july 2
day 54
26 miles
total 1,407
setting out in the middle of the night paid off with a sweet 26 miles in 12 hours.
i was moving better than that until we hit waterloo
and had to make those time-eating route checks on the magic phone.
one more pedestrian hating city is in the rear view mirror.
along with the usual maze of shoulderless sidewalkless roads and construction zones.
should be interesting in the morning
as i will be starting off across uni campus (hopefully at 2300…tonight actually)
a meeting with campus security seems likely.
i hope so, as i will probably need directions!
iowa is a beautiful state
and it was wonderfully peaceful walking the quiet roads in the moonlight.
but once daylight returned
iowa drivers came with it.
iowa drivers are truly confusing.
most of them are painfully polite, giving me a wide berth when possible
and slowing down when it is not
(sometimes both)
but exactly two drivers have tried to hit me during this journey.
both in iowa.
both driving commercial vehicles.
and both with witnesses right there…
do they somehow not grasp the repercussions,
should they have succeeded?
today it was an 18 wheeler,
usually the best drivers.
fortunately i still have the reflexes of a bullfighter
and lateral mobility when i need it.
i might be old and slow
but this is not my first rodeo.
i am not an easy target.
i have gotten more smiles and waves in iowa than anywhere yet.
but also an inordinate number of gape-mouthed stares, shaking fists, and blowing horns.
you would think that i am the first pedestrian these people have ever seen.
oh well.
tomorrow i continue my westward march
into ever less populated country.
i can hardly wait!
laz
i failed to make note of reaching 1400 miles today.
it was briefly satisfying
but i know that until i have done 1500
i ain’t done nothing.