Currently sitting in Gratiot at the FD relaxing after a short day. This week has some ups, some downs, a shit ton of heat, and the first experiences for me of being somewhat “viral”.
Day 29- 23.5 miles from Glyde, PA to West Alexander, PA. This is where I started to notice that my pace is picking up. Ran into some rain late in the day as I got to West Alexander FD, but got the tent set up….only to have screwed up my placement, and my footprint so the bottom of the tent got soaked in the storms that passed through overnight. Luckily I stayed relatively dry. This day also put me over the 400 mark for total miles logged thus far.
Day 30- Covered 20 miles from West Alexander, PA to Bridgeport, O-H-I-O. A friend of mine met me at the Golden Chopsticks on Wheeling Island where the restaurant treated me to meal. After putting down two lobster rolls, and a plate of general Tsos I was feelin it! Lol. My buddy Gary (a former JJ Huddler) met me. The waitress that hosted me here was in recovery and deals with depression. She refused to even let me tip her. This doesn’t sit well with me because I never don’t tip less than 30% usually. I knocked out the first 16 miles of this trip in one go, ran into some construction workers repairing a road in Wheeling and one gave me an ice cold Gatorade and a water.
Day 31- 14 miles from Bridgeport to the Belmont County Saddle Club. I was greeted here by Chuck Lofton who helps run the saddle club. They opened up their meeting house and porch so I could throw camp down. This was a sluggish day. Going up Blaine Hill leaving Bridgeport was a rough morning and it kind of sapped me for the day. Chuck took me out to dinner, we discussed suicide, his religious views about it (which were contrary to what I thought his belief would be) and he prayed for a safe journey for me. Chuck even called back a day later to check on me with the heat but I had no cell reception. A truly awesome gentleman.
Day 32- 18 miles from the Belmont County Saddle Club to Quaker City, Ohio. Whoooooo boy the first day of that oppressive, disrespectful heat. After I left BCSC I had to take some…backroads to get to Quaker City. This included some township and county roads in the southern Egypt Valley area that had me pushing the stroller (all 70lbs pounds at the time my assuming) up some steep, gravel grades. Was having a lot of pain in my pinky toe, worrying I had an infection. Finally got to DQ in Barnesville (after having several people stop by after reading my shirt and drop off donations and water) to switch socks and cool off. I wasn’t dehydrated but the heat was making me nauseous. Took my sock off to realize it was no infection, somehow my Injinji toe sock got twisted and was cutting off the circulation to the toe. It was purple when I took the sock off. Oops. Finished the mostly downhill trek to Quaker City and stopped into the Wooden Wheel for dinner. The server said “Are you the guy I saw on Facebook? That’s awesome”. Went to the Quaker City park to set up camp and a woman who was out there brought a box fan to plug in at the pavilion to keep the tent somewhat tolerable. Sadly, leaving the Wooden Wheel my stroller broke. It still rolls but the handle sits about a foot lower and the center of gravity is wonky, we’re trying to find a better option for when I get home to finish the journey.
Day 33- Another disrespectful 18 hot ass miles from Quaker City to Cambridge. I actually was hauling ass the first 13 or so, but once I got on the Guernsey county trail the heat came back for me. Thankfully they’ve got covered picnic tables on the route so I took an hour rest. On the way to the trail I passed multiple people who dropped off waters and a little cash because they’d seen me from someone sharing my trip on Facebook. It was kind of surreal to me. Still not “Hey Ryan Day let’s work together” popular but it felt good to “know” the message was getting out. Stopped at Central Station in Cambridge and had a late lunch/early dinner before hightailing it to a laundromat just before the storms came through. I was in my last clean pair of undies. I got in, waited to cool down some, went to the bathroom and changed into an extra pair of shorts and a quarter zip that was donated so I could do “all” my laundry, so I sat commando in the laundromat in some Tom Selleck, Magnum PI length shorts with a sweatshirt on while I waited out the storm.
Day 34- 24 miles from Cambridge to Zanesville FD. I was SMOKING this trip for the first part of it. Had breakfast at Chelsa’s where the server said I’m not paying for my food (she also sent me out with a couple sammiches for later). I got into New Concord and went to Wally’s pizza. It was there or Crenos and I chose Wally’s because their Google reviews were .3 higher and the first review said it was one of the best pizzas he’s ever had. So they opened up and I placed a lunch order. Their owner came out shortly after, having heard my story from his son, and we shot an impromptu interview he said he was going to edit and share to get things out there as well. If you go through here you gotta try the pie. It was great. I went another 8-9 miles or so and stopped at Wendy’s just outside Zanesville. Got a burger and baked potato, and when I started walking again my left hip flexor was in so much pain every step hurt. But every hotel on that side of town was booked up so I had no choice but to gingery limp to the FD. I set up camp and the Zanesville PD woke me up at 1230 asking what was up. No one communicated I was ok’ed to sleep there behind the municipal building and they worried I was a homeless person. Got it squared away and nodded off again.
Day 35- 12 miles from Zanesville to Gratiot. I took it easy today with my hip flexor feeling better, but not wanting to test it right away. The FD here had approved me to camp so I said well take an early day and rest up some.
In six days I’ll hit home for three days of rest before continuing the journey. I’ll be heading west on 40 the next few days so feel free if you’re in Columbus or driving through to shoot a honk, some kind words, or walk a little. I won’t bite. My friends trying to reach out to the Columbus news station(s) to see if they’ve got any interest in the story as I come through sometime Monday evening. Even if they don’t, the mission continues. I’ll continue to let the walk to the talking.
Much Love Guys!
-Joe
