Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Cheap Hamburgers and Walking the Tracks


One of the things people talk about is how much things cost throughout their lives. There was a McDonald's across the street from our neighborhood. Burgers were 29 cents, cheeseburgers were 39 cents, and milkshakes were 40 cents. For a dollar I could buy two burgers and a milkshake. I would skip the fries because the milkshake was a much better choice in my opinion. Back then they didn't use milkshake machines and they would really make them. 

One fine day in the late 1970s, Mark Emory and I went and bought 10 burgers each. Afterward we decided that all of the burgers would give us a lot of energy for a long walk so we took off walking the tracks but instead of our normal walk we headed up the old Reading RR towards Pennsylvania. We got to the crossing at route 100 near the intersection with route 92 and realized it was getting really late. We decided to start walking back on route 100. We got down to the next railroad crossing and decided to get back on the tracks. As dusk fell we realized were were still a long way off and would be soon walking the tracks in darkness. Mark wanted to jog but I was not in as good a shape and could not keep up and also I was more fearful of my footing and afraid to twist an ankle or fall. We ended up walking the last couple of miles in total darkness because it was a moonless night and the trees blocked any ambient light from reaching us. This is a prime case of wanderlust colliding with reality and I learned a lesson about planning. 

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