Day 113

I woke up late and ate breakfast at the hotel. I ate a lot hoping that I could get some good miles in today. It was supposed to be cloudy and cool all day. I wanted to take advantage of it because the rest of the week will be in the 100s. 
I packed up and went to check out and the ladies at the counter said that my room has been paid for. I was so shocked. Before I could get myself together to ask who it was, they told me that Cathy came back to the hotel while I was finishing up my laundry and paid for my room. Unreal. 

As I was up there getting that incredible news, a family who was in town for a family reunion all came up to look at the stroller and ask questions about the walk. I had the stage so I told them all about it and also about how important it was to educate themselves and their beautiful family about the drug epidemic on our hands. 
I got out of there and it was nasty out. It looked like it was going to be light rain all day. I wasn’t complaining though. It reminded of my very first day except for 40 degrees warmer. I prefer the warmer. 

I was on gravel roads once I got to the other side of Herington. The sharp rocks punctured my innertube within a couple of hours. I patched it up and pulled out my phone to see if there was a better road to take. There was. I had to walk 4 miles to get to it but there was one road going east to west that was paved. Woohoo!

I got there and life was a lot better. I had to wrap a tarp around Lieutenant Dan because it was pretty wet out. I didn’t really mind though. It was better than being in the 100s. 

After about 20 miles or so I came up on a town called Tampa. There was a baseball field and it had a picnic pavilion. I decided to go see if they had water and power to charge my phone. It’s always good to take advantage of resources when you can. I was still 40 miles from the next town. 

I get there and everything is turned on. It was about 53o and I was originally planning on walking some more but this area was too good to pass up. I called the sheriff to see if I could get permission to camp there and they were ok with it. I set my tent up and got ready to cook dinner. A car pulls up and then another and then a few more. I didn’t know what was going on..
They came up and asked if it was ok if they used the pavillion for their family. They offered to include me in. We shared the space. They were nice. Must have been a crew of about 20 people. They all were in town for a wedding. They had some good food and we all ate and the kids played on the playground. I talked about the walk and they talked about their family and the wedding. It was nice to have company. 
They all left and I came in to my tent to catch up on the blogs. As I have been typing, 2 people on opposite sides of Tampa, Kansas are having a firework battle. So I got to catch a pretty decent fireworks show without even expecting it. I may not be able to see any tomorrow on the 4th so I’ll take what I can get now.
Ok grand finale is coming.. night!