Days 35 & 36

The day started off great. I went to breakfast at the gas station restaurant near to where I camped. I packed up and walked on. Nothing really happened for hours and hours. Just walking and thinking and eating and drinking. I had to make shade with my umbrella.

Domino was really hot so I rigged the umbrella up on the stroller and she rode in the shade for a while. Until an Ahole truck driver swerved close to me and broke the umbrella with the wind that came crashing on us behind him. Most truck drivers are nice to me. Some even get over a lane if they have the chance. You know… like a professional driver would do. I always wave and they wave back. Some even give a little light honk.

But then there are just a few assholes that call themselves professional drivers and think it’s cool to swerve at the guy pushing a baby stroller down the highway. These people should go be mall cops and get out from behind the wheel of a big rig.

Anyways, I walked a little over 20 miles and got to a Walmart. I went in to do some resupply shopping and I almost fainted in the store. I had to sit down in an aisle and get my composure back. I got what I needed plus a snickers bar and some water and ate it while I called the hotel that I was set up to be in tonight. I looked it up and it was 3.6 miles away. I contemplated not going and seeking other sleeping opportunities as I was just wore out. But it was someone who did a favor for me and went out of their way to get me the room.

The right thing to do was to take the room I thought. So I got up and pushed on. Well… I think I found the biggest hills in Ohio. As I was going up one a cyclist passing by said, “looks hard.” Haha very funny… we got to the top of the hill and talked for a bit about going cross country. He was really cool and helpful. He told me that I had to go back down the huge hill that I just went up and then go down the steepest hill in Ohio and then I’ll be about a mile from the hotel. Easy enough right.

Wrong.

Every step hurt. My butt was chafing but I didn’t even know that yet. It just hurt like hell. People were laughing at me as I struggled down the hill. I finally made it to the hotel and couldn’t even talk to the person who gave me the room. I wanted to but I was too tired.

The next morning I woke up really early and ate and packed up but I was really moving slow. I looked up online about the chafing thing and that was when I learned about all that nonsense. I should be able to stop it now that I understand how I got it from now on though. I was mentally defeated. I pushed way too hard to get to this hotel.

Oh. Did I mention that the 3.6 miles was in the wrong direction? Yeah. So here I go a different way back to where the Walmart is to get back on my route. I just couldn’t do it. I walked about 4 miles back to the same location and booked a hotel room and rested all day. I tended to my injuries and my mind. I planned out the rest of Ohio. I had to change my original plans because the roads I thought that I were going to take are too dangerous. I found a safer route along a highway with wide shoulders.

I was stressed out about changing my route because I knew a lot of people wanted me to go through their town and I had already posted that I would go through theirs and I had plans to meet people along the way. I felt terrible but I had to choose the safer route. I even asked a few locals and they all agreed that I should take the revised route.

I still wasn’t sure if I was going to get back on the road tomorrow or not. I was in a lot of pain and my head still wasn’t in the game. Oh well.. I went to bed to see how I felt in the morning.