Thursday 410kmI drove into Young at around 8:30am and parked joan so I could have a walk around. Got a proper latte from the Sheehan’s sunnyside café and some much needed wool socks from the wool room. Everyone was out and about on Zouch st. and it was nice to see smiling faces that said ‘How are you going’ when you make eye contact. I decided to give one of the WWOOFing farms a call and made contact. Evidently my email never made it through…I wonder if it was the same for the other two I sent out. While waiting to meet up I went to Maccas to use the thunderbox, when I noticed a sign saying “free wi-fi hot spot”. I asked the sixteen year-old manager if one needs a code to activate the signal or not: “Nope, just jump right on!” This seemed to be the perfect solution to the problems I’ve been having with my wireless. I could just travel from Maccas to Maccas uploading as I go. Only one problem: I have not spent a single dollar at a Macdonalds in over five years. Despite how much I love to hate big corporations though, Maccas has constantly evolved to stay with the times and please their customers. Play equipment for the kiddies, healthier menu choices for the fatties, and now free internet for roadies like me. I still didn’t want to give them any of my money, so I was relieved when Darryl showed up and bought some fries. Darryl has a cherry orchard on the edge of town and offered to show me around. He said that the rain had been scarce these past five years and the orchard might not be as ‘picturesque’ as I had imagined, but when we arrived I thought it was absolutely marvellous. He showed me the different varieties of cherry trees he grows and explained about grafting and bio-dynamic farming practices. I helped him pick up some branches he had lopped off of the dying trees and we chatted about all things cherry related. Besides fresh cherries, he has also perfected a cherry puree (not made from seconds mind you) that he is keen to ship to anyone interested. Over a bite of lunch he said that I was welcome to paint here and stay the night if I liked, which I very much appreciated. He headed off and I got my painting gear out and headed up into the orchard to paint. Later on, as the sun went down, and I finished up a not-so-flash spag bol, I tried once more to access my wireless and…. whammo! I’m online. It seems like I’m getting the last of the logistical bugs worked out for this trip. Hopefully I’ll be able to post more frequently now.