Ups & Downs

Facial Hair – pages 135-6

The end of Tongue-napped! (Don)

A final note on facial hair before I let David take us to Montreux. Both David and I stopped shaving the day we left the U.S. In my case, it meant that by this time I had quite an acceptable full gray beard. In David’s case, it meant that he had the barest shadow of a moustache on his upper lip and half a dozen scraggly whiskers on his chin. But was he proud of those few whiskers! Whenever we were near some place that had a mirror, he would preen and boast about how awesome his beard looked. I would allow as how I seemed to be winning the beard-growing contest, at which he’d get very offended … . But I guess I’ll let him tell you his side of the story.

The beginning of Lakeward Bound (David)

When I found out that Dad was writing letters back home gloating about how he was winning the beard-growing contest I was completely shocked. You have to wonder what it says about him that he has to compete with a 26-year-old in a facial hair growing contest in order to feel better about himself. Nevertheless I felt forced to defend my honor. While it is true that I could not compete in terms of quantity, in terms of quality I was the clear victor, since my facial hair made me look like a 17^th century French nobleman while his made him look like a hobo.

In looking back at photos of myself at the end of the trip, I can’t help but recoil in horror at how awful I actually looked. The chin scruff was silly, but the “moustache” was just embarrassing. I can’t believe he let me be seen in public like that.

The end of Homeless Gray-bearded Unaccompanied Minor (Don)

It had now been 7 weeks since we left home, and I was beginning to look pretty rough. I have a blue “kibbutz” style hat that I’d been wearing for my long walks for the past 10 years. It’s pretty beat up and I wash it by hand every couple of days, which makes it look even more beat up. With the hat, my unkempt gray beard, my hair getting long, and my ragged hiking clothes (which I’d been wearing every day and occasionally washing by hand for 7 weeks), I knew I looked a lot like a homeless person. Much of the time on the trail I wore a clear map case suspended on a string around my neck to have easy access to the trail maps. The map case looks like what you see unaccompanied minors wearing in airports. So the next time you see a homeless, gray-bearded, unaccompanied minor, be kind to him. There’s a chance it may be me.

Don as the Homeless Gray-bearded Unaccompanied Minor