Here we are again folks with another rousing round of “Where in the world is Joe Hall”. Overall a pretty good week. Ran into some chilly temps, but knocked out some pretty good mileage for the days I walked. Took a rest day today because I was hurting last night. Still struggling to carry and consume enough even 6 months into this thing, but at this point….screw it.
Day 162-I rested Sunday. Thought it’d be my last rest day but I would end up being wrong...shocking. Lol. I wanted to make sure I was as packed as possible for the potential cold I’d see the coming week.
Day 163- Covered 24 miles from Elko, NV to Carlin. Had a room donated from my sisters MIL and GMIL. This was a relatively flat walk, got some good mountain shots with the recent snowfall on the peaks. Got to the hotel as sun was setting. Most days it seems 25-28 is the max I can hit anymore with the limited daylight.
Day 164-Covered 22 miles from Carlin to a closed rear area near Beowawe, NV. The closed part was appealing because it was somewhat civilized and yet devoid of people. Popped on my buddys podcast on Tuesday like I usually do when there’s signal. The walk started off easy, with about the first 6 miles being flat then miles 7-9 we’re about 1,100 feet of elevation gain before some up and down to finish the day out. Limited calories and the excessive climbing burnt my legs out pretty early. Earlier than normal anyway. Got down to about 30 over night and aside from some frost on the tent walls everything was pretty good.
Day 165- Covered 28 miles from the rest area to Battle Mountain, NV where the Battle Mountain Inn who donated a room. Most of the day was fairly easy walking, had some flurries early in the day and it was trippy being completely sunny yet seeing pockets of snowfall around me in the valley. The last 4-5 miles of this were rough. Started getting light headed and dizzy. Wasn’t eating enough. Had a gentleman who’d seen me along I-80 the previous few days offer to gimme a ride and while I wanted to, I couldn’t. Because that’s cheating. Once I checked in I ordered pizza from a place in town, who told me “45 minutes” so I hopped in the shower. 20 minutes later I hear knocking at the door and answer in the tiny bath towel to grab my pizza. It was COLD opening that door, as the room was also pretty drafty in and of itself. Mashed most of the pizza and a taco salad with quickness and downed about 60oz of Gatorade.
Day 166- Covered 25 miles from the Battle Mountain Inn to the Pumpernickel Valley exit in NV. There was a smooth area off the side of the road resembling the salt flats in Utah so I turned off as sun was setting and set up camp. It was cold starting out, in the low 20s, so I had sweats on with the thermal top and hoodie and hat. I had the sweats off by a half mile in because I was beginning to sweat lol. The walk was mostly flat this day which was nice. Stopped at a chevron station in Valmy and grabbed a burger and some popcorn chicken (which was more like giant chicken nuggies) and talked to a miner who’d seen me walking over the last few days. We discussed the why of the walk, and my adventures, I also gave him a card. Tonight was a night that would worry me because the low was supposed to get into the teens, which would put the sleeping bag and my prep to the test. I’d hoped to get a few more miles and get closer to Winnemucca but it is what it is.
Day 167- Well I slept perfectly fine through the cold night. Worst part was packing up camp and having my fingers and hands get ridiculously cold, and painful. I am going to remedy this by grabbing some hand warmers here in town. Got going fairly early and ended up climbing about 500 feet within the first 5 miles or so then descending to Golconda and finishing up in Winnemucca. I saw neither a dusty road, nor did any semis with high and canvas covered loads offer me rides. DISAPPOINTED. The Valu Inn donated a room for this night and discounted my second night so I could rest. This was a 28 mile day and my body was feeling it by the time I got to the hotel. Hips, pelvis, lower back, feet were all screaming. Went to a local Mexican restaurant and had a molecajete for the first time. Really good!
Day 168- Resting and Buckeyes. Arm chair response (and from seeing some Buckeye fans on Facebook) is that we need to relax! I had friends saying they can’t wait till Stroud is gone and that he’s overrated. I struggle to understand our fan base at times. I thought we played reasonably well overall, running game woes being what they are. Currently bashing some sushi, just had an apple cider sake bomb and going to grab some hand warmers when I’m done.
This was a solid week. I really need to focus on eating enough going forward. Only 24 days left which if I wanted to sandbag could be accomplished with 18.3333 miles per day. But as it stands I am 9, 25 mile days away from South Lake Tahoe, California, and the homestretch. 440 miles left total. 224 in Nevada, 216 in California. If I can get to South Tahoe in 9 days, (then three 20s to get through the sierras into Placerville, Ca). I only have 12 days left to cover the remaining 150 or so miles, so I could do 13-15 miles a day in California, relax, and enjoy the final stretch. Hopefully by then I have some more media attention and can do some real spreading of the message to finish up. I-80 has been great for knocking out large miles, but the chance to talk to people has been minimal for obvious reasons. Also selfishly hoping the Niners take notice and I can get to a game or at least meet the team or something. Or sneak into THE GAME when I return. Only two things I’ve been selfishly hoping for as this finishes out.
Thank you to the people who’ve donated on this trip, and especially on this back end. Some of you don’t want to be recognized for it but I see you, and I appreciate you. I tried to reach out to everyone personally if I missed you, shoot me another email and remind me I’m an asshole for missing. Still got shirts for sale at http://HallAcrossTheCountry.bigcartel.com and if you use promo code “homestretch” you get 25% off.
Much Love Y’all!
Go Bucks! 8-0
-Joe “Avoiding the in game threads for my sanity” Hall
