Janes Gone AWOL… Underway
By Karin Bird
After an exciting send off on May 24th where the crew relaxed, shared food and made music, Jane and Tim Sullivan began the 10 day journey in Mary Joyce, our faithful RV, across the country to the East coast.
On Monday June 3rd Will Johnson and I set off on a red-eye to meet Jane and Tim at our jump off point; Lewes, Delaware. We spent our first day, June 4th, by ceremonially putting our feet in the Atlantic to mark the true coast to coast journey and sussing out where Jane’s starting and ending points for the next day would be. This operation came to be extremely important and became part of our system, as the trails were not clearly marked. Each travel day was preceded by the somewhat comical adventure of figuring out how to meet up. I am proud to say Will and I got pretty good at it. The evening of the 4th was spent celebrating Tim’s birthday with the wonderful people of Lewes.
June 5th, Jane took off walking, covering 15+ miles from Lewes, Delaware to Milton and then 18+ miles the next day to Bridgeville, meeting people along the way. She has a special affinity for veterans and young people and after picking her up we were completely entertained with her stories. Most of the time we were in the middle of nowhere, cornfields as far as the eye could see, and locations were, to put it mildly, evasive. However, with Will at the helm and me as the faithful navigator we managed not to lose her. This was due in some part to luck. One day Will and I were heading to the pick -up point but were a bit lost. As we were driving down the road we saw this strange person with British and American flags streaming behind. Not expecting to find her there, it took a moment before we both said “ Oh my gosh… that’s Jane”. She had taken a wrong turn as well and we happened to meet up on a desolate road in the middle of the fields. We got a huge laugh out of that one. June 7th we passed over the Delaware border into Maryland where we stayed at Cherryhill RV park for several days. This stop gave us the opportunity to explore Washington DC. After two days and many miles of walking on Monday the 9th we headed over to the C & O canal for 185 miles of biking. The C and O canal, also known as “the Grand Old Ditch”, operated from 1831 to 1924 along the Potomac River from Washington DC to Cumberland Maryland. Barges pulled by horses and mules were towed along the canal delivering goods, mostly coal, to towns along the way. A series of locks were used to help the barges along the way. All along the canal, locks and the lockhouses, built of stone, evoke feelings of being in Europe or somewhere far away. It was truly a magical experience and I would highly recommend it.
The towns we visited were small and quaint for the most part. We were sad to see most of them looked quite depressed with many closed storefronts. Yet, the establishments that were open were often quite unique. Near our campground at Harper’s Ferry we found an old church that was converted into a coffee house, Beans in the Belfry. It was an amazing space! All along the way we found the people to be so kind and open.
We stayed at a variety of locations: RV parks, old time motels, Airbnbs and a Walmart parking lot. Jane would remain with Mary Joyce but Will and I were excited to have a hot shower and a real bed when the opportunity arose. Throughout our journey, Jane met and interviewed many people young and old. She has an incredible ability to connect with people. She says it’s her accent. While I am sure that helps, I think its who she is. She is truly interested in what people have to say, she asks great questions, she is understanding, and I am sure they are intrigued by her as well. These lovely people willingly share snapshots of their lives and the videos are a wide variety of funny, poignant, sad, informational and always entertaining. To see for yourself you can view them on YouTube at janes gone AWOL. Our last stop before handing her off to her Brother Bill and nephew Rueben, was Fort Ashby, West Virginia with a beautiful river front camp spot and a crazy bar where we had quite a goodbye party. Go Jane and team AWOL!