It didn’t take long to realize that aside from the name, Hope was the perfect town to start our trip in. I pulled into Hope yesterday afternoon after driving in from Bloomington. Rob and I have been preparing for Hope for awhile, checking it out via satellite thanks to Google, reading bits about its history and picturing in our heads what the town would be like. I was excited to take a look around “our town”.

In the center is a park and I pulled up to it and got out with a notebook and a camera and began taking it in. The first thing I noticed was the building of the Hope Star-Journal, and I was on my way there when another building caught my eye. It was a small one story wooden structure with massive windows and apparently no door. I got closer to read the sign: Museum of the National Rural Letter Carriers Association. No need to worry if it was open, the museum of the NRLCA is open to the public all the time. The items are displayed on tables by the windows. You simply walk up, peer in, read about “Pioneer Rural Carrier Nella Drybread” who delivered mail between 1904 and 1934, or see the actual gavel that belonged to the tenth district of the Indiana Rural Letter Carriers Association. With only three windows, the museum was a quick stop and made me wonder what other museums could boast that they are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

I walked over to the Star-Journal building, the town’s 96 year old paper and had an excellent exchange with Stephanie who promptly welcomed me to Hope. I was told they are a weekly but she would she what she could do about getting us in. I told her thanks and that I would leave t-shirts by the door when we set out the next morning.

The last order of business was to pick up a souvenir to commemorate our stop in Hope, and I certainly wasn’t going anywhere other than The Gold Nugget pawn shop. I was met in the shop by Sandy and Charlie and I told them I wanted a souvenir. Charlie suggested a gun which along with the swords were 30% off and I think was a bit disappointed when I chose a 1907 Indian-head penny. I did pick up a penknife for Rob which made it a little more tolerable. Charlie and I talked about the route we were taking and suggested a more scenic trip through central Indiana that sounded great. “Unfortunately we have to walk 100 miles,” I told him, to which he responded practically “Well…….I suppose you could walk in circles for a few miles in Monroe county.” He had a point.

My brief visit to Hope pumped me up for the walk. Everyone was friendly and genuinely interested in what we are doing. It turned out to be the perfect town for our start not only in name but in spirit. This morning when Rob and I showed up in Hope to start our walk we were greeted with a nice surprise….we made the front page of the Hope Star-Journal.

Vlog: Day 1 - Starting from Hope

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