandon and Danny, after Josh gave us some potato chips

Little Leanne wanted her picture taken with Cindy

Tim (dad of Leanne) and Chris

Thanks Mike Schultz for giving us a good tip for camping that evening.

Ashley and Kim of the Pantry Food Market. Sorry the picture is not focused well. Thanks for your kindness and support Ashley

Thanks Dan Loper for providing some directions (and a comment on the blog!)

Are the bleachers for watching people park?

Not what I want to see from a business specializing in radiation

Parking for what?

This swing set has been out of order for awhile.

Sorry. It takes more than a street sign to live on Easy Street

Maybe business picks up after the Fourth of July

People Met = 3

Yesterday I foreshadowed some continuing thoughts regarding safety and kindness.  In the meantime Cindy and I rented a car to drive up to Connecticut for our daughter Charissa’s graduation.  We came back within 24 hours to resume the hike in New Jersey.  In reaction to a speech I heard there safety and kindness will have to wait a little more.

Sisters Serena and Charissa the Graduate

Charissa is in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at UConn, with a degree as an “Honors Scholar” in Nutritional Science.  The commencement speaker was a lawyer involved in food and nutrition programs in Washington, DC.  He built up how important that particular College was, that feeding the world through continued improvements in their area was the key factor for eradicating poverty.

Speeches such as these is why we have no problem with young adults volunteering for worthy projects; they are continually primed in college by “save the world” rhetoric.  Make no mistake, volunteerism always will be needed.  Because of the presence of large cities, centralized efforts to overcome hunger and other problems always will be needed as well.

However, there is no evidence, none, zippo, nada of large mass societies EVER being able to eliminate all poverty and hunger among citizens (though one could haggle over what makes something large).  It’s rather naïve to think that continued centralized, save the world solutions will ever change that.  That humorous definition of insanity repeating the same thing while expecting different results comes to mind.

On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that small communities with sufficient autonomy can achieve affluence (the Galbraith kind) for ALL its citizens.  Yes, ALL.  However, it would be equally naïve to think that we can turn the whole world into functioning small scale societies.

The best approach no doubt lies somewhere in between.  There must be a realistic approach to centralized, global “save the world” strategies while allowing for as many decentralized, autonomous small scale societies as possible.

Next post:  back to safety and kindness.

(Photos to be added later)

Before this journey started I enrolled in a marketing program targeted for authors.  I learned much about what I had been doing wrong and followed the advice of the program to tap into your passion; in our case that is long-distance hiking.  Another perk of the program is free advertisement in a trade journal for broadcast media producers looking for folks to interview.

The perk included copyrighting of the advertisements by people who get paid to do it all the time.  I send in my ideas and someone refines it.  One time I sent in something about communities being the tonic to large mass society:  such as corporations, government and interest groups.  The copyrighter titled it “What politicians get wrong” and dropped off the mention of corporations altogether.  I guess faulting corporations, even when lumped together with other mass society targets, is taboo if you want to get interviewed.

During our couple days off after finishing the ADT I had a five minute radio interview solicited from the “What politicians get wrong” banner.  The interview went very well as I hit upon a theme that related a problem identified in the book I wrote, Systems out of Balance, with something experienced all throughout this hike.

Those who get my email updates already know what this theme is.  (If you want email updates from me, though admittedly there are not many left relating to this journey, just make a comment on the blog.  Also, be aware that the next edition of the newsletter will be coming out soon.)  Everywhere across this country people wish us to “be safe” in parting; not once did someone wish us to “be happy” or even “be well.”

This may seem to be a detail of little consequence to you.  Granted, I would not take any single person’s wishes for us to “be safe” in anyway other than the charitable manner in which it was offered.  Yet when a social behavior becomes pervasive, something about that society generally provides a cause.  The cause for us to focus on being safe gets in the way of being kind.

The last leg of this journey will provide some opportunity to flesh out this theme.  Please stay tuned.

Serinda, Reese, Lydia, Cyrus and Ethan Conner

We did a studio interview with Jen, Mark and Lynnette of WMDT 47

Cathy was in awe and gave us a hug

Sean, Renee and Tony at Enterprise, where we rented a car to get to Charissa's graduation

Billy Talbot fixed the plumbing at the Conner's while we were there

Tom treated us to lunch at Vintage Cafe

Bernadette and Ryan were with us on a tour of Dogfish Brewery

Kristen was our tour guide at Dogfish Brewery

I’m posting this the day after we finished the American Discovery Trail.  You probably were expecting something profound but, frankly, I’m too tired.  Besides the events of yesterday we had to get up at 5:00 a.m. this morning for an in-studio interview at the television station WMDT 47.  Here’s there newsclip of us.

We still have the walk to Connecticut; maybe I’ll think up something profound along the way.  For now here’s a pictorial essay of our finish, the first two people to do so walking west to east continuously on the American Discovery Trail.

Cindy, Bill, Jefferson, Amy and Joe at the Vintage Cafe in Milton, our starting point.

Reporter Mike and photographer Patrick from WBOC 16 met us along the way

Stacey (right) at Kick 'N Chicken let us use there restroom

We were greeted enthusiastically by Serinda's class as we walked by Cape Henlopen High School

Lion Karl Gude joined us for the last half mile

Serinda Conner knew we were coming so she baked us a cake

The final approach

Lions Ken and Marie Shew and Serinda Conner watch the finish

Ky gives her camera to journalist Nick from the Cape Gazette for a shot

Team Humanity at the cold and windy finish by the Atlantic

Photographer Daniel and reporter Marquis from WMDT 47

Jackson and Sean give us extra Starbucks coffees after a mistaken order

Serinda's friend Wendy and Brenda greet us as we warm up at Starbucks

Our table at the Lord Baltimore Lions Club meeting that evening

And one last photo …

Our entry into Delaware revived some previous experiences along the American Discovery Trail.  The most important of these was an old friend rejoining us once again.

We’ve encountered Mike Hinckley twice before on this journey.  We dropped some supplies off at his place near Denver on our way out.  He then hiked with us a bit and hosted us for four days when we hiked by the Denver area.  At that time he suggested we should visit his Mom in Delaware.

Jovial Mike

We connected with Jean Hinckley and arranged to stay with her for two evenings.  During that time Mike flew out to see us once again … and to hike this two-day stretch with us.  For our first evening together at Jean’s she made the observation of how jovial we were together.  That’s what long-distance hikers are like when they get together, particularly those who have hiked in groups.

Mom Jean and Mike

Usually when people hike with us I do much of the talking since I remember things better.   This time I deliberately hiked ahead of Cindy and Mike, enabling them to engage in light-hearted banter for much of the time.  I knew this was very good for Cindy.

Mike and Cindy

Zack and Tom of a road construction crew were interested in what we were doing.  As we sat down for lunch on the first day a man stopped his truck to congratulate us on nearing the end of the trail.  He and other folks in Delaware might be more aware of the trail because of the signage at road intersections with the ADT emblem.  They are the largest signs along the whole trail.

Zack gave us a hearty welcome as we passed by

We joked around with Tom

On the other hand the mileages on the ADT guide for the Delaware section have just been crazy.  A half mile section is listed as a 2 mile section and vice-versa.  I can’t even detect a pattern to the errors.  Fortunately I just go by the maps.  National Geographic Maps provided their entire dataset for the contiguous 48 states.  I transfer the GPS points from the guide onto their maps and print them out.  The route in Delaware is obvious following the maps; I might have had some trouble if I just went by the guide’s directions and mileages.

As we near the finish memories are bound to creep in.  The whole state is reminiscent of the flat farmlands of Kansas, or the border between Illinois and Indiana.  Seeing earthworms on the road after a rainy night reminded me of our last morning in Ohio.  Caterpillars crawling across the road were reminiscent of California.  The very hot hiking conditions on the second day reminded me of the Utah desert in summer.

I’m sure this is just the beginning of “memory lane” as we near the finish.  The day this is posted is the day we reach the ocean.

Other Photos

Just a couple of kooks

Which one gets the right of way?

ADT signage in Delaware