Day 3

First sign of blue skies on my whole trip

First song I have heard since I started. Perfection

Today is Brittany’s 2 year Angelversary. I was pretty exhausted this morning and couldn’t get motivated when I looked at the weather. It was supposed to be rainy off and on until around noon and then it was supposed to finally clear up a bit. I asked my host, Andrew, if it was OK if I hung around for a bit and got some more rest. He had no problem with that. So I got some more sleep and then spent some time reconfiguring Jenny (my stroller) to get a little more organized.

I got rolling around 1230 and five minutes into it it started to rain. I darted back into town to seek shelter under an awning because I wasn’t prepared for rain as I thought it was going to clear up. A few minutes later it stopped raining and I decided to take the chance and go on.

Earlier this morning I received a phone call from a local news station that wanted to come meet me on the walk and do a story. Turns out Andrew sent some emails to help out my cause. Yeah. Talk about awesome! They came and met me and Domino and we got the footage we needed. Turned out that the reporter went to Tucker high school back in the Atlanta area. The same high my parents went to and near the town I lived in for the 10 years of my life. Small world…

A little after that I was minding my own business. Just pushing a baby stroller down the highway, being totally normal when a truck driver thought otherwise. I guess he has a thing for people walking on the side of roads so he let me know with a total intentional swerve toward us as he passed. My hat flew off and my middle finger flew up in his direction…

After I cooled down and shook off the near death experience I realized that I was pretty close to Maryland. I had to the urge to take my walking stick and point it forward and say, “To Maryland!” I had to wait for a few cars to get out of sight because I didn’t want to look crazy lol. As soon as I was in the clear I did it.

Not long after that I flicked off my second truck driver. This time some verbal obscenities assisted my hand gesture for increased impact. I don’t think it mattered…

The sun FINALLY started to peek out of the clouds. I’d been waiting to use my headphones since I started. I didn’t want to get them wet in the bad weather that I’d been dealing with the last few days so I finally got to break them out. I clicked Pandora radio and the first song that popped up was “Into the Great Wide Open” by Tom Petty. Not my favorite song or anything but it was absolutely perfect for the moment. The next few songs sucked so I turned it off and called my brother.

I was talking to him as I crossed the state line into Maryland. My first state behind me. I found the welcome to Maryland sign and stopped for a break and some pictures. I ended up just laying on the grass next to Domino and nodded off for a few minutes with the sun on my face and cars whizzing by probably putting together what they were witnessing.

Because I had such a late start I knew that I’d be camping tonight and my only real goal of the day was to get to the state line. So I kept on going until it was about 2 hours to sunset. I can look up at the sun and tell you exactly when the sun will go down. Just hold your hand out under the sun and every finger represents 15 minutes until the horizon. Once I got to the 2 hour mark I started to look for places. I found this perfect covered structure next to a church. There was a house on property also with a car there. All I needed to do was ask for permission and I would be great. I chickened out. Couldn’t do it. So I kept going. About an hour later I realized I had no choice but to think of something. I saw some woods way in the distance and decided to just stealth camp. I hate to be on someone’s property without permission but it’s just woods and I’ll leave no trace. I snuck in and found a clearing and set up the tent and cooked a meal for me and Domino. We ate like kings (canned chili) and I cleaned up and got ready for bed.

Here I am now.. Domino curled up next to me and Jenny on the other side. Hopefully keeping Jenny in here won’t come back to haunt me. I’m pretty sure that raccoons and opossums are the only animals I should face out here. Both are persistent but I can handle them if they come and try to get too close. If there are bear in southern Delaware then I’m screwed. I didn’t feel like hanging up all my food knowing that the property owner can come out here with a shotgun at any given moment and force us out of here in a hurry.

So that’s my situation… gonna get into the 40’s but I am pretty sure we are both covered enough to stay warm. Tomorrow is going to be sunshine and 70!!!! I am making good progress out here and I’m proud of myself. I said all that of that stuff in the last paragraph a little sarcastically. Sure, any of it can happen… but I think I will be fine.

Until tomorrow…!   Miss ya Brittany!