A transcription of the journal page photos can be found below. This transcription has been lightly edited and is probably more comprehensible than trying to read the handwriting in the photos. Apparently writing after nearly dying of heat stroke does not make for the most coherent of narratives.
A more traditional blogpost of this hike can be found HERE along with lots of pictures.
Transcription:
Thursday, July 21, 2022
ARLINGTONG NATIONAL CEMETERY
If you walk into any Park Service site in the DC area – and there are more than 30 of them – you get can two dozen [national park passport] stamps, for the site you’re currently visiting and a bunch of others that are nearby. I don’t even know if I can properly say I visited all these places [that I got stamps for, including: Arlington National Cemetery, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Arlington Memorial Bridge & Memorial Ave., Star Spangled Banner National Memorial]. I don’t even know what the Star Spangled Banner one IS, but my enthusiasm got the better of me [so I stamped my book with it anyway].
I decided to go over to the cemetery because the hotel where Dustin was having his retreat appeared to be right next door. If I had known anything before heading over, I’d have realized the main entrance was on the far opposite side, and when the cemetery is 639 acres, that’s a 3.3-mile walk just to get in.
Fortunately(?), I didn’t realize that, so I just started walking, and found a side entrance after about 20 minutes. A soldier with a big gun screened me and then apologized that they didn’t have any brochures. He gave me exceedingly complicated directions to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and wished me luck.
There were no people and no signs in this corner of the cemetery, so I just started wandering.
The cemetery is, of course, an impressive and somber place. I spent a lot of time looking at headstones and contemplating the infinite stories that preceded them. There are many tragedies, but also many long lives.
HOWARD EUGENE PORTER
COLONEL UNITED STATES ARMY
4 APR 1918-20 SEPT 2001
HIS WIFE
STANA VERNEROVA PORTER
17 DEC 1918 – 24 NOV 1988
HIS LOVING SECOND WIFE
ANN WIDGENS PORTER
3 MAR 1932-19 APR 2015
I don’t know Col. Porter or anything about him and his family other than what’s on this headstone, but what’s on the stone is enough to make my imagination start wandering.
I did eventually find my way Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, just in time to watch the of the changing guard, a long, boring, peculiar ceremony. I understand [the job of tomb guard] is a position of consider able honor, but as I watched those stiff men in wool uniforms marching in 95° heat, to say nothing of the intense humidity, I could only imagine the post as a punishment.
I retreated into the museum for an AC break and to contemplate my strategy. I hadn’t brought any water, so drifting between drinking fountains was key. I’d meant to come early before it got too hot, and while I’d done okay with the hour, my ·lack of preparedness for the size of the [cemetery] meant it [had gotten] late fast.
I headed over to the Robert E. Lee Memorial at Arlington House, and despite the increasing heat, this wound up being my favorite stop. I was not an attentive student of American history, or I may not have been surprised to learn about Lee’s connection to George Washington (he married Washington’s step-great-granddaughter) or the history of the Arlington plantation that was eventually commandeered by the Union Army, who buried people there both out of a desperate need for space and also to basically desecrate Lee’s home.
The house itself was closed because the AC wasn’t working, so I toured the gardens and slave quarters before deciding I was in danger melting. I consulted with a ranger on how to get out [of the cemetery], hoping to learn about another entrance closer to the hotel, but [the only possible alternate] entrance was only available for military staff. The ranger suggested I walk to the main entrance then take the subway. [Walking the entire distance along that route] would have taken 90 minutes. I didn’t want to deal with the subway, and contemplating a 90-minute walk left me with visions of $10,000 rescue helicopters.
I decided to go back the I’d way come, which Google Maps on my dying phone suggested would only take 45 minutes.
Toward the end, I was pretty sure I was about to earn a second trip to the ER for heat stroke. I think I made it to the hotel purely out of desperation to not have to explain how I could let that happen, when I’ve been so hard on other people for getting themselves into such a situation. I’d walked about 5.5 miles over 3 hours. Heat and humidity are no joke, kids.
Thither & Yon 