Reading by Headlight
Literally. That’s the nice thing about having a headlamp: The light follows you around emanating from your forehead. Not quite a halo, but I’m getting closer.
Quite the adventuresome evening so far, though I think the most fun is yet to come…
I really had plenty of info to go on, but rolling into a new town at 7:30, after dark is still a little worrisome. I had my plane tickets, a pre-arranged shuttle for the hour trip to Hamilton and the name of the building I was to camp outside of: Base Camp. A great name to instill confidence in any outdoors person. So I got dropped off by Bill and his 11 yr. old son at the gym in front of Base Camp because it has been snowing since I landed and I wanted a warm place to get my bearings. Welcome to Hamilton New York.
Its an interesting feeling being in completely new terrain. Luckily, being in a college town as a 22 year old (who looks 18), I don’t stick out very much. But still, casting yourself on the good will of complete strangers is a humbling experience. Bill told me about the ‘Colgate Cruisers’ who are the free shuttles around the University and to ‘downtown.’ So relying on that info, after stashing my bags on Base Camp’s wrap around porch, I flagged down the first shuttle looking vehicle that stopped on campus. The New Yorker who was driving pointed out the few eating establishments as we chatted about life & what brought him to driving in Hamilton nights & school buses in Syracuse during the day. Unfortunately he didn’t mention that the Chinese place was horrible. But after dinner some college kids did take pity on the kid standing out in the snow and gave me a ride back ‘up the hill’ to Base Camp. Passing from person to person I at least managed to get myself fed and back to home base and my gear. I finally decided to brave any alarm systems on Base Camp’s door and use the code the organizer gave me via email which provided me the warm shelter from which I am writing. He didn’t mention anything about being able to sleep here however, so I still get to face to joy of pitching a tent outside in the dark and snow. Nothing like playing in the snow to start out your week…
Quite the adventuresome evening so far, though I think the most fun is yet to come…
I really had plenty of info to go on, but rolling into a new town at 7:30, after dark is still a little worrisome. I had my plane tickets, a pre-arranged shuttle for the hour trip to Hamilton and the name of the building I was to camp outside of: Base Camp. A great name to instill confidence in any outdoors person. So I got dropped off by Bill and his 11 yr. old son at the gym in front of Base Camp because it has been snowing since I landed and I wanted a warm place to get my bearings. Welcome to Hamilton New York.
Its an interesting feeling being in completely new terrain. Luckily, being in a college town as a 22 year old (who looks 18), I don’t stick out very much. But still, casting yourself on the good will of complete strangers is a humbling experience. Bill told me about the ‘Colgate Cruisers’ who are the free shuttles around the University and to ‘downtown.’ So relying on that info, after stashing my bags on Base Camp’s wrap around porch, I flagged down the first shuttle looking vehicle that stopped on campus. The New Yorker who was driving pointed out the few eating establishments as we chatted about life & what brought him to driving in Hamilton nights & school buses in Syracuse during the day. Unfortunately he didn’t mention that the Chinese place was horrible. But after dinner some college kids did take pity on the kid standing out in the snow and gave me a ride back ‘up the hill’ to Base Camp. Passing from person to person I at least managed to get myself fed and back to home base and my gear. I finally decided to brave any alarm systems on Base Camp’s door and use the code the organizer gave me via email which provided me the warm shelter from which I am writing. He didn’t mention anything about being able to sleep here however, so I still get to face to joy of pitching a tent outside in the dark and snow. Nothing like playing in the snow to start out your week…
posted by george at 10:26 PM
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