December 21, 2022 Breakfast Meeting Notes

 

Tony began with NH Trivia, Seacoast Edition.

 

Braden passed around an envelope donations for Tom’s Christmas present. The 50/50 was won by Mike, who added it to Tom’s envelope.

 

Sharon won the chance to draw for the ace of spades, but she was not successful. The game continues.

 

Braden began with a review of last Friday’s board meeting:

 

    —Dues invoices have been sent out; Super Bowl Squares will be billed in January. Ken Evans will be going away for a couple of weeks, so if you haven’t sent dues in yet, you can wait until he gets back. 

    —Styrofoam project: bags have been ordered and once they arrive we can schedule a date at the ReStore. Guilford and Lebanon split the cost of the bags and we paid the shipping charge.

    —Interact students (12) had their second meeting of the year. 

    —Next week we will have the presentations by this year’s scholarship students to discuss how their education is going. Nancy will serve as a greeter for students and their parents.

 

Moe introduced our speaker Scott King, a longtime past president of the club. He started the duck race and introduced us to trivia. He will discuss his walk from Freeport, ME to Santa Monica.

 

Scott had planned to go into the military and then college, but his parents fell ill and he wound up taking over the family masonry business. He and a friend decided to do a walk as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society at the Bicentennial. At the last minute the Cancer Society backed out but Scott and his friend George had lined up a lot of sponsors and they all elected to support them anyway.

 

They started on March 15 from Freeport, ME and plotted out a route to Santa Monica, CA. They covered 3821 miles over the next several months and wore out 3 set of soles on their boots (donated by LL Bean) along the way. Scott recalled that the second day was the worst, only 9 miles long but hiked during a nor’easter as they went from Maine over into New Hampshire. They had three 39 mile days in Kansas. Lunches were usually peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. At night they usually stayed with members of service organizations, which was convenient and economical but sometimes exhausting, as they would be tired from their walk and their hosts wanted to celebrate their arrival with a party.

 

People were increasingly friendly as they headed west. Scott has fond memories of Cobleskill, NY and the local hospitality. By the time they reached the PA line, he needed to go to the hospital for blister treatment. They did part of their walk with the governor of Illinois, who was later arrested for corruption. In Kansas, wheat farmers would hear about them on the radio and jump off of their combines to offer to host them for dinner. Scott noted that one of the hardest places to hike was Hogback Mountain in VT, as it was still early in their trek and they weren’t in perfect hiking condition. By the time they reached the Rockies, they were in excellent condition and it wasn’t as difficult!  They found that the tourist industry in CO had been taken over by Texans. 

 

 

When they crossed the Mohave, they could see a vehicle in the distance. It turned out to be a young mother with 3 daughters and she had a flat tire. They changed her tire and she was deeply grateful. She sent a donation back to the Meredith Club as thanks for their timely assistance.

 

After the walk was over, they drove back to the east coast. The Cancer Society did later admit that they probably made a mistake in not supporting them! The year after their walk, the Cancer Society did support another hiker who had had a leg amputated due to cancer and who made the crossing on crutches.

 

The remainder of our meeting was brief. Denise reminded folks to follow our Plymouth Rotary FB page to see pictures of caroling at the Pemi Youth Center. This is a great way to publicize our efforts. Denise also noted that Marybeth did an amazing job of getting publicity on the Ukraine Project, including pieces on WMUR, Channel 7, and Good Morning America.

 

Peggy noted that Sarah Jane’s Steen’s husband Joe Bourke has passed away. She was a past president of PSU and an honorary member of Rotary. 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lora Miller, secretary