My day with the Human Baton

Things have been so crazybusy that I haven’t had the chance to udpate you on my Human Baton experience last week.

Here’s the lowdown: I met up with Luke (aka the Human Baton) and his transporters from Baltimore very late thursday evening, around 1:30am, at the Eat ‘n Park in Somerset. We had a bit of coffee and gave them a chance to get their bearings after hours in the car, and then all three of them stayed with me at Hidden Valley.

Sometime in the dead of night, the Baltimorians slipped out the door and back across the state, leaving only a very polite note as evidence that they had been there. Around 9am Luke demonstrated that he truly is the Running Fool, as he jumped out of bed and directly into his running gear, and headed out for a 10 mile run through the mountains. He made it safely back, showered and packed, and we headed west toward Ohio.

Due to the late start we didn’t have time to swing through Pittsburgh to show him the pretty rivers and bridges. But honestly I think he was probably too tired to enjoy sights anyway. So along the Pennsylvania Turnpike we went, through the fog, skimming past farms and construction projects.

We crossed into Ohio and wound our way around the Youngstown area up to Girard, to Jib Jab Hot Dog Shop. There we met Leslie and her darling daughter. Leslie had gone to extra trouble to honor the moment, in that she’d decorated the rear window of her car with the name of the website, HumanBaton.com.

Since we were still behind schedule and miles for Luke to travel, we didn’t sit down to enjoy a famous hot dog. Instead, we shot a couple of quick photos and went our separate ways. I hopped right onto I-80 headed east and was quickly home. And Luke carried on with his trip — he’s now up in New England, having spent a bit of time in Philadelphia, NYC, and along the eastern states.