Ride to Burlington: Rob.
Rob drops me off on the campus of The University of Vermont in Burlington.
“Vermont’s a place where barns come painted, red as a strong man’s heart. Where stout carts and stout boys in freckles are highest forms of art.” – Robert Tristam Coffin
Meet Rob.
I have to sweet-talk a quartet of crumpled, paper coffee cups to get them to scootch over so I can fit into Rob’s truck. He is heading to Burlington, VT. He’ll give me a ride as long as I don’t mind stopping to get coffee.
13 years of School.
Rob is headed to work. He is a CT technician at a Burlington hospital. He went to school for 13 years. I jokingly call him Dr. Rob as we grab cups of New England coffee. “I’m a physicist and an engineer… plus a CT Tech.”
Geo-Thermal Heating.
Justin was telling me about if you installed a Geo-Thermal Heating system in your home that you paid a lot at first, but your bills were tiny after that. “It’s green, too.”
His explanation of how it worked didn’t make much sense though, but Rob seems the guy to ask. So I pick his brain about Geo-Thermal Heating. ”It takes about 10 years for it to pay for itself.” Rob says that you have to drill a couple hundred feet down and you access “the core.” “It’s not as far down as you would think.” You then use this energy to heat your home. Voila!
Bullet in the Gluteus Maximus.
Rob doesn’t like guns. He was shot on a tour of duty in Iran. He is irritated that some soldiers come back from Iraq and get a Purple Heart for “stubbing their toe.” He had a bullet wound and in the butt, no less, and was not award the medal. “Because supposedly we weren’t there.”
Wicked Hot!
Rob explains what it feels like to be shot. “Hot, wicked Hot!” He was shot by a sniper. This sniper missed his target, luckily. “It felt like I got kick by a horse!” Rob had been kicked by a horse before.
Shhh…
“If my wife calls, don’t say nothing.” Speak of the devil, right then his phone rings. “It’s my wife.” This happens to me all the time. Synchronicity is what James Redfield called it in his book, The Celestine Prophecy.
Rob doesn’t want me to talk because his wife would be upset that he picked up a hitchhiker. He doesn’t like it when she picks them up. They live near a prison. That’s why, he doesn’t like it when she picks them up. “I see the helicopters about 5 or 6 times a year.” When Rob sees a helicopter he knows someone escaped. Rob’s prison doesn’t have very good fences, because it seem like a lot of folks are escaping from it.
Home is where the heart is.
Burlington.
Rob drops me off, a short walk from the downtown of Burlington. It is a beautiful day.
Create Our World.
Ben
“The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.” – Anais Nin
Tags: adventure travel blog, Benjamin Jenks, burlington, create our world, hitchhiking, roadtrip around the USA, vermont
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Hitchin Stories., People.
