Sorry for the day late post ladies and germs. After yesterdays walk I got into the fire station here in Fowler, IN and absolutely crashed out. Week 8 was an awesome one overall. Had a few hiccups, as expected but there was a level of humanity that, on the whole, I probably haven’t experienced in one week’s time.
And off we go…..
Day 50-The day was relatively uneventful. Got an early start for my 24 mile day from Winchester to Muncie. It was warm so I planned breaks every couple hours or so (thank god for my camping chair). A lot of people coming to and from Winchester had stopped to tell me how they’d seen me on Facebook. A few dropped off a little money for meals, most just wanted to thank me for doing something so completely asinine. I got into Muncie late, and there was a miscommunication between my logistics guy and which station the FD had expected me at. I showed up downtown at station 1, was supposed to go to station 2, and my friend thought it was a different department’s station 2 (6 more miles away) that was cleared. After talking with the battalion chief they had some grass by their training facility and I set up camp. Stopped across the street at Guardian Brewing Company and had a BBQ chicken flatbread pizza and a couple CiderBoys peach ciders to finish the day up. They even allowed me to shower in the training building the next morning. I like showers.
Day 51-Another largely uneventful day. Warm again, but flat, and relatively fast. Covered 20 miles or so from Muncie to Alexandria. The Alexandria FD allowed me to camp, but invited me into the AC to have some dinner, conversation, and relaxation. I enjoyed the conversation the most. Granted access to another shower in the morning which was phenomenal as always.
Day 52-Another warm, flat 20 miles from Alexandria, to Tipton. Multiple people stopped and dropped off waters for me, and a few dropped cash for meals. By the time I got to the FD no restaurants (that weren’t backtracking) were open. So I had three “tacos” at a bar that proclaimed “food” on the outside, and chased it down with two Angry Orchards. Set up the tent and the rainfly because storms were expected. What I really did was spend the entire night sweltering and doing the backstroke in my own sweat. No real sleep. Lovely. At least I got to shower in the morning again lol.
Day 53- Was supposed to get to Frankfort today. My body was having none of it. I had done pretty much 20 miles or more everyday since I’d been back up to today. I had a good breakfast and an early lunch but I just couldn’t get moving, or feeling right. I pulled up Google maps around the 10 mile mark and found the small town of Kempton. Man was Kempton a godsend. I got approval to camp at the volunteer FD and set up my chair to rest because it was an early day (which I don’t get much). Decided to finally finish Stranger Things, crushed it as always. The Marshall for the town came up and asked if I needed anything and she told me she posted about me and the walk on their FB page so no one would be alarmed at the borderline homeless man they’ve never seen in town. A few minutes later a woman and her daughter came by, they’d seen the website and my video and offered to let me stay in the house her mother owns. It’s a large two story and she stays on one side, and it’s just her in it. I got cooked a steak dinner, a cool bed, and a chance to do laundry (which was good I was on my last clean set of drawers. Another case on the walk of some divine power dropping in things I needed when I needed them. It’s hard for me to believe that there is THIS MUCH coincidence in the world.
Day 54- I headed on to Frankfort using mostly desolated back country roads and it was great. My body felt refreshed, no soreness no exhaustion. It was a welcome feeling. Unfortunately no breakfast so as soon as I got to Frankfort I descended upon Applebees and devoured some food. Also Frankfort’s HS Mascot is “The Hot Dogs” and it’s a weiner dog. BEST. MASCOT. EVER. Got into Frankfort FD where I was treated to some burger for dinner, good conversation with their guys, and a covered spot out back to pitch camp because more storms were expected. Another morning shower was nice too!
Day 55- Today. Was. Soggy. I got a good breakfast in as I left Frankfort, and headed off towards the land of engineering nerds West Lafayette. I covered the stroller with a tarp because most of the day called for rain. About 6 miles in (after petting some horses and goats along the way…I love animals), I heard the first thunder clap. I reached under the tarp to grab my poncho…only it was gone. Somewhere in the first 6 miles it’d fallen out and I missed it. So with the rain starting I had to improvise. I cut a hole in the tarp over the stroller big enough for my head and made it work. I finished the first 11 miles or so and got into Mulberry where I had lunch at Pizza King. They had the scoreboard from the movie “Hoosiers” in there, and the woman working comped my meal for me. I decided for the second part of the 27-28 mile walk Id just “embrace the suck”. Understand it’s gonna rain, and just go. The tarp was pulling on my neck too much as I walked. It was about 830ish when I finally clambered into West Lafayette Fire Station 2 and the guys were among the best I’ve encountered. One guy, Steve, in particular was awesome. He looks like a short hair Chris Hemsworth and played ball at Purdue. Looks like he could still line up at Lb and take snaps. He invited me to bring everything in out of the rain, treated me to venison burgers in zucchini boats, and jalapeño poppers. They offered me a spare bed, and a shower in the morning again too. Me and those guys talked for hours and it was awesome to be in one of those “shoot the shit with your buddies” type of environments. I really miss that. They treated me like another firefighter almost. Steve is also going to try to hook me up when/if I make it to San Francisco as he went to high school and is friends with someone fairly high on the 49ers chain of command. He wants to try to get me into a game, and get the red carpet treatment. I’ll probably crap my pants if that happens.
Day 56- Today was a day of a huge down, some ups, and a lot of fatigue. I had a couple bagels with the Fd guys before I got on my way. About 3.5 miles down the road, then unexpected occurred. My front wheel fell off. The prongs were bent and I couldn’t rig it back on. I posted on the FB page about it, pulled my chair out on the side of 52 West just outside West Lafayette and started trying to brainstorm. An hour or so in, a comment came from a Gentleman, Carl. Turns out he follows because the other of a teenager working at the Pizza King in mulberry heard my story and was fascinated. He told her, she told friends, and Carl followed along. He’s a construction worker and came out to me with some tools to see if we could get it operational. As he pulled up so did Steve and another WLFD guy (whose name I forgot but the dudes hilarious). We had a meeting of the minds (and the vicegrips and a hammer) and got the prongs straightened, added some washers and the wheel was back on. A couple hours behind but we’re good to go. I finished the journey without any other occurrences. Two gentlemen drove up as I was resting and asked “are you the walker?” I confirmed and they gave me a hundred dollars and said “wish it was more but I hope it helps”. As I’ve said a million times, I still don’t (and probably won’t) feel like I deserve all the hospitality. The last 10 miles or so Fo this 26ish mile day were rough. Still not eating enough and I started getting really sore late. I got into Fowler and the FD meeting room (which their chief left unlocked for me with a cot out) and crashed immediately. Today will end my shower streak, but the sleep I got was a fine trade off.
Overall this was a good week. Sure bad things happened, they always will. The old me would’ve dwelled, fretted, and let it sour my mood. Current me decided to only control what I can control, and try to be at peace with it.
I’ve passed a lot of wind farms and these things amaze me. How is there enough wind to push those massive blades? Why are they sending all this electricity to Chicago, Detroit and I think New York, when people here could use it? Why aren’t we doing this more?
Well guys, I need to get the stroller repacked and get ready to head out of here. Short walk today so I wasn’t in a hurry, waiting for a restaurant here in town to open up so I can eat and get some energy. Currently heading towards Waterloo, IA so I can stop in and visit the Dan Gable Wrestling Museum and Hall of Fame. It’s a small treat for myself for the walk, even if it adds a few miles.
All the love Buckeye Nation,
Joe
