The Mayor of Unionville

First order of business: Dasek VS. Appalachian Trail – Dasek, 1455 miles; AT, 722 miles. I’m leaving Kent, CT just as soon as I finish this posting. I'll be in MA by Sunday morning.

Dick Ludwick was the Mayor of Unionville, NY (pop. 561) for 12 years until this past March. Throughout his term, he noticed how the town of Unionville was not terribly friendly to passing thru-hikers who stopped in for a night's rest or supplies. The desire of helping hikers was further instilled when he found himself broken down on a rural highway in the White Mountains of NH. His wife, a long time sufferer of Multiple Sclerosis, was also with him in the car. Unable to leave his wife behind and get help, they were fortunately brought to the rescue by a passerby in a pickup. Dick and his wife realized that they could help out weary hikers the same way he and his wife were assisted in the Whites. During this period, much of his time was devoted to his wife and coping with the MS. Sadly, she passed six years ago after 44 years of marriage. I can easily see that he loved her more than anything.

In the late summer of 2007, Dick opened up his home to hikers. He originally called it the Mayor's House changed it to The Outhouse Hostel when he did not run for another term. He has a modest two-bedroom ranch home with 8 bunks in the basement. When I arrived at his home, he told me that the first order of business was to kick off my shoes and grab a cold Budweiser out of the cooler. The first Bud is on the house, the second through fourth are 25 cents each. Not a bad deal! After I completed the difficult task of consuming the first beer, I grabbed a second and took it into the shower. Here I contemplated if life could be much sweeter at that moment. My clothes were all thrown into the wash and I got to wear one of Dick's bathrobes while I had my third beer and gobbled up a plate full of Sloppy Joes and bean salad. Once dinner was finished, Dick had the other hikers and me come into the living room where we watched a DVD of mobile phone salesman, Paul Potts, singing the opera Nessun Dorma to clinch victory on the British show Britain's Got Talent. I won't get into the story behind him having us watch this, but the agenda was to make us realize we can complete the trail as long as we believe in ourselves. He has probably shown this same video 300 times to hikers, and he sat with six of us for over an hour and spoke about his wish for us to achieve our dreams. He spoke with such passion and conviction I would have thought this was the first time he done this.

The night concluded after the third beer and much conversation with Dick and his passion for helping hikers. I should note that he personally has never set foot on the AT and thinks hiking is ludicrous. I caught a good night's sleep and woke up at 6:30am to breakfast and coffee. All of this for the ridiculously insane price of nothing! All hikers have the opportunity to donate to the hostel, but it's not expected.

I should also mention that Dick has two gentlemen named Bill (in his early 80's) and Butch (around 50 years old) who handle most of the day to day tasks around the Hostel. Bill does 95% of the cooking and swears like a sailor with a bad case of Turrets syndrome. Bill previously lived in a retirement home and was in a bad financial situation. Dick met Bill when delivering prescription drugs and invited him to live in his home in March 2008. Butch handles more of the administrative tasks and is the one often assisting hikers by driving them to outfitters and stores.

The point here is that all three of these gentlemen have found a passion and a reason to get excited about life. At the end of the day we need to find what gives us joy. These guys have it through helping us hikers. The Outhouse, formerly known as the Mayor's house, was the by far my favorite hostel on the trail.