June 25th, 2009

 

14.24 miles today - too darn far.

What an insane day with the heat and humidity both in the 90’s and I carried that handcart up 42 HILLS!  That’s right, 42 hills!  It was down one ravine and straight up the other side and I could hardly put one foot in front of the other.  I can’t even begin to explain what it is like to climb that many hills with the cart.  I left at 7:30AM and arrived at 5:30PM.  All day I only had 3 oz of rolls and 1 oz of jerky.  Because I was burning so many calories, I needed something else and so Shirley (the car escort) gave me a granola bar… which was awesome. So when I arrived at my destination, the Dalmanutha Cemetery, I saw a grounds keeper and asked if I could sleep the night here and he said sure.  So this evening, I am sleeping in the in the cemetery….Ooooooo….Then after talking to BarryWilliams (grounds keeper), he invited me

to use his shower and he wanted to buy me dinner.  The shower sounded almost as good as the food and because I hadn’t eaten all day, I accepted the hospitality of a local resident and I enjoyed an egg omelet with hash browns and toast.  It was awesome!  I also met the principal of the school and discovered that he is quite the history buff.  The people are Iowa are super friendly and generous.  Those friendships have been my unexpected surprise on this trek.

It’s almost 11PM and way past my bedtime.  Time to go pitch my tent with my sleeping friends.

For correspondence, email me at: grizzlydoctor@gmail.com