When I got up to pack I was feeling really good. I got all packed up and rolled out of the woods and out to the road. It was slow and only a few cars passed me in the next 20 minutes. I sat there on my sleeping bag leaned up on my cart and brushed my teeth. After that I had a bar for breakfast and then sipped the coconut water I was given the day before. I sat there waiting for my parents to drive up. I had given them my location the day before and they were meeting me there at 9. I havn't seen them for about 8-9 months.
They pulled up and stopped. When they got out I was very exited to give them hugs. It was weird to see them so far from home after so long and I never would have guessed I would be here doing what I'm doing the next time I saw them. But either way it was really great.
So we decided to hang out there for a little while to visit. We sat under some trees and caught up for about an hour. It was really cool to see how proud they were of me and how much support they brought from people back at home. Not anything material or anything, just people wishing me luck and stuff like that.
After we sat a while me and my dad were ready to walk and my mom headed back to Williams to wait for us to get there for lunch. It was about 12 miles to Williams which was perfect and a good distance for my dad to try and walk for the day. Also it was a perfect route going through the quiet woods and pretty scenery.
So my mom took off and me and my dad started walking. It was really cool to have company. What a treat. And it was also great to catch up on stuff and people I know at home.
We walked about 4 miles when we took our first break. We sat down and rested for about 20 minutes. Then we continued down the road. We came up to an old abandoned house that had a pretty cool design and was unique. We stopped there to check it out. It was cool.
We walked another 4 miles or so and got to a dirt road. It was pretty all around and green fields and mountains surrounded us. We stopped at a log there where my dad wanted to put an extra pair of socks on for his feet. We stopped there shortly. Just then his phone rang and it was my mom calling him. It was weird to me that just like that we could be connected to her. I'm not used to that out here and it kinda blew me back.
We took off from there and walked another 4-5 miles. We walked past a deer farm also and walked to check over the fence. There were some domesticated deer just hanging out while people walked around them. We checked that out for 5 minutes and continued.
Our last break was about 3 miles east of Williams, where my mom was waiting. We finally hit the last stretch and made it to town. I was surprised my dad made it ok. He did better than I did my first day of this walk back in Jacksonville, where I walked 10 miles and was hurting bad. I was proud of him.
We got to Williams and met my mom at a Mexican restaurant. That was perfect and I could eat a bunch of chips and salsa and get a side of rice and beans. We hung out and talked while we sat outside on the patio (so I could watch my cart). It was Labor day weekend also and there was a music festival going on. So we had live music outside of the restaurant also. It was nice.
I told my parents I didn't want anything at all from them when they came to visit. My mom wanted to give me a video camera since mine broke, but I told her no. Also even at the Resturant I made sure I had a separate tab. I enjoyed their company but did not want anything at all from them as I have made it all the way up to now from starting with nothing, and only taking things from complete strangers who I didn't know before I started. So I took NOTHING! Not even a bite of my moms shrimp fajitas when she offered. I took absolutely nothing from them except their good company and encouragement and love.
We left there and decided to meet up in the west end of town to watch the sunset. So they drove to their hotel and I walked towards it. Their hotel was at the end of town and I would sleep somewhere around there. On the way there I ended up stopping at a swap meet. I still needed one more pair of shoes to get me the rest of the way so I looked around for some.
After a few people with mostly dress shoes, there was a guy who had a nice pair of New Balance for sale with fresh soles. I checked them out but they were 2 sizes too big. I tried them on and they were a little lose. I asked how much? And he said $5. So I decided that for so cheap I could try them and if they didn't workout, no big deal. $5 wasn't much, even for me. Well, to risk getting shoes that is. That's a big investment for me out here, but this was a cheap option. So I got them. The guy I bought them from was really nice. He actually did a lot of walking in his day also. He walked from Mexico to Canada on the pacific coast trail. Cool guy.
I met another guy there who lived in a covered wagon for years. He was also a very nice guy and had his wagon pretty pimped out. It was trick.
I left there and then met my parents in the woods just passed their hotel. We climbed up the hill a little and sat down to watch the sunset. It was pretty nice and we just hung out awhile there.
After dark I walked down with my parents to their hotel and hugged them before they went in. We planned to meet again on the morning before we left Williams. They went in and I walked down to a gas station to use the outlet outside and use the Internet. I wasn't on really at all for the day, so I was gonna update my location and stuff before going to bed.
I climbed back up the hill where I had left my cart hiding in the woods. I made my bed around 10pm next to a log around some trees. I fell asleep and slept ok that night.
No comments:
Post a Comment