Colton’s Tom Archibald peddles veggies Saturday at The Grove School’s farmers’ market.
By John Murphy
Saturday I left my car at the Foamy Car Wash on West Redlands Blvd. and trekked west.
I usually walk four miles and mix in running. But on this Saturday my faulty sense of direction wreaked havoc. I wound up on a three-hour tour with no sign of the Skipper, Gilligan nor Mary Ann.
Searing heat didn’t help. It was 117 degrees in nearby Riverside and it’s supposed to be 118 in Redlands today. It’s 87 as I write this at 1:15 Sunday morning.
Along West State Street I ambled. Past Savarino’s Deli and out to Barton Road. It was toasty but I had my Hydra Flask. I picked up the Orange Blossom Trail at Alabama Street. There were high school boys and girls running and carrying 25-pound weights. And I thought I was crazy.
The outlaw country tunes helped, pouring through my earbuds. I took photos, then doubled back on Barton Road.
I spotted a sign for The Grove School’s Farmer’s Market and hit that. There I found gray-haired Tom Archibald of Colton behind a table of tomatoes and yams. Tom is rail thin and was masked up. He wore jeans and a gray tee stained by perspiration. I bought $5 worth of stuff and left.
Details of the rest are fuzzy. I was two-plus hours in, low on water and it was as hot as Hades. I recall being on Tennessee Street and resting on the cool grass of Arrowhead Christian Academy.
By now a plume of smoke from the El Dorado fire in nearby Yucaipa was visible. Two fire trucks roared toward it. I still had a few miles to hike but there were folks with bigger problems. The fire burned more than 1,500 acres and evacuated four communities.
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