We were hiking along the West Highland Way in the rain when we caught up with a woman who had been separated from her group. Everyone was wearing their rain gear and hoping for the best. We greeted each other, and right away we could hear she was also American. For some reason, she immediately told us she was born in 1958.
The West Highland Way is a 96-mile walking trail that leads from Milngavie (pronounced “mill-guy,” like the guy who works in the mill) to Fort William. She said she wanted to do these things while she was still able. Having been born earlier in the 1950s, we pooh-poohed her, calling her just a baby and so on.
When she told us she was from Oregon, we said we were from Massachusetts.
“Clear the other side,” she said.
Wanting to establish some solidarity, I noted, “But both Blue states.”
She then grumbled something about both candidates.
“Kamala not good enough for you?” I asked.
“She’s an improvement,” she said, but then went on about too much government spending.
I realized I’d run into that rare breed, a principled, old-fashioned conservative Republican, probably from eastern Oregon, not the hippy dream/nightmare area around Portland and Eugene. People like her really have nowhere to go.
