day 5, part I -- on peaches and auto parts

squeezed in a quick jog to some scenic spots on the lakeshore when the sun rose...in part to let the tent and sleeping mat dry out. found that the temperature had dropped all of, oh, two degrees it seemed. so I now understand the dawg's (roll tide) prodigious perspiring abilities -- it's a southern thing. another useless shower, clothes on at the very last second to avoid getting immediately soaked, but all to no avail since I had to stop at the office to pay the campground fee. then back onto a southward scenic route past fields just on the edge of the first topographic relief west of the river. crop dusters climbing and swooping over fields and a strong smell of pesticide when I timed it wrong. I had seen a couple from a distance the day before and mistaken them for an air show; not sure I've ever seen them in action.

the scenic route turned onto a newly tarred-and-chipped surface that I figured wasn't the best idea on a day that was likely to hit 105 degrees again (I could picture a slow motion topple into a sticky black mess), so at the intersection I stopped for peaches in an open tractor shed. the peach farmer himself was there and took me to a bin of newly picked when I told him I could only handle a couple given my limited luggage space. most were on the hard side as they awaited ripening -- have to pick them early for delivery -- but we found a couple that were on target. 'yellow prince' or something like that, a variety that he proudly told me were new to the local peach repertoire. he had just recently picked up the peach bidness after 23 years loading pallets for a series of ever-merging trucking companies in west memphis (not a short commute from wynne, AR) and before that a few years running cattle trucks eastward. laid off because 23 years wasn't enough seniority (isn't that great? 23 years of back breaking labor and he's cut loose so we all can save 5 cents at the grocery store), he landed in his 'daddy-in-law's' orchard. early-50s, peppery hair and matching goatee, a loading dockworker's body downshifting into the softer frame of a peach farmer but moved easily without the back-injury limp you'd expect. amazing what OSHA regulations can achieve to make tough jobs more humane (okay, I'll stop). and somehow the way he stood was remarkably friendly and thoughtful, if that makes any sense. he'd evidently taken his late career change well in stride, though he admitted to liking the farming a whole lot more than the selling...even after only a few years he very much looked the part of the farmer and had clearly developed the farmer's loving connoisseurship. he talked worms and rot and leaf blight, how important it was for it not to rain during fruit-growing season lest the peaches get too watery and tasteless, the risk of frost and the importance of waiting to fertilize/pesticide until later so as not to waste capital on crop that could be lost. but most striking was his reaction to finding out I hailed from dayton. 'things are rough up there, aren't they?' now that's true, but from where I'm standing the south doesn't look in great economic shape either -- shelled towns, abandoned commercial campgrounds, rusting farms. I suggested that 2008 was the death knell marking the end of a four-decade slide, and he considered that and concluded that the difference now was that people now had someone to scapegoat. infer his politics as you will, but it was clear once again that the monolithic stereotypes we apply don't ever really work. here a very rural someone who identifies with out-of-work dayton autoworkers without blaming the government or immigrants or a manchurian candidate conspiracy. contrast to a proud teapartier in a rural county in illinois...sprawling mcmansion fronted by four very angry looking gargoyles perched on brick pillars lined up along the road. fully fenced yard despite the fact that there was no sign of human occupation within five miles. and a billboard in the front lawn frothing about 'voter fraud,' surely the most pressing issue our great nation faces right now, especially in a small, homogeneous illinois county of maybe 40,000 residents.