Day 61

Last night I pulled 16 ticks off of me and Domino. None of them bit me.  A few had bitten domino but they died. She is on very good tick medicine as I knew we’d run into them. I had a hard time sleeping knowing that there had to have been a few that I missed.

I woke up early around 7 am and it wasn’t raining. I decided to pack up quickly and head for Bedford. A town with a hotel about 7 miles away. Just over 2 hours of walking. It took an hour to pack up and get ready. Found a few more ticks of course. Everything was soaking wet and all of my laundry was dirty. I really needed to take advantage of a hotel. The one I had in mind listed that it was pet friendly and had guest laundry.

I walked fast as rain was forecasted to come soon. I made it to the hotel just after 10 am. I knew it would be too early to check in but thought I’d ask anyways. This hotel was strict about their policy and wouldn’t let me check in until 2. They let me put Lieutenant Dan behind the counter though and me and Domino went over to Denny’s for some food.

I ate a ton of food and Denny’s took care of my meal and gave domino a breakfast sandwich because they had heard about the walk. I felt so much better having a full belly and knowing that I had a hotel room for the night.

After we both ate, I came in and got on the hotel computer to plan out the next few days. I also called and emailed some media and made arrangements to do interviews. I had some extra time while I sat there waiting for a room so I went back on my mapping website and retraced my steps to find out how far I have walked so far. 844 miles!

Tomorrow will be 2 months from the day I started and I’ve walked 844 miles. Not bad considering it’s the first segment of the trip. I’ll have to pick up the pace in the flatter states. I’m not concerned about time if I can keep up the rate that I am going.

I finally got my room and went in and hung up my tent and tarps and sleeping bag and every damn thing else cuz it was all wet. I threw my laundry in the washer and went to take a shower. When I was done and I went to go throw my clothes in the dryer I realized that their washer was broken. I got pretty pissed off.

All I had now was a bunch of soaking wet dirty clothes. I was too lazy at this point to hand wash them so I just threw them in the dryer hoping that I could at least dry them out. Well it didn’t work. My clothes were still soaking wet after a full cycle. I took them to the room and hand washed them and hung them to dry. Nothing else to do but to do it.

The next 4 nights I’ll be camping in a tent and I want to make sure I’m ready for it. That’s what this stay was all about. After doing everything that I needed to do I ordered pizza and laid in bed watching tv.

I talked to some friends and family on the phone. I gave domino some more good food and we both got full again and are enjoying the bed. I will be out in the middle of nowhere for the next few days and I feel like I’m prepared. If the weather leaves me alone then I am confident that I’ll make it through it just fine.

844 miles!!!!