7/3/2023 Monday
Ana and Art—my friends who picked me up last night—took me out for a rich dinner and then back to a lovely forested home for climate controlled conversation and sleep.
I decided to rest here today. Ana, whom I’ve known since graduate school, has generously agreed to let me hike and crash here for a few days. The scuttlebutt is that Rocksylvania (which, it transpires, is diasporic) ends around 1340, which is six miles from where I left the trail yesterday. So there is some hope. Don’t you dare squash it!
I spent late morning and early afternoon in a deep refreshing sleep. I did my laundry.
I think I saw an actual American Chestnut yesterday—see pic below. A ridge runner back in PA told me that they are around if you know how to spot the leaves. Early yesterday I saw a tree that I thought could fit, so I googled the leaves and it wasn’t a match. But then later that same afternoon I saw a small branch laid intentionally across the path. THOSE ARE THE LEAVES! A small plant grew nearby. They can’t be American Chestnut, I thought, but I think they were and it isn’t at all implausible because the young ones do grow wild but don’t survive. I felt I had found a joyful treasure—see pic below. Don’t squash that either, like my dad did by identifying other plants it could have been.
I will take those young leaves as a reminder not to count our better angels out just yet. I think we will bring back the American Chestnut in my lifetime. And ahead lay other surprises to make a hard journey meaningful.
Tomorrow is looking rainy, but I might be able to get some miles in if I have a dry place to return to at the end of it. A dry cool place.
This home into which I have been welcomed has provided shelter and architectural inspiration. Benny, my darling, please go ahead and start getting estimates to install a 1970s era sunken living room into our tract built 2016 townhome. Three estimates should do it, but go with whichever company sends the cutest guys. Unless you can find an all-lesbian crew, in which case for gods sake hire them at any cost.
Project Eveningland 
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