Mile 21 through 28, Thompson/West/Miller

I learned several new things today.

• Going down a really incredibly long and steep hill is much more fun on a bike than walking.
• When I tell the world I'm going to walk double today, God takes me seriously and then makes sure it happens.
• Stay away from the mud that has flies all over it because it's not really mud. 
• I can't take a picture of some special places in my childhood because I'd rather remember them the way they were than how they are now.

After a late start, I did indeed walk double today.  I didn't walk yesterday because the weather was not cooperating at all.  I decided to walk up to my grandfather's farm on Miller Hill.  I expected to run into my Dad up there, would visit and rest for a bit, and then walk back.  My planned route was Thompson Hill to West Rd. to Miller Hill.  It's probably a good thing I didn't remember too well what those roads were like because, oh my goodness.....Wicked.  Hills.  Today.   In this picture, I am pointing at a pretty long stretch of road on Thompson Hill that goes straight up.  See, around here, when a road has the word "Hill" in it, it really is a hill!  (Unlike where I live!)

I ran into more animals today.  Only one dog spooked me a little bit, but others were cute.  Here are some goats placed out into a yard as alternatives for mowing the lawn and a chicken.

 One special thing about this road is that my sister used to live off it.  I hadn't been back here in so long I had forgotten about the steep hills, and I had forgotten when I would come across where she had lived.  For a while I thought I would miss the location for lack of not being sure where it was, but then I looked to my left and saw a familiar shed/garage and realized that's where it had been.  My sister and her husband had lived there in a trailer right behind that garage until they moved to Houston in 1998.

Really soon after that, it was already time for me to turn right onto West Rd.  I didn't remember this road being so close to where my sister had lived!  In this picture, I have just turned onto West Rd.  Fortunately, this road is all pretty flat.

My next intersection was at Rhine Run.  To the left as I walked, it was very nice view.  I must have ridden past here many times if I rode my bike to my Grandma's, but I didn't appreciate then how gorgeous my surroundings were. 

It didn't take me long after that to get to Miller Hill Rd. which is paved and has more traffic.  There is the farm that had been my grandparents' farm since 1959.  The first picture here is of the house, and the other picture is of the view across the road from the farm.

And here is where I see yet again that God has a sense of humor and that He is 100% behind my efforts in walking and getting fit.  I got to the farm and nobody was there!  What could have happened is that I showed up at the farm, would have been offered a ride back home, and maybe would have accepted.  Yeah, probably would have accepted.  And I would have rationalized and said I could make up the steps later.  But the fact is, nobody was there, and I had the time....so I just turned around and started back!  I felt like Forrest Gump when he was walking and got to the end of the pier at the ocean and simply turned around and went back from whence he came!

I decided to take a different route.  I went back to West Rd. and turned right, but when I got to Rhine Run, I took that left.  I would be walking by one of my favorite places from my childhood, Penn Highlands Campground.  I could not take a picture of it; see bullets above.  'Nuff said.  What a shame. 

Have I ever mentioned I could be very good at running a campground in my retirement?

I began to descend the hill that would come out on Route 957, and I reminisced about the countless times I had traveled that route to swimming at Penn Highlands.  I remember one time that I had ridden my bike so hard to get up there that when I arrived and jumped into the water, my nose started bleeding.  It was hard work getting up that hill!  But today in this walk, I am going down.  When you go down on a bike, you have to get up on your bike like a jockey, hunch over and hang on for dear life.  What a rush!  Walking down is not nearly so exhilarating.

Next I came upon a camp which I hadn't thought of when I envisioned my route.  I guess I had forgotten about it.  When I saw it, though, I remembered it immediately.  Shafer's camp.  We had had many youth retreats there with church.  Fun times.  

Here's the last pretty view from high on Rhine Run before it got to the bottom.  I remember going with my Dad to these fields to trek into the woods to go squirrel hunting when I was little.

And so, thus as of today I have completed 28 miles of walking since last Monday!  Whew!

Total steps today: 18,111

No blogging today

But will walk double tomorrow!


Total steps today: 6,036

Mile 17 through 20, Warren

It is so, so hard for me to get up in the morning.  I am NOT a morning person.  Getting up and walking early is so not me!  Anybody who knows me well will tell you I'm the last person you would expect to get up and hit the ground with a lengthy walk.  But I know this about myself:  if I don't get up and walk first thing, I will procrastinate the time away until next thing you know it is nighttime and too late to walk.

This young gal woke me up this morning.  They have a little pasture right next to my parents' house.

Today I did not meet Plan A.  Plan A was that I would drive to the mall, park there, walk into Warren, work out at Curves; and then my Dad would pick me up after his breakfast meeting and then take me back to my car.  Well, while I did get up before my Dad left, I did not get up in time to make that whole deal work.  Bummer.  At least I took the time to make a proper breakfast and go eat with my Mom who is recovering from knee surgery.

Thus it's Plan B.  Plan B is that I drive into North Warren, parking 2 miles out from the Curves gym where I would be working out today.  This ended up to be Auto Zone across from the old Quality Market.  I began heading into North Warren, grateful that I would not have to deal with hills today.  My view from the beginning of my walk.

 
Today's walking route is the Hike and Bike Trail that goes from North Warren into Warren.  Last night I had looked at Google Maps to see where I should park that would be 2 miles out from the gym.  Dad was hoping I would begin my walk in time for me to catch him at the tail end of his breakfast meeting with his good friend, so I didn't stop too much along this end to take pictures.  I just got a quick picture of the trail as it began.  I love all the green!

This is the Conewango Creek.

At the end of the trail, I came out into the town.  Sidewalks and everything!  This is nice after walking on the skinny edge of a road lately or on dirt roads.  I quickly walked to the end of Market St. where lo and behold, I saw my Dad and his good friend, Chase.  (Allow me to take this opportunity to plug my Dad's book Servants of the Wind available on Amazon!  Yessiree, proud that my Dad has authored a book that takes place during the Civil War Era.)

 That's me with Chase on the left, and that's Chase with my Dad in the other picture.

After me quick hello and conversation with those guys, I continued on to Curves.  Imagine, I had just walk 2 miles and then went and did a full work-out at the gym!  I even told the Curves owner that I had parked 2 miles away in order to come there today.

 
 So after working out, I began to head back to my car.  I had more time for pictures now.  Here is a couple of really beautiful church buildings that are on the way.  It's a Presbyterian Church and a United Methodist Church.


Another famous building in Warren is the court house.

 Banners line the street.

One other building!  My dentist!  Well, it's not my dentist anymore; his son is the dentist now, but this is the building where my smile went from being like a young Melissa Gilbert to something a little less conspicuous.

And by the time I got back into my car, behold, my pedometer!  This is quite a bit more walking than usual and all done by 10:30.

Total steps today: 17,402

Miles 13 through 16, Stanton Hill

Today began with 2 entities battling with me:  Mother Nature and the Sandman.  Both of them fought hard but neither of them won.

I had to get up a little early because today's agenda included driving my mother out to Erie for a doctor's appointment.  That's an hour-long trip, and I knew the whole excursion would take most of the day.  Plus, the weather was threatening again.  I wanted so badly to just lounge in bed; it was so comfy!  Somehow, I found the gumption to get up.  I didn't linger with getting ready, I just got dressed, grabbed a granola bar, an apple and a water and just left.  So that I didn't have to wake up my Dad, I decided to just walk 50 minutes and then call him to pick me up.  I have been walking 4 miles in one hour, so I figured that by the time I called my dad and he came for me, I would have likely gone 4 miles.  Today was not a pre-selected 4 miles trip.

Not to repeat my previous trips, I left the house and turned left.  I walked to Stanton Hill Rd. and started heading up that.  As soon as I turned the corner and saw the hill, I was a little overwhelmed.  It's a very steep and long hill, and the Sandman was telling me I had made the wrong choice.   I think he was laughing at me.  All in all, this route had some really steep ups and downs.  Fortunately, stopping to take pictures is a good excuse to rest.  The picture is a good picture taken out over Eisenhower High School.  I've always told people I went to school in a place surrounded by farmfields, and now everyone knows I was not exaggerating.

My walks are taking me to pretty remote places.  As I mentioned before, I had run into animals.  Twice today I stumbled upon some doe.  They stood and looked at me for a few minutes but ran off before I could get a really good picture.  This picture is cute, though; I caught her tail as she was leaping away.  The way that deer leap through the weeds is really beautiful, and I hope to get a video one of these days.

Soon after that was an area of property which my Dad again told me was a childhood home of his.  There is nothing there now, it's a just an unused bit of land.  Kinda sad.  That house had burned down, too.

After this, I descended through some trees and came upon an idyllic scene, the kind you would see on calendars of farms.  I just thought it was picture-worthy.

No more pictures after that for a while.  I should have shown you, though, how I was in an area of forest where I could have started chanting "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"  It was very, very dark and dense and chilly.  Times like this make me wonder if I should be doing all of this alone.  Hmmmm.  Anyway, at this time, too, my timer went off on my phone, and I found that when I tried to get a hold of my Dad to come for me, there was not a lick of cell service at that point.  I kept on trugging, however, knowing that I would come out into civilization soon.

I did indeed.  Stanton Hill comes out onto Route 957 right above the Russell Veterinary Hospital.  It was about this time that cell service kicked back on, and I was able to get a hold of my Dad.  As he was driving to get me, I was able to say hello to some nice horses.  When I said hello to them as they were eating their breakfast, one whinnied and immediately ran over towards me.  What a friendly pair of horses!  They seemed to be disappointed when I left.  They looked after me for quite a while as I walked away.
 
So, my Dad picked me up and then we re-traced my steps.  As it turns out, in my limited time and our unclocked route, I had gone 3.9 miles which I was very pleased about.

Since then today, we have really enjoyed talking as a family about where I will be walking next.  We have planned together where I will walk tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to it.  Let's just say tomorrow I won't have to worry about lion, tigers or bears.

Total steps today: 11,889

Mile 9 through 12, Town Line Rd.

My walks are not getting too creative yet.  So far I've just started 4 miles out and then walked home.  Today I started at the house and walked 4 miles out.  It's still a totally different route; I walked to my sister's campground.  Leaving the house took me in the opposite direction from where I had been yesterday.  In local terms, while yesterday I was walking from the direction of Sugar Grove and Eisenhower High School, today I left the house and started in the direction of Russell.

My parents live basically at the crest of a hill.  Approaching it yesterday had me walking uphill for a long way, and today leaving had me walking downhill for quite a long distance.  It's actually a pretty risky place to be:  risky to drive, ride a bike or walk.  The hill is a sharp curve with low visibility around the corner because of the trees and foliage.  I stayed on the berm, though, and walked quickly through the area that I felt was the most dangerous.  This is all downhill.

 

My Dad had told me that he had once lived on the road that I was going to.  I knew that he had lived in a few different locations in this area before his parents settled into the house that I knew, but I don't know that he ever showed me or pointed them out.  Unfortunately, both of the previous houses he had lived in burnt down, but he pointed out where one was here on Townline Rd.

 

I ran into several more animals along the way.  I started to wonder if maybe I should be bringing a stick or something in case any of these animals (dogs) weren't friendly and/or chased me.  The first dog I met barked at me quite a bit and ran towards me, even came onto the road, but he didn't come right up to me.  I talked to him reassuringly, and he began to retreat back to his yard as I went by.  Later, I had 2 very angry boxers run up to me, but I think their yard was protected by an in-ground fence, and I noticed they were wearing those special collars.  So although their barks were rather frightening, they didn't come off of their yard.

The next animals I saw were cows.  Cows are such docile creatures and are usually very gentle.  I walked right up to one at the Wilcox farm and said hello, and she let me take her picture. 

As I moved on from there, I found myself in an area where I could turn completely around and really only see cornfields, so I took a video.  I simply turn in one complete circle and took a panorama video.

Next I saw a house I knew I had to take a picture of.  This house played a very important role in the history of Me.  A man named Gail Olson had lived there, and he collected, fixed up and sold musical instruments.  He sold a clarinet to the parents of a certain 5th grader (<---me) way back in 1980.

 

The active farmland stops after his house, and then I found myself walking through a beautiful tunnel of trees.

 

At the end of the span of trees, the road changes to pavement, and we are then in New York State.  Yes, that is how close we live to the state line.  (That's why we have a road called State Line Rd.  Yeah.)  The first view after coming out of the trees was breathtaking.

 

Now on the right, we are getting into the property of where my sister has her camper parked.  The have a beautiful, peaceful pond.

Finally I've arrived at my sister's campground.  How convenient for me that it's just about exactly 4 miles from my parents' house! 

 Hello, sister!  I'm just stopping by!  Would I like some coffee?  Yes, I would love some!  Would I like a ride home?  Yes, I would love a ride home!  

Until tomorrow!!

Mile 5 though 8, State Line & Fairbanks

Yesterday was good day.  I was pleased with my walk, with my goals and with my decision to start this blog.  I think the blog on top of everything else will help to keep me going and motivated.  In the afternoon yesterday, I even went down and tried out this Curves Gym location for the first time.  They were very welcoming there...especially since my Mom is one of their regular members.

Today I played chicken with Mother Nature, and I won.  It looks like I'll be playing chicken with the weather all week according to the weather forecast.

Our original plan was that my Dad would take me out 4 miles and drop me off again (but in a different direction); that was to happen at about 10:30 when the family was on the way out for some shopping and appointments.  At about 9 a.m. however, after I had had my coffee on the porch, I felt rain in the air, saw rain on the radar from the app on my phone and thought I had better get the ball moving sooner.  I was proud of that decision because I could easily have decided to just skip it altogether.

So I went and asked my Dad if he would take me out right then, and he did.  We got in his truck, and he looked at his odometer so he could clock the 4 miles.  He took me down towards the high school, turned right on Fairbanks, drove all the way to State Line Rd., turned right again and then yet again onto Townline Rd.  I said "That's a longer 4 miles than yesterday."  But once again, he dropped me off.  I had my phone, an umbrella and a water.  He dropped me off alongside a cornfield.  "Knee high by the Fourth of July" is what they say about the corn, and I think they'll make it.

And so the walk began.  I felt I was racing the weather the whole time, but I knew if the weather turned sour that I could call my Dad to have him come back for me.  The scenery out there was beautiful.

As soon as I got onto State Line, I was greeted by a really sweet Border Collie.  The way the dog crept up to me at first, I was a little nervous, but he/she walked right up to me on the road and then rolled over for a tummy rub.  Sweet thing.  I kept on walking, and fortunately the dog didn't follow me.  That was right across from one of my favorite farms, Pine-Ton farms...where I had spent many happy visits with friends, visiting their girls, their horses and their swimming pool! 

It didn't take me long to get through the short stretch on State Line, and I noticed a cemetery you might be interested in.  I popped up there to take a look, pleased to see that it's well taken care of and pleased to see flags standing in a few.  I was in awe of how old the headstones are.  My Dad said it's one of the oldest cemeteries around.

Leaving the cemetery, I found myself at the corner of Fairbanks and State Line.  All of the roads I'm on now are dirt roads.  Many of the roads around here are dirt roads; it's a very rural area.  This makes for a lot of dust in the air when cars go by, and the foliage alongside the road is very dusty.  Houses are saved somewhat from being dusty through the practice of road maintenance coming by every so often and laying down thick oil on the road in front of each house.  The oil stays for a while and helps keep the dust down.

I was excited to keep walking on Fairbanks because I knew I was about to walk past the home of my bff's house!  She doesn't live there anymore, but it was nice to walk by.

These are hay wagons.

After leaving the area of my friend's house, I was next approaching my high school.  One of the greatest features of my high school is, I think, the Eco Lab.  The Eco Lab is an area of the forest where trails are maintained, trees and foliage are labeled for study, and there is a pond, too; it's such a great resource for studying science in school.  I remember spending a lot of time there as a senior!  Once I swam in the pond back there...but only once!  Because I was greeted by a snake swimming towards me and got out of there just as fast as I could.

 

Finally I was walking by my high school (Go Knights!).  They are under major renovations right now.  Apparently they are turning this 7-12 building into a K-12 location.  It'll be interesting to see how that turns out.

After the high school, the rest of the walk was the same as yesterday, ending up at my parents' house.  I arrived back at the house in about an hour despite my few stops to take pictures and visit dogs that had come up to greet me.  When I checked my pedometer, though, I was perplexed.  It had registered less than 9,000 steps and only 2.2 miles.  I wondered if was malfunctioning, but I'm thinking it's not.  I believe the mileage is off but that the steps aren't.  This is good and bad.  What this really means is that if this is my only walk, 4 miles is not enough!  I might have to increase it to 5 miles, but we'll see.  I'm thinking that between my walk in the morning and the activity I may do the rest of the day, I will probably see my 12,000.  If not, I'll be increasing that distance that I asked to be dumped off by my Dad!

Oh, and by the way, it still hasn't rained.