Day 53

May the 4th be with you. Happy Star Wars Day

Don't look down!

James

It's hard to see but there is a little rabbit crossing the road

Got up and did my normal morning routine and was ready to go. I stepped outside of the cabin and in 4 seconds it started raining. I turned around and waited about 2 hours for the rain to pass. It looked like today was going to be annoying as far as rain goes. The weather was showing showers all day hit or miss all over my area. My plan was to just walk when it wasn’t raining and seek shelter when it was raining. I had a 2 day goal of 30 miles so if I could get anywhere between 12 and 18 today then it would be a good day.

It started with a huge hill. First down and then up. While going up I realized my stroller was way too heavy. I just had too much stuff. At the top of a hill was the town of Versailles (ver-SAILS) and there was a post office there. I went right in and went through Lieutenant Dan and was able to lose about 15 pounds. I shipped most of it back home to be used later on or even after the walk.

While in the post office, the sweet ladies behind the counter took care of the shipping fee for me and donated money on top of that. One of them had just lost her son a month ago to a drug overdose. We talked. It is so hard and she was being strong about it. I was very proud of her. She had a fingerprint necklace around her neck. My mom has one of my sister’s fingerprint too. I wanted to give her a huge hug but I didn’t. We shook hands and said goodbye. I will always hope that she is doing ok.

While at the post office, waiting for more rain to pass and repacking Lieutenant Dan again, a woman who recognized me pulled up and told me about her daughter who is affected by addiction. She also wanted to give me some money and some encouragement. I can’t believe that I was able to do something to bring hope to people. That was one of my biggest goals. I am only about a quarter of the way and I have already accomplished more than I set out to do.

I went to the bank to get some cash off of my hands. Don’t want to carry too much of that around. Then I went to McDonald’s for lunch and to wait out more rain. This was getting to be a very slow start to the day…

I walk in and the sweet girl behind the register freaks out and was like “oh my gosh are you the guy that’s all over Facebook!?!?!” I told her what I was doing and she knew one of the people who had stopped by yesterday. After I ate we took a picture and as I walked out the door I heard her say, “that was the coolest thing I’ve ever done.” That was the coolest thing I’VE ever done.

Supposedly the rain was over for the day. I had to walk on the busy highway for about half a mile to get to a side road that I planned on taking. I moved quickly so that my chances of getting by a semi truck went down a little. I love you all in Indiana but we’re going to have to work on y’alls driving etiquette.

I somehow made it safely to the side road and was feeling great. I let Domino off the leash because there may have been one car pass by every 30 minutes. Hiker heaven…

I can see the clouds get a little crazy. I was wondering if that’s just what they do in the Midwest. They kept getting worse and I knew it was rain. I threw my rain coat on over my backpack and zipped up Lieutenant Dan and grabbed my umbrella. It was all or nothing. Heavy rain was coming FAST! I knew to protect my gear from getting wet over anything else. With that in mind I held the umbrella in a way that Lieutenant Dan, Domino, and me could all fit under it. It came down hard for a few minutes. Even saw small hail for about 30 seconds. I stood there for like 45 minutes waiting it out lol. So uncomfortable but I didn’t want to get my sleeping bag or my clothes wet because I have to camp for the next few nights.

It finally passed and I walked some more and it came back again for a while and so on. This went on for about 2 more hours. It would look like it all had passed and the sun was back out. Then it would like an F5 tornado was about to land right on top of me. I got through it though.

I came upon a little bridge and took a real break. One where I wasn’t standing in an awkward position. I hung everything out to dry and sat on the bridge and ate. Domino ate too and did some exploring. The clouds kept coming and going but no rain this time thankfully.

After the break I walked up a small hill and came out onto flat open farmland. I was met by a strong wind. Great. Me and wind don’t get along. It reminded me of those hard days in West Virginia. At least it was flat this time. That actually made a huge difference and I tried to focus on that. I took my flag down because it was smacking me in the face and I pushed on through. It wasn’t that bad once I decided to focus on the positive. Go figure…

I get to a small gas station and met up with James. Him and I had been talking on Facebook and he wanted to come out to meet me while I was near his area. Real nice guy. I was happy to meet him. I always wish that I could stay longer and talk to people. We hung out for a few though and then I was off to find a place to camp. I’d only gone about 11 miles but I was over the weather and was running out of time.

I passed by a police officer in the tiny town of Holton and asked if I could camp anywhere. After some pondering and a phone call or 2, they allowed me to pop my tent up behind the fire station. Awesome! I was thankful to not have to camp hidden somewhere. I’m going to have to try this tactic more often…

I set up and then watched the sunset. Listened to the radio while I cooked and and Domino played. And that was that. Another day down!

🙂