Hiking Over 1,000 Miles in 34 Days
This morning I slept in at the room until around 5:30am. Then Fresh Ground came in to bring us some coffee. He’s going to be heading north today, so it’s our last morning together! He’s had some family stuff come up and also has to prepare to help the bubble or northbound hikers along the AT. But we’ve been so lucky to enjoy as much time with him as we’ve had.
We drank coffee in bed and then got packed up at the room. Then Fresh Ground drove us back out of Troy to the gas station where we ended last night. The two of us got breakfast at Hardee’s and then said goodbye to Fresh Ground, for now! We will be seeing him somewhere along the AT though! Probably only a few weeks from now too, which is exciting. He’s such a joy to be around and it was such a fun few days hanging out with him. Supporting us on the Alabama road walk was unbelievably helpful. It’s a tough area to camp, especially with the mileage we’ve been trying to do. Plus my body really needed the nourishment of his amazing food. I feel so lucky to have been spoiled by him these last few days.
Once we ate some breakfast we began walking again on highway 231. Another long day awaits, walking on this one road the entire time. Just like it’s been for the last couple of days. But we should be wrapping this up in a day or so when we get closer to Montgomery. Then will be getting onto some quieter roads as we make our way toward the Pinhoti trail. I’m so excited for some actual trail! That’s going to be the best feeling in the world.
Over the first couple of hours of the day we were heading back toward Troy, where we stayed last night. We got into the city limits after about 2 hours. Then were walking in the shoulder of the road through the big town. There was no sidewalk to be seen, which is unfortunate. I’m shocked how many towns don’t have sidewalks. Especially around shopping areas and businesses. The world truly was designed for cars.
I packed out a biscuit from Hardee’s and ate that while I walked. As well as a sprite that Fresh Ground had given me. Then after a few hours we got to one of the last gas stations of the day. We didn’t know if we would be passing by much of anything else for a while. So we stopped off there to take a break and grab a few things. I needed some snacks to eat over the course of the day. And grabbed a Powerade too while I was at it. Then we sat there on the curb for a while, stretching and just resting briefly.
Leaving there we headed out toward a whole lot of nothing. The road was still busy, but we weren’t really making our way toward much. We won’t be getting into the next “big town” until some time tomorrow. Montgomery is the next large city. Which is the capitol of Alabama. But we’re going to skirt toward the eastern portion of the city. So we will probably be bypassing the majority of the stores and businesses.
The highway brought us past a Pioneer Village, which we had been seeing signs for since the end of the day yesterday. But it was closed! We got to check it out as we walked by though. Then we just continued on the road with cars whipping by us for the rest of the day. The shoulder was narrow and had the infamous rumble strip. Which makes it difficult to walk because you either have to walk right on it, or way too close to traffic. And walking on the strip is super uncomfortable.
After another couple of hours we saw signs for a BBQ restaurant up ahead! And the reviews said it was some of the best BBQ out there. It was around 1pm when we walked by so we decided to grab something to eat. Plus we were already a little over 20 miles into the day. I wasn’t starving but knew I needed something. So I got Mac n cheese, baked beans, and a Dr Pepper. Afterwards I was still a little hungry so I got a piece of homemade vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. It was all great and the place was a perfect stop to help break up the day.
From there we had another 10 or so miles to go for the day. Which didn’t sound so bad. And I knew we would be going by another couple of places in the evening, such as a gas station and a dollar general. Though I probably didn’t need much of anything. As we walked along the road we definitely had a few drivers who weren’t paying attention. Some people got way too close and only swerved away at the last second.
For some random reason while we were in the BBQ restaurant I had the urge to do a little origami. I remembered that when I was younger I learned how to fold a dollar bill into a ring! So I looked up how to do it and entertained myself along the road by making a tiny origami ring. It came out well and was pretty easy. So I decided to make something else too! I made an origami collar shirt out of a dollar and gave it to Punisher. It actually turned out really well and wasn’t too hard. Then I got too ambitious. I tried to make an origami owl out of a dollar! But it was way too hard to multitask doing that while walking on the road. So I called it a quits on my new fun hobby, at least for the time being. But that certainly killed some time and kept my mind occupied.
Over the next hour or so I also found a fairly large rubber ball alongside the road. It was a little deflated but still actually bounced really high. So I occupied myself for at least 10-15 minutes playing with that. Just bouncing it up and down on the road like a basketball. Or passing it between the two of us. Whatever you can do to make road walking a bit more exciting!
Just before 5pm the road brought us past a farmers market. One of the people working there called out to us. They wound up giving us a couple of oranges! Then they asked what we were doing, and once they heard they got really excited. They had us come over to the stand and gave us each a Gatorade and a ton of oranges. Originally they tried to give us a bag filled with literally 20 oranges. But we politely told them that we just couldn’t carry so many. So they told us to take as many as we’d like, and we both wound up with about 4 huge beautiful looking oranges. That was so cool! I ate two of them right away as we walked the road. Then drank the Gatorade too.
After that we were getting closer to the next small town. It only had a gas station and a dollar general. Which we didn’t wind up going into. But we were hoping that we would find a camp site somewhere in the area. Whether it be off in the woods or by one of the nearby churches. Because of the time change, the sun is setting alot earlier here. By 5:30pm it was already pretty dark.
We saw a wooded area through some trees which appeared to be pretty flat. It was still quite close to the road but appeared far enough away to give us some privacy. That worked out great and we got set up there. But you could still see the lights from cars shining onto your tent through the trees. And it was pretty dang noisy. But we’re used to that at this point.
We got our tents set up and then retreated inside. It was just around 6pm which was lovely. So I got comfortable and then did my stretching. And after that I got a video done and did my writing for the day. Then ate some snacks in my tent before calling it a night. I didn’t have it in me to make a hot meal. I was just feeling too lazy. But I know we’ll be getting some good food at some point tomorrow.
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Comments 5
All of these great little treasures along the road!
The road definitely is providing toys and treasures!
CONGRATULATIONS on 1000 miles baby!! That’s awesome sauce! I’m loving all the little road toys you’re finding. The hummingbird is still my favourite ❤️ but that ball would have been fun. Loving the origami – a woman of many talents ❤️. Let me know the next town you need a hotel for the night ❤️
To make a long story short, on a motorcycle
trip to the Great Smokey Mountains Nat’l Park
in 1976, something funny happened. After set-
ting up the “pup” tent at the end of a long, hot
day of riding, crawled into the tent. I was fast
asleep as soon as my head came to rest on the
floor. As I neglected to draw the “fly” on the
tent screen closed before retiring, I wasn’t alone
when awakening! As daybreak approached, two skunks were sleeping on my chest as sound
asleep as I was. Keep this in mind on the AP trek.
Good morning to you. Really enjoyed this blog. I think the thing that pulls me in is the details of the minutia of the trail. The things that we can’t experience from the comfort of our chair. I’m not sure exactly how this works, but when I’m reading your story I not only get the message, but I sort of can feel the environment around you, and it conjures up sights, sounds, and smells of the trail. I was smelling and feeling Florida all throughout that part, having been boots on the ground in most of the areas you walked through. Now I’m getting a different vibe. The Alabama vibe replacing the Florida vibe. Very interesting. Thank you.