Day 3. Today’s route: Wallingford, Durham, Killingworth, and Deep River. I was ahead of schedule walking wise, which meant I had more time to stop and chat with folks along the way. Here’s the full recap:
7:00 AM start in Wallingford. The sun was already strong and I had a blister on my right foot, but I had 20+ miles to go, so I got in an hour of walking in before breakfast.
At 8:00 AM, I picked up a breakfast sandwich from the super friendly crew at Gigante’s Deli. I then sat down with my hero, John Carlson — a college student, Middletown resident, and Eagle Scout.
I met John just a few weeks ago at a roundtable I hosted on the Affordable Care Act. At age twelve, he was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of soft tissue cancer.
He beat cancer but is one of the 500,000+ people Connecticut living with a pre-existing condition. He’s been an outspoken advocate for the Affordable Care Act and its patient protections. I’m grateful that he’s chosen to speak out. He said it best: “I share my story so that patients fighting for their lives will no longer be taken advantage of.”
He’s just one example of what’s at stake as we look ahead to next week’s oral argument in President Trump’s lawsuit against the ACA. I’ll continue to fight like hell for John and everyone else with pre-existing conditions.
Up the road was Deerfield Farm — a dairy farm that produces fresh yogurt, milk/chocolate milk, and gelato. The whole operation is run by a woman named Melynda, who showed me, Senator Cohen, and First Selectwoman Francis around her store (they don’t have a cashier, they have an honor policy). The chocolate milk looked delicious, but my better judgment told me it wasn’t the right call with 15 miles more to go.
A few miles later, I met Steve & Johnny (super nice guys) who were setting up a farm stand in Durham. They wanted to know why illegal immigrants can burn the Bible and flag, get free college and health care, while the rest of us get none of that. I gave them some food for thought.
Down the road, I passed a house with giant Adirondack chairs in the front yard. The owner used to be a welder for Pratt & Whitney, but was forced to retire early after her daughter was shot and killed and her husband got sick. Now, at the age of 72, she’s working at Walmart to help support her son, who struggles with addiction and mental health issues.
Despite all she’s faced, she still has an incredibly positive attitude. She lets her friends use her broad front lawn on a busy street to sell their homemade wares (that’s why the Adirondack chairs were there), she feeds all the neighborhood animals (“I know I shouldn’t do it” she said), and she refuses to be weighed down by all that has happened to her. It’s people like her that remind me how much good exists in the world despite the daily pounding of bad news.
I hit the next town: Killingworth. What I learned about Killingworth is that it has a lot of really nice people and a lot of super annoying bugs. And there are like 1000x more bugs than people.
I also stopped at a new farmers’ market. I had no idea that this even existed, but thanks to the walk across Connecticut, now I know! First Selectwoman Catherine Iino was kind enough to give me a tour around.
My last stop of the day was the Haddam-Killingworth all-star game. I’ve never seen any non-professional throw the ball harder than the 12-year-old Haddam pitcher. Struck out the side.
A long, hot, energizing day 3. Met so many people. Heard so many stories. And on the eve of Independence Day, I got to walk the same route as one of our Founding Fathers.
