These Shoes Were Made For Walkin’

You ever get that fuzzy feeling after purchasing a good pair of cheap sneakers and realize that these are some really comfortable shoes that are going to take you places? That’s how I felt about this pair two and a half years ago. These were good shoes. Comfortable shoes. Shoes with….oh, I’ll just say it, “Soul”. I bought these khaki sneakers as an accessory to my cruise director garb to wear during our daily excursions. I bought them knowing I would wear them to the nub, but certainly sooner than 2-1/2 years later. These shoes were made for walkin’. And that’s just what they did. With this trusty pair I have walked into the Snake River “Hell’s Canyon”, through fern covered trails of the Columbia Gorge, a zillion laps across up and down the Queen of the West from bow ramp to stern, tens of thousands of yards across fairways and greens, countless miles through Disneyland and California Adventure, thousands of stomps on the practice set of Wagner’s Flying Dutchman, and of course, thousands of rainy puddles in downtown Portland. The most surprising thing about these shoes is the fact that I purchased them from Payless Shoesource. To be perfectly honest, and to make a jab at Payless, I have not had the best luck with my Payless source of shoes. In years past the men’s footwear I have purchased have turned out to be of quality leaning toward, oh what’s the word, CRAPPY?! If top of the line Nike shoes are produced by underpaid peasant stiffs in Vietnam, I can only imagine the Mens’ footwear usually sold at Payless have been manufactured by a disgruntled one-eyed fingerless frozen Siberian sweatshop worker. Typically the shoes cause blisters, rip at the seams, and cry “uncle” at the first sign of wear on the tread. But not these babies. Oh, no. But now it’s time to retire these poor, wretched tired holey soles. Goodbye, my trusty sneakers. Adios. Vaarwel. Sayonara. Getting rid of a really comfortable pair of shoes is akin to putting down your old dog, or bidding adieu to a fine cast of singers after final curtain, or hurling a tasty greasy cheeseburger after a night of vodka shots. It may not be easy, it may leave a bad taste in your mouth, and it’s certainly going to happen with or without your consent.