Alas, it wasn't to be. The perfect fit was a negative fit. The things I didn't know were all the things the boss didn't care to explain. When I asked, he just got mad. Little things like the rules and laws governing payment, cancellations etc. There were certainly things I could and should have done better but it was a recipe for disaster.
When the end finally came I headed up the hill to lick my wounded ego in the National Park. And then something wonderful happened. I got into a conversation with a couple about possible day hikes in the park, showing them my maps etc. When I asked where they were from they said 'Maine'. 'Where in Maine?' 'Camden'. At that point we looked at each other and guessed each other to be about the same age.
Turned out we were one class apart at the same High School in Camden Maine and had even taken a couple of classes together. We ran in somewhat different circles and the memories were a little rusty but it was what we had in common now that was what made it such a treat.
My schoolmate's name was (and still is) Jenny Bell. Her older sister ran the guitar shop in Camden and was a folk performer of some note. Jenny is now married to Doug Sensenig who also has family connections to Camden and hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2005. He's working for the Hawaii Island Land Trust helping them to preserve land for both conservation and recreational use. It's a job he's wonderfully suited to but he longs to travel the world and take his family with him. So between having High School in common with Jenny and the AT in common with Doug and traveling in common all the way around it was a wonderful reacquainting/meeting of the minds. They invited me to stay with them and we had a wonderful time hProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ing, chatting, touring, going to Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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e local community chorus etc. And it never would have happened if the work-for-stay hadn't fallen apart.
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