Monday, June 4th, 2012

What We Did and Did Not See!

Millville, New Brunswick

Karuna and I saw not one human on the trail. Amazing! A 30 kilometre stretch and not one human soul to be seen. That doesn't mean that other souls were not about. There were clear streams, the Keswick, to our right and then by way of a modest bridge, it came to our left. A bear raced away from our sight. The trees and vegetation of various sorts and kind were by our sides. They did us a great favour. They cut us off from the wind. It was a path of paradise. No billboards. No cars. No factories. No homes. That's what I call paradise.

Yes, the experience was so invigorating. Karuna and I were so Krishna charged. We went the whole way without a break, only for a water discharge and stop to chew on clover. By the time we reached Millville (population 300) we expected Daruka to meet us at the streets junction, but no. We were compelled to connect with our first human contact at the Estey General Store. Perhaps by inquiring, the proprietor may have seen our support man, Daruka. Before entering the charming little place I warned Karuna, "you don't know these places. People in these small towns look at us like we came from the moon."

We entered the building and were so warmly greeted. It was Daruka who had been there already, asking about us. He had warned and warmed everyone up for our coming. I'm sure we were two monks that this town may never see again. It was nice because one of the last two of the war veterans in town shot the breeze with us. To be honest though, this walking program is meant to connect people of every town and village to the tune of the spirit. So finally, to see to our evening assignment, once Daruka did find us, we headed for the lodge at Odell Park in Fredericton. There, in the cozy venue, some local folks (the crystal bearing and the open-minded) did attend our presentation. They sang like angels to the maha-mantra. That was preceded by the message of "More walking - less squawking" and "walkers are rockers!"

30 Km