Long Walks On Leafy Streets

5/22/2013 C&O canal towpath, between mile 60 and 61 (Taken by Nicole)
Last Wednesday morning dawned calm and clear morning in Knoxville, just over a mile from Harper's Ferry. Had woken up a little early. It had been a pleasant and relaxing four days there. Been walking on the C&O towpath, through the quiet streets of Harper's Ferry and Bolivar and also hiking in the surrounding mountains. Every day I walked at least six miles.
There were not that many tourists in downtown Harper's Ferry, yet. On Saturday and Sunday there were a lot of Boy Scouts, biking on the towpath or walking through town and invading the ice-cream shops. The town itself looked like it is waking up from a long slumber, rubbing the sleep off its eyes. It only gets busy for a few months in the summer. Once you walk past the historic part, it is just another small town. I enjoyed walking through those quiet streets, looking at the gardens and trees. Sometimes people sitting in their porch or front yard would wave or say hi.
There are a few hostels and bed and breakfast places. Otherwise mostly ranch houses and Colonial or Victorian style homes. Saw many houses that were abandoned. It was a little saddening, on the one hand, to see a place where once people lived and children played go into disrepair. On the other hand it was interesting to see how nature takes over. Wildflowers and bushes spread over the yards and creepers climb all over the walls and windows. Perhaps the children moved away and were waiting to renovate and sell the place.
On one afternoon I stopped by at the Bolivar community park for lunch. I sat in the sheltered picnic area because it looked like it might rain anytime soon. A young boy, a little heavy for his age, came biking in and started shooting basketball in the nearby court. Later another boy joined him, even heavier. I have noticed that obesity is a problem in small town America, true to the reports that one reads. Perhaps the reason was right there, in that there were just two children playing in this park on a saturday afternoon. Or perhaps they were staying home because it had been raining a lot. Presently it started raining. The rain was quite heavy at times, accompanied by thunder. The boys came inside the shelter, sitting and fidgeting restlessly. They didn't pay much attention to me, nor did I try to draw them into conversation. After a while they got tired. They would run into the rain and shoot a basketbal for fun and come back. Once they ran into the court when it was raining really hard, and thrilled by what they had done let out a whoop of delight. It was nice to see children being children, having fun outside, that too in a thunderstorm.

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