There comes a time in every adventure where the clock flips from counting up and begins to countdown. The wonder and mystery of what might happen turns into a reflection of what was. Have I learned something about myself through all of this or have I just proven things that I already knew to be true? Does an adventure require meaning or is meaning found in the act of adventuring? It is amusing to find that the questions at adventure’s end are the same life questions everyone has been asking for however many thousands of years. The journey explains itself better than I will ever be able to, but I’ll keep trying to write it down anyway.
There was a lot of road walking and a little bit of trail today. Brianna and I thought we were going to hack the road miles down from 27 to 21, but that would have had me on a major roadway for over 10 miles. We ended up finding a shorter route of 25 miles instead, a small victory but a victory none the less.
Storms were predicted to show up around 3pm, which was not ideal, but did keep cloud cover and a solid breeze blowing throughout the morning. Black clouds rolled in from the north around noon, bringing a cold chill to the air that took me from sweating to wishing I had a sweatshirt in a matter of minutes.
I could see Brianna parked next to a cornfield about .7 miles ahead, but the wheels on her Equinox didn’t even wiggle to pretend a movement as the wind gusted in my face and the rain began. A dark cloud swirled down at me menacingly as I began to run the last half mile to safety. My large hiker legs are powerful, though not made for running. I must have looked like a little person hopping through a rubber tire obstacle course. Garth Brooks “The Thunder Rolls” was playing when I jumped into the car. Brianna was smiling and laughing as she said, “I would have recorded you running through the storm, but that would have stopped the music from playing.” Thanks, Babe.
Our early storm raged on for about 3 hours. The time away from trail let us kick off the shoes and close our eyes for a bit, a nice break during a long road stretch. Storms left the evening mostly cool, so making up the miles was relatively easy. Hiking to sunset got our day past the 25 mile mark AND rewarded me with a beautiful view :-).
Hit over 1,000 miles today! I can finally sing the full proclaimers song and mean it!
I LOVE the music references.
I also sing the proclaimers song frequently on my 1200 mile journey. You are almost there. Keep up the good work.