June 28th, Portageville, NY

June 28

Hike the Easy Trail the guy talked about last evening, he was right it was easy, and I was right it would have been 8 pm or so when I got there. I road walked to a main road, and started hitchhiking, allot of car drivers waved, sooooooooooooo that was not help, then and emergency response car drove past -- he came back and asked if I was ok -- I said yes-- he drove off -- thought later I should have told him about the blister I have on a toe, maybe I would have gotten a ride from him, one guy on a work crew stopped and asked where I was going, I said Portageville, he said he would be back in 2 hours from his job and would give me a ride if I was still there, ok so that was better, then a mid 50's hippie looking/dressed farmer stopped back after passing by, and said he would take me to P-ville, he did, save me a long road walk.
I got to the Geneses Inn, met Vinie and Lou, two guys from NY city, one from Manhattan the other from Long Island, they went to HS together, and a friend of theirs bought the Inn 2 1/2 years ago, Vinnie has been a painter all his life, said that 3 years ago the painting dried up (I can relate to that, no jobs in a year for me painting in Wis.) the guy who bought the Inn was a HS class mate, called and asked him if he wanted to paint the outside of the Inn, Vinnie said ok, and 2 years later he is still working on remodeling the inside and outside. The place is done in 1910-1930, has antiques that are valuable I image, Portageville in its day was a railroad town, it was a destination location for people from the big cities to come for a weekend or week in the country. Pictures on the walls show the trail station, railroad, and the monster bridge over the river, and various buildings. There were 4 Inns in town at one time, there use to be an annual potato festival here, the building across the street was on the vaudeville circuit.

Neither of the guys owns a car, they take the Greyhound back to NY. They cannot imagine hiking or being in the woods. They are fascinated by my journey both on the FLT and the AT. The Inn does not take credit cards, I only had money for one night, and they said they would work it out with the owner for me to pay later. They seem to enjoy the company. It is a working bed and breakfast, they gave me a steak dinner last night and we talked wild life, camping, and Portageville, and painting remodeling. They are two NY guys, what more can I say. They have made my stay, like the old days on the AT or when a traveler was a welcome guest to bring news or some interesting information. The room I am in is hand carved wood, Birdseye maple, and 30's pictures, with a modern bathroom.