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