Story 1-4 They get more interesting after this (trust me)
1. “A Sad Day”
I am sort of sad this morning. I
am sad about two things. I was supposed
to be in your 4th grade class this year and as you can tell I am not there. So all the other kids got to raise their hand
when their name was called and sure enough when you called my name no one was
there to raise a hand. By the way, I
have question about that. How did it get
started that if anybody wants to say something they need to raise a hand? It seems to me that that might be better just to blurt it out but for
some reason that is just not the way it works so perhaps you could give your
class some idea of why this may be. I
have never really figured it out. The
other thing that is sort of sad for me is that somehow I have a strange
name. You see my mother’s name was Mary
and my father’s name was Blain so when I was born they had this meeting and
decided to and they decided to use a few letters from each of their first names
and they decided to name me Blarry. I guess that would
not be all that bad but so far I have never encountered anybody else with that
first name. Plus get this; my last name
is McGarry so I have to walk around all my life with sort of a different
name. Is it Ok if I use my e-maiI to
send you stuff? Plus I would like if you
and some of the kids in your class could send me something back once in a
while. I am going to take this huge
trip. I am sort of adventurous but when
you have a name like Blarry McGarry what else
might you expect. For now just let me
express my apology for not being able to be there today. I promise if I had been there I would have
raised my hand when you called my name.
I wonder if you could go a whole year without anybody just blurting it
out without raising their hand. I think it
will make your class better!
So here are my adventures.
Your friend Blarry!!!
2.”Hello Again”
So here is the way it is. I am
sure your students wonder a little about a guy like me wandering around the
country. Fact is that I am an
orphan. My parents, when they were
alive, always had sort of adventuresome "demeanor" and by the way
this is the word of the day. They sort
of taught me to wander around and when they were alive we sort of rambled from
town to town and we never really did settle down. So upon their tragic death I had a very
important decision to make. I could sell
their stuff and take a huge trip or I could go to school. Not sure how decided this but somehow I
decided on the trip. Of course I am not
old enough to drive so I what I did is sold their stuff. Got $5000 for this Ford wagon they owned and
another $5,000 for the rest of the stuff.
Cash money. I found a Meijers
near by. I bought a nice pack for my
back. Bought a tent, and a heating
lantern. And just about everything else
I thought I could carry. You know one
thing I thought of is that I would need some really good shoes and for about
$100 I bought this pair of one of the finest pair of boots you will ever
see. All in all the stuff I thought I
needed came to around $550. You know
something Mrs. Mutschler the other thing I thought I would need is a good
map. And this is one of the nicest
things that happened. The clerk in the
store saw all the stuff I was buying. A
gruff old guy behind me saw it as well.
And when I paid my money he kind of saw what I was doing and he stuck
out his arm. I will never forget this
because he had a huge tattoo on his left arm.
He said "son, I want to buy you this map." And he bought for me this $10 map of the
whole country. In his husky voice he
said "those of us who like to wander need a good map and I want to buy
this for you son". You know
something, it felt good. It was the
first time anybody had called me son in a very long time. Is it OK with you if
I tell you about my traveling plans the next time?
Your Friend, Blarry
Story 3
Rainy Day
Can I ask of you just a huge favor?
As you know my plan is to walk around the "perimeter" (word of
the day) of our country. I am sort of
thinking I can maybe do around 30 miles per day. Could maybe do more but I
think if I did I would get very tired.
Anyway I wonder if one or more of your students could do some research
and see about how far I am going to need to walk. I would like to get this done by the end of
the school year and if it is true that I maybe will not be back on time I might
need to jump a few trains and maybe pay for a few rides. Now I am not talking Hawaii and Alaska here.
Just what they call the main 48. Plus if
one of your students could find out one more thing. When did Hawaii and Alaska become states anyway? It just seems to me that they are so far
away.
Do you have somebody good at arithmetic?
I just measured how far I go with every step. Do you have someone smart enough to measure
how many steps I will need to take on this trip. I go about 2 1/2 feet with each step.
You see I bought this thing called a pedometer. So at least I will know how many steps will
be on this trip and I can sort of keep track of this. This thing cost me about $20 so now with all
the money I had to spend on the tent and stuff I only have $9,430 left. I am going to have to be careful. It is true that maybe I can pick up a job
someplace and paint a fence or something but then I might not make it back in
time for the last day of school.
I have all these decisions to make and I could use some help. You told me you had smart kids in that
class. So before I leave I am trying to
figure some of this stuff out. Plus I
could use a list of some things to be careful of on this trip. I need some advice and I think you know how
to get a hold of me, so if possible could you talk this over with your class
and let me know your thoughts. i want to leave in a day or so here before It gets cold and for this to work I have to
be in the south before winter so I do not freeze.
Thanks, Blarry
4. Popping a Tent-
Thank you for all the help. I
decided something important. Oh yes I
left this morning but I decided it might be smart if I tested all my gear and
tent and everything right in the yard of your school. So that is what I did.
Before I left I put all of this stuff on the bathroom scale and it all weighs
35 pounds. I am only about 100 lbs. So I am becoming concerned about the weight.
Sure enough on the 2 mile walk to the school two problems came up. Even at the end of the 2 miles one of the
straps started to rub a sore spot on my shoulder. Plus these boots. My little toe does not fit that good in
them. So here is what I did. I went to the store on Baldwin and bought
some cotton padding and instead of boots I bought some really nice pair of tennis shoes. I am going to carry the boots along for the
rough days.
Anyway I had something interesting happen when I put my tent up. I lit the lantern and somehow the light
brought in some large bugs. Before I
went to sleep the tent seemed to hum.
Somehow, when I lit the light I could see this large bumblebee. This
thing was about the size of a small bird.
I am not sure these things sting but they sure do make a lot of noise
with their wings. No matter what I did I
could not get this thing out of the tent so the bee and me had to sleep in the
same tent all night. I woke up the
morning and checked to see if I had any welts from a sting but everything was
OK. I opened the door of the tent and
the bee flew out. I am OK and so is the bumblebee.
My first day on the road I decided to head to Grand Rapids. I am going to try and camp by the Gerald
R.Ford Museum. I think it is about 18
miles from here. But I think I can make
it. I will give you a report on this
when I am done. Right now I just sort of
hope the security guards let me set up my tent there and between you and me I
hope they do not have bumblebees in Grand Rapids.
Blarry
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