After a violent thunderstorm during the night, we woke up to perfectly dry tents. At IngleBean Cafe, I (James) had the pleasure of speaking with Dan, or Farmer Dan as he is known around Millheim. Farmer Dan is a homesteader - meaning that he lives entire self-sufficiently off of his land. He shared his impressive knowledge of which plants off the side of the road can be eaten, and he also talked about how he would salvage roadkill whenever possible. Living entirely self-sufficiently requires tremendous work ethic and dedication, and Farmer Dan rightfully expressed pride in his lifestyle. He also told me a lot about the Amish folks that live around the area (of whom we saw plenty later on in the day), specifically talking about how their community is growing and becoming increasingly dependent on commerce with the English (Americans outside their community). Whenever other people would walk in, Farmer Dan would say hello and then introduce me and explain that I was walking across America. The sense of community in IngleBean Cafe was very strong, and not just something you can get in big cities. Farmer Dan gave us some fresh meat sticks before we went on our way, and a man named Joe made a Facebook post about what we were doing for the locals to see. It was about 12:40pm when we hit the road. We walked 11miles to a gas station, where we had a long break and slept on the chairs inside. We didn’t leave until after 7, but walked well into the night before reaching State College, the town home to Penn State. We had a beer at Local Whiskey and then found a nearby park to set up our tents. We walked about 24 miles for the day.
7/2/22
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