Background from the suburbs

DOWN THE ROAD
A PIECE
By Milt Gross

As soon as I moved to Maine as a fledgling minister, I bought my first shotgun from Bob, who owned a tiny store in Bethel. From then on, I was in the Maine woods a lot, sometimes following a trail and at other times beating through the puckerbrush. A few times hunting.

But it was in suburban Philadelphia, where I was raised, that I became interested in the outdoors. One of the few times I was not alone in the woods was the day my big brother toted me on his bicycle about eight miles from our house to Valley Forge State Park, which I believe is at this time a national park. We never got along particularly well, but it must have been well enough for him to drag me along on that bicycle trip.

I also rode my bicycle here and there, but mostly walked, through the woods and fields “below” our house. In those woods, I saw deer, fox (was attacked by one once but only my long pant leg was bitten), and many smaller critters. I fell in love with those woods and the farmlands just north of the woods. Today those farmlands are suburbs.

I rode a train to Philadelphia when I attended college and had friends who also rode the Paoli Local. Most days we sat together and for awhile we played a miniature game of chess. Of course, some days we couldn’t sit together on the train, because other passengers thought they had a right to sit where we would have sat – and, to be honest, they did.

My father and big brother worked on the then Pennsylvania Railroad, my father in an office in Philadelphia and my brother in the Paoli tower where his job was to make sure trains were on the correct tracks.

When I asked my father about his also getting me a job on the railroad, he said he couldn’t. I never knew why, but I’m glad he couldn’t.

Not being tied town on the railroad enabled me to move to Maine right after college. I’ve been in Maine ever since with less than three weeks out of Maine in all these years since 1965. I have lived in Bethel, Paris, Swanville, Danforth and Bridgton. These homes followed my careers as a minister, a teacher, a newspaper reporter, and now retirement here in Searsport.

I still love to explore and roam woods trails. I was a canoeist, but my wife thought I was getting too old for all that adventure, so she gave my canoe to one of my kids who lives outside of South Paris. I have four “younguns” altogether, of which one lives in western Maine and the rest have fled for other parts of the U.S.

I’m thankful for all the past woodsy adventures I’ve enjoyed – or been frightened by at times – and still like to get out in yonder forest when I can. I’ve written stories since I was a kid in our suburban Philadelphia house.

That’s where I’ve been. Who knows where I’ll next go.

Milt Gross can be reached for corrections, harassment, or other purposes at lesstraveledway@roadrunner.com.