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