Day 68 – 21 miles – 895 total

It got cold on us overnight. Luckily, we still had our cold weather gear. We packed up and walked away as the sun came up to warm the day.

We had beautiful back roads with real old angel oak trees. A very pleasant morning.

We made it to the dreaded Hwy 17. We had to walk about 4 miles of it before getting onto our next backroad. There were 2 bridges that we had to cross also. It sucked but we made it.

We got to our next back road. This one was 6 miles added to our trip but we needed to do it. Hwy 17 was just too dangerous.

I looked on my maps and found what I thought would be a great shortcut to save us 4 miles. We tried it. It was an old path in the woods that was not easy at all with the carts. We got about 2 miles in and it came to an end. I was pissed.

We had to backtrack. I saw another way that we could’ve taken but it wasn’t a sure shot and this path was beating us up. Stick put his foot down and strongly suggested that we go back to the other road and just go around. I really wanted to keep trying to do the shortcut but I knew that it was just my pride talking. I didn’t want that to get in the way of our team and I also knew that Stick was right. The best choice was to turn back. We did.

I got over it quickly once we were back on the paved road. It was so much easier with the carts that the extra miles were fine. We pushed on.

A few miles later we could tell that we were starting to get close to a town because the increase of trash on the side of the road. One of the weird observations that you notice when walking.

We reached our 20 mile mark and then pushed a little farther until we found a good landmark to stop at. We jad arranged to be picked up by the Grieb family who lives nearby. We would be staying with them for the night. They were nice enough to offer to help in honor of their boy Brian.

They picked us up and brought us to their beautiful home. I felt so comfortable around them and appreciated the effort that they put in to assisting with that. They made steaks and shrimp and went all out. The whole family was there. Mother and father and the 3 children. Brian included.

A very awesome family who knew how to have a good time. After dinner we sat outside around a bonfire and talked and played songs on the guitar. They were incredibly talented singers. It was a great moment for me. Very powerful, very healing. We were able to be vulnerable by sharing our similar pains and it made for a great experience. Hard, but in a good way.

We stayed out until the yawns kicked in and then we turned in. Stick and I both have individual beds to sleep in and they are very dog friendly so Domino is comfy also. I think I just met lifelong friends.

Such a wonderful day! I’m very grateful as I relive it by typing out the blog. It’s late though. Going to bed to recharge for tomorrow’s adventure…