80 miles in 20 days: 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.