One Year Ago
Oct 15th, 2009 by Lyn Hanush
October 15, 2008 - Wednesday
Bonny really does great once she sees the route just before we walk it. And if she does get off course, she also finds her way back on course. She is very dependable.
Austin and I started walking finally. What a beautiful day! And our route - fantastic! For the first time in quite awhile I was off the busy highways. What a perfect day for Austin to start walking with me. In a way Austin and I are a perfect match for walking together. He is 6′7″ with very long legs. I’m not so tall, but I walk fast. So we’re a good pair.
Our walk took us through beautiful residential areas (houses must have been on one to five acres) along tree-lined streets. And autumn is definitely here. The trees are turning bright reds and golden. We had to stop to take a few pictures of the colors. And in one open field we just couldn’t resist singing, “The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music” as we twirled and danced around in the open field.
Back to the business of walking. Ten miles seems so short, but since we get a late start with the pre-driving, it’s probably a good thing.
After about six and a half miles of back roads, our route took us onto highway 29 - a much busier highway, but with wide shoulders. Our only problem was getting to the side facing traffic. In order to do this we had to walk through some thorny bushes and climb a low double fence. That fence was nothing for Austin - he just stepped over it. But for me it was quite a task - one I could not have accomplished without help. I ended up with a few “trail badges” - remember those, Marilyn? A trail badge is a scrape that draws blood while walking. This part was a challenge, but that’s part of the adventure.
On the highway we began waving to the cars. I heard Austin say, “This is fun!” And I quite agree with him. We both enjoyed looking at the faces of people as they waved - or not. Some people really get into it, and others just give us a ho-hum wave, and, of course, others ignore us completely. Some just don’t see us, but some we can tell are pretending not to see us.
We had only about two miles on this busy highway. Then we got off onto the Old Columbia Pike. This was a bit quieter. Finally we arrived at the car where Bonny was waiting. After getting out of our gear, we got in the car and drove across the street to Taco Bell/KFC for some lunch/dinner. It’s “Cook’s night off” at Harri and Evelyn’s, so we were on our own for dinner. As late as it was we just decided to combine them.
Then for dessert we went across the parking lot to Starbucks. Now another thing you need to know about Austin is that he is a Starbucks shift manager - that means discounts for us. How cool is that?
As we walked today I learned a lot of Austin’s story. I love listening to people tell about their lives as we walk, so this was great. He and I prayed as we walked and talked, and prayed with Bonny before starting and when we met her at stopping points.
Then we also prayed for granddaughter, Sam, a lot today as she was pretty busy giving birth to an adorable little girl - Lois Rose. Isn’t that a pretty name? I don’t have all the statistics yet, but I do have a picture sent to me via text message. That’s great-grandchild number three, and the first great-granddaughter.
Once we finished our lunch/dinner time, we drove tomorrow’s route. That didn’t take long to drive, and will be an easy walk. It will take us to the edge of Washington D.C. That will be saved for Saturday’s walk.
Our drive back to Evelyn and Harri’s went well, and we were soon getting showers and taking turns working on the computer. Now I’ll do my e-mail, then get to bed.
