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
Cars and trucks and bicycles, though...
ReplyDeleteGreat story and love the pictures. Also, thanks for taking me to Erie. Your walk tomorrow should go very well!
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