Day 59

So I spent 3 consecutive days off. I didn’t really want to. The weather was terrible and I couldn’t find the motivation to get out in the cold rain. Well on the 4th day I was over it. I didn’t care. I was ready to go!

I packed up and had my rain gear handy in case it rained. Which it was supposed to according to the forecast. It was supposed to be strong thunderstorms all day. One thing I’ve learned about Indiana is that their meteorologists have the worst jobs on the planet because no one knows when the hell it’s going to rain out here. One minute it’s beautiful, the next it looks like a scene in Twister. I rolled the dice and hoped that it would be a good day

It started off great. I walked through Seymour and it was a pretty town. One lady stopped and gave me an indigenous bag that she had in her car that her church handed out. It was filled with goodies that are helpful to homeless people like me. She was nice and I was happy that she stopped.

I was walking out of town and soon to be on the country roads again and I was so happy to be back out. The weather was great and I wanted to get as far as I could before those thunderstorms came.

People were out doing farm stuff. I even saw a crop duster airplane. I didn’t even know people still did that. I was entertained by all of the big equipment and pretty fields of endless rows of whatever they were growing.

The wind started to pick up and the clouds began to turn. I took in all the signs and guessed that I had about an hour until the storm up ahead would hit me. I walked and walked and tried to come up with a place to find shelter or to just set up my tent and call it a night. My weather channel app was showing that it was supposed to rain all night without stopping.

I was getting desperate and frantic. Nothing but corn fields. I don’t want to set up on anyone’s crop. That’s just pushing the line too far. I saw a house up ahead and decided that I was going to ask if I could set up my tent on their lawn.

I roll up and I see that the front door is opened behind the screen door. Good. At least someone is home. I tie up domino to the stroller and walk up to the door. The owner was standing at the door already. As nicely as I could, I explained that I am walking across America and asked if I could put up my tent because of the storm. He asked me which way I was going and I said west. He then quickly said then I better keep going that way.

I said ok and sorry to bother you and nicely walked away. I wasn’t angry about it. I’m asking for a favor and he wasn’t at all obligated to help. I did think it was a little harsh the way he said no. I have to give him credit that it was clever though. I’m sure he probably thought that he was cool by saying it. Then I bet he felt bad because I was nice. I don’t know. I couldn’t really worry about it. I needed to come up with something and fast. The storm was about to hit and it looked intense.

Looking ahead, there wasn’t much at all to look forward to. I decided that it was time to put on the rain gear and get mentally prepared to walk in a thunderstorm. As I was zipping up the last piece, I hear a vehicle approaching and turn around and it was the guy on a John Deere golf cart thingy. He says that he doesn’t want me to spend the night but he had a place for me to wait out the storm. Awesome! He wasn’t as bad as I thought he was.

We talked a little as he walked me to a shelter that I could hang out in until the storm passed. His name was Ben. It was nice of him to do that. I know it must be crazy for some stranger to come up and ask to sleep on your yard. It would’ve probably taken me a few minutes to process that as well.

I get under the lean-to and am very thankful as the rain did come down. I ate some snacks and fed domino. The rain stopped in about 30 minutes and wasn’t as bad as I had thought it was going to be. I started to pack up to leave because it looked like the storm had passed and I didn’t want to overstay my welcome.

I was almost ready to go and Ben’s wife came out with a sack lunch that she’d put together for me and Domino and insisted that I stayed to eat it. It looked like another wave of rain was coming anyways. So I did. It was one of the best ham and cheese sandwiches I’d ever had.

After that wave was gone I packed up again and rolled out. I waved goodbye to Ben and his wife came out again with more snacks. I told them about the walk and the cause and thanked them for their hospitality. It really helped so much to keep everything dry. It helped my spirits too.

After that the rain went away and the sun was almost back out. I could tell that there were still more storms to come. It looked like about an hour south was getting hit pretty hard. West looked good though.

Walked on long straight country roads with an occasional car that would slow down and wave as they passed. Way better than the notorious hwy 50. A few hours later, it looked like the storms were coming back. This time I wanted to find a place to set up the tent.

I found a place in the woods but I had to climb an embankment to get up there. I had no problem getting up but Lieutenant Dan is a little overweight even without his legs. I must’ve spent 20 minutes trying push/pull him up the 8 foot bank. It was really muddy and wet and I was trying to hurry because rain was coming soon and I still had to set the tent up.

I took a step back, a deep breathe, and used my will power to get it done. Now that we were all out of sight from the road, I found a great flat spot and set up the tent. I threw everything that I needed for the night inside the tent and put the tarp up on Lieutenant Dan. As soon as I hopped in the tent and zipped it up, the rain started. Boom.

So now me and Domino can get some rest and hopefully make good miles tomorrow. Supposedly it is not going to rain but who knows. In the meantime, I will make dinner and read my Kindle until I fall asleep. It’s raining really hard as I speak but the new tent is holding up great. Me and Domino are both comfortable and dry 🙂