Our house was exactly three miles from Bay and the bus to take us to school always made our stop last and so we got to school later than I wanted to. So, most days I walked to school even in the cold weather. There were some interesting things that happened on my journey to school.
One time we were having a gospel meeting at Bay and I was about 14 years old. I had already decided that I wanted to be a preacher and so I would practice as I walked down the road. Doyle Gilliam, brother of our regular preacher was preaching in the meeting. The next morning as I walked to school I was preaching his sermon because I remembered it almost word for word. I was laying back the hide and pouring in the salt as I approached the Big Bay Ditch bridge and suddenly a man came walking out from under that bridge and asked, "Are we have a baptizing?" Embarrassed me to death! I walked on until I got out range for him to hear and picked up where I had left off and finished that sermon. I either preached or sung nearly all the way to school.
I seldom had to walk all the way. There was a man in Bay who was a carpenter and he liked to drink. Almost every day he would go to the county line very early in the morning before he would go to work and he would get him a bottle. As he came back he would pick me up and just before we got in to town he would stop and drink a big slug of that drink and he would always offer me one and I never took it. He would take me on the school and then he would go on to work. If he didn't go for his bottle one day then likely someone else would be going to town and I would nearly always get a ride into town.
Many times in the afternoon I would stay later at school and play ball or something and then have to walk home. I have walked many miles on the railroad track walking on the rails. A classmate recently reminded me of that by telling some of my friends that I could walk on a rail as well as I could walk on a highway. Today I can hardly raise my feet high enough to step over a rail! I did walk many miles on the rails as I made my way home.
One night after church I walked Barbara to her sisters house a few blocks from the building and then ran back to the church building to go home with the folks. When I got there they were already gone. I went to Aunt Mollie's and they had stopped and picked her up and took her to our house because a bad storm was coming I couldn't stay with her. I had to run home that night because of the storm and Dad told me that I needed to manage better. Can you imagine that? He left me and I was the one that needed to manage better. I never heard!
I've always loved to walk and still do. For almost 30 years now I have walked almost every day between three and five miles. I love it! People used to stop and try to give me a ride and other people are always wanting to walk me. No, I just want to walk. It's just me and the Lord and I sing, pray, meditate and watch out for the dogs and crazy drivers talking on the cell phone, putting on makeup, or garage salers trying to get to the next one as quickly as possible. One lady calls me the 'singing man' when she sees me walking. But, those walks to school are memorable ones and they make Herman Junction such a pleasant place and all is well there tonight.
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