serendipidity #10

It's dawning on us that New Hampshire is hilly.  Tough on our legs, but good for the views.  We are in an area full of (relatively) old and very pretty villages.  Most of the land has been reclaimed by the forest.  We are wondering what to do.  Our aim is to be on Long Island with Gayle's old friend Karen for Thanksgiving.  That gives us a month and when we plan our route we realise we have plenty of time, too much time.  So we want to look for an airbnb place to take a pause.  Happily, even the small villages appear to have a library.

Hancock, New Hampshire

 After a long lunch in the sunshine we spend some time finding a place to stay.  We decide on a place in Peterborough with great reviews, and just before we book a couple of nights we notice there is a good discount for a longer stay.  So we book for the week.  Coming out of the library we joke about being disappointed by the lack of interest from local residents - so spoiled have we been by people's spontaneous generosity.  And then Glenn walks by.

He nods hello, we nod back.  He stops to ask us where we're heading.  Our usual shrug and 'camp in the woods' routine.  He suggests, but with the offer of a get-out clause, that we might like to join him at his cabin in the woods, just around the lake.  But he warns us, it's remote and there are no facilities.  Maybe he's conscious of how unusual it sounds and how we might be viewing him and his offer.  But we don't think he's a weirdo.  And maybe we're swayed by his rugged film actor good looks and blue eyes. We accept.  He gives us directions to a house up a long dirt road - he'll catch us up in his pick up.  At the house we meet his boss and friend, Paul, the owner of the big house.  Glenn explains they met as park rangers out west in California.  This is a new venture - a holiday chalet - and Glenn is caretaker.  His deal is he gets to live in a cabin out in the woods.  Paul is very nice and with him are a couple of other guys.  One of them, Uncle Dan, looks spaced out.  Glenn assures us he's okay - just war damaged.  

Glenn's cabin is exactly as he described, although there is a pit toilet and some view through the trees.  We have cycled a good distance down a rough track.  Glenn has a gas stove and a wood fire pit and a very simple one-room cabin.  We sit around the camp fire and share our dinner and drink beer.  Glenn's had a varied, unusual life.  We suspect his friend Paul is helping out folks who need a hand.  We sleep under a mosquito net next to the cabin.  In the morning Glenn asks us if we saw the bears. He's kidding, right?  No, no, he's not.  One of the neighbours has a camera on his house which recently picked up a whole family of them padding around.  Bears!!!

with Glenn

After breakfast up at the big house, where we can take a shower, we say farewell to Glenn and Uncle Dan.  And back on the road we go.