Day 12

I woke up in the thick bushes on the edge of the church property south west of monticello along highway 155. The sun was beaming down on me and it was warm. I sat up an looked around, there was nobody in sight. I got up and packed my gear. I walked over to the front steps of the church and sat down. On the sign the night before It said there was only service on the 1st 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month. So I thought I got lucky and there wouldn't be anyone there when I got up.
        I planned to eat some bread for breakfast, then brush my teeth, fill my waters up, stretch and then take off. I was eating some bread there when all of a sudden a cop pulled up. He came up quickly and I didn't see him coming. He asked for my ID. I gave it to him and he asked where I slept last night. I told him in the woods. He asked where I was going, and I told him California. He looked at me like I was a meth addict. He checked my license. When he gave it back to me he said I would have to take off from there right away. I said sure no prob. As I put my backpack on a man dressed nicely came around from the back of the church and talked to the cop. I figured he had called and I was confused as to why he was there but it didn't matter, I had to go.
    I left walking and went down about a mile where I stopped in the shade and brushed my teeth and stretched. I didn't get to fill my waters so I kept an eye out for a faucet where I might be able to fill up. 
          It was a long country highway and there were a bunch of trashy homes and dirty yards. No luck of any public place to get water. I did find a few churches on the walk but they were in sessions so I passed on by. I came to an intersection where there was an abandoned fuel station. No luck there either. My left hip was really bothering me for some reason and I needed to pull of and try to stretch it out. It was actually a little painful. I pulled of and tried to relieve it. When I started walking again it felt a little better but still hurt.
        I walked in the heat and my feet were really hurting and my hip too. Also the back of my knees where really tight and burning a little. It was a tough walk and I wanted to stop many times but I pressed on. Also it was a pretty ugly stretch of highway. Garbage and trash all over. Swamps on the side of the highway with junk in it ect. 
        Finally after pushing a while I came to a church where te parking lot was empty. I saw a nozzle and rushed up to it to drink water. I was so thirsty an downed a bunch of water. It was nice. There was an outlet too so I decided I would take a break there. It was 3:30 and I state til about 6. I ended up eating the pop tart given to me a few days before and it was really good. 
      Before I was gonna leave I decided to take a shower under the nozzle since the bushes along the highway kept it hidden pretty well. I stripped down to my undergarment and used the rest of the lotion from a hotel that was in my backpack to wash up. It was cold but the sun was hot so it felt great! I washed up and soaked in the water sitting under the tall nozzle for a few minutes. Very relaxing. After I washed off I stripped naked behind the bushes and changed to all fresh clothes. I ended up washing the clothes I took off also with the little lotion left and when I was done I laid them in the sun.
        After drying off and relaxing a little more I slipped my clothes around straps on my backpack to dry while I walked. I packed up, filled my waters an hit the road at about 6. I felt fresh and had about 10 more miles to go until Tallahassee. I began walking and all of a sudden the land around me was way nicer. It was really pretty and I started passing really cool properties and homes. I was all around in a better mood now. I walked towards Tallahassee and ran into a really pretty sunset. It really turned the ugly day around and made up for it.
          It was about 9pm an my legs/hip/feet were killing me. The last 10 minutes of my walk seemed like hours. I couldn't wait to get to the church I was headed to in Tallahassee. I finally got there. I thought it would be a little bigger and open space, but it was tight and surrounded by buildings. It was gonna be hard to sleep there without being seen at some point. So I searched around it and ended up finding two sheds behind it where I crept between. There were garbage cans near them so I put the cans side by side to block one side of the space between, then I grabbed a wheel barrel that was between them and set it on the other end where I was somewhat closed in in the middle. I made my bed on the concrete and laid down. After using the Internet for a bit I dozed off.