The possibility of a potential walk between Mabinay
and Kabankalan City came up about a year or so ago. I had hinted to the family at the dinner
table one evening of taking a stroll from Kabankalan City southeast along the
National Highway to Mabinay, which is nestled in the mountains forty kilometers
(twenty-five miles) away. Of course the
kids automatically cringed when bringing the proposal up while their mother
Diana said (without hesitation) that it was too dangerous. Her main argument being there was NPA (New
Peoples Army) in those mountains and we could be robbed, or killed, or even worse
which brought the topic to an abrupt end (to everyone’s relief).
However, since that brief discussion there had been
this faint desire in the back of my mind, a silent urging, if you will, to take
that journey through those tropical foothills. As with all previous adventures,
it had become an unquenchable desire to explore this land I had come to
love. Then again, I had previously been
told that those in the early stages of Alzheimer’s also wandered a lot. Uh, maybe that was not the reason this time… So,
in March of this past year, I broached the topic again. Diana once
more stated I should not do this as it was too dangerous. Normally, I would have let it ride or, shall
we say, allow it to simmer on the back burner for a few more months, but on
this occasion, I provided her an alternative option and that was to walk from
Kabankalan to Sipalay (a resort community in the southwest corner of the
island). I was coming of the realization
that it wasn’t as much the challenge of walking between those two destinations that
called to me as it was the yearning to just be hiking somewhere on foot. As
expected, the children were expectedly mute on the topic, while Diana admitted
the new route would be safer, but the logistics of getting to the exact drop
off points by bus were too difficult. I
had not asked anyone to accompany me, but that was how they were perceiving the
proposals. As before, I just let it fade into the background
of my thoughts and moved on with life.
When subtly bringing up the topic every so often,
there were other considerations, one being my capability of walking that
distance. There was also this one
kilometer hill which was a heart stopper and I knew that I would not be able to
easily survive a sudden climb like that in my present physical condition. Still, I was determined to walk it no matter
what. I had traveled the route twice
during the past few months and took Diana along the second time to get her
opinion. Diana’s only comment was that
walking from Mabinay to Kabankalan City would be easier (I had considered that
route, but she confirmed it). Finally,
after thoroughly looking the area over during that ride, she felt it was
actually safe enough to walk.
In late August I started walking four kilometers a day
(2.5 miles) with an eight kilometer (5 mile) side route randomly mixed in to
test my endurance. I told Diana that the
walk between Mabinay and Kabankalan would involve fourteen kilometers (8.75
miles) the first day with thirteen kilometers (8.1 miles) on each of the two
consecutive days. Two positive results
occurred from my daily walking. One was
that Diana said that she would join in the walk and two, fourteen year old Toy
who had been walking with me over 90% of the time wanted to come along. Of which both requests were more than fine by
me. As we all know, misery does love
company.
The final dilemma was the transportation. In the beginning I proposed that both boys
come with us and sit at the trike while Diana and I walked, then ride a jeepney
or Ceres Liner back to the trike. However, I did not like that idea as it left
the boys sitting alone in the open country for two of those days, that was
until their Uncle James unexpectedly came to visit. James had an uncanny tendency to randomly pop
into our house for a few days…or weeks. A
very inconspicuous and overly quiet man, James was single and most of the time
out of work. Still, he performed little
chores around our house, was an unassuming guest, the kids really liked him,
and I determined he would become the support driver for this trek over hill and
dale. However, he had never driven my
trike, nor any other trike for that fact.
No matter, I put him behind the handlebars and let him get the feel of
the motorbike on quiet streets as well as the busy highway. I was nervous at first, but his driving
reflected his demeanor which was reserved as well as cautious.
We then decided, as we never knew when James would suddenly
leave, that the walk would occur on Saturday, December 12. With the support driver situation resolved, I
had stored two one liter bottles of frozen water in the freezer and Diana
purchased some snacks to keep us sated and nourished during upcoming walk. Now it was just a matter of awaiting the
appointed hour. I told everyone that we
were leaving at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday and they needed to all be up by 3:00
a.m. They all agreed to the wakeup along
with scheduled departure time and were excited about the adventure ahead, but
then again, we were dealing with Filipino time and ingrained attitudes of which
during the next three days would prove themselves out time and again.
I had the support driver, I had the rehydrating fluids,
I had the all-important snacks, and also had the enthusiasm from a couple of
fellow trekkers who were decades younger than I. What could go wrong, right? Perhaps the next chapter will reveal it all…
Daryl Cleveland… a.k.a. Bounder
January 13, 2016
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