Mentally Draining Highway Hiking

This morning I got up around 5am and began to pack up slowly. Then eventually we got moving and were walking in the dark around 6am. Back onto busy highway 231, for the final day! Thank the lord. Because I’m getting pretty sick of this busy highway. The shoulder is so narrow with the large rumble strip right in the middle. Walking on it is not ideal. And rather than the mindless road walking that we’re used to, this is anything but mindless. You have to be on guard all day long.

I was glad once the sun finally came up and it became easier for cars to see us. Even with our headlamps on, it still seemed like cars had trouble seeing us. Though I feel that way even during the day! Everyone is texting or multitasking while driving. So it’s a frequent occurrence that cars get way too close and swerve away from us at the last minute. This road has also had more big rigs and oversized loads than I’ve ever seen. Semi’s are flying by us all day long. And probably a couple dozen houses have gone past on flat beds over the last few days.

This morning we needed water, and wound up finding an entire case of bottles along the road!

We walked for a couple of hours in the shoulder of the highway. Getting to the side frequently for cars that refused to give us space, even when the lane beside them was entirely empty. Then we passed a sign indicating a service station up ahead. I was excited for a quick break and possibly something to eat.

We got to the gas station around 9am and stopped off there. I got a piece of pizza and chocolate milk. Then we sat at a table inside to eat. Before leaving I grabbed a bag of potato wedges and some honey mustard to take on the road. I wasn’t completely full with the pizza and milk appetizer. So over the next mile or so I snacked on the massive bag of potato wedges. A delicious snack. By the time I was done I was completely stuffed. That was way too much food! But I was happy to have taken it all down.

Packing out a huge greasy bag of potato wedges to eat along the road walk.

Then I just put some music on and hoped the time would pass quickly. Today I don’t really have the patience for this road. I’m tired of the constant maneuvering around massive vehicles going at maximum speed. It has been entertaining getting so many people to honk at us or pull over. A lot of people have been seeing us over the last week and have stopped off to comment on it. So every time I hear a honk I assume it’s another individual who has been driving by us everyday and seeing our progress. But other than that, I’m over this road.

Found this little bullet casing along the road.

I normally love road walking. But we’ve done around 900 miles of it over the last 5 weeks. Maybe a little bit less. And some of the road was great and fairly quiet. Other areas had large sidewalks and bike paths, which were a luxury I didn’t realize I would miss so much. Now we have been walking along highway 231 for the past 3-4 days. And it’s getting rather old. It is anything but mindless. I find the time moves very slow as I constantly have to jump off the shoulder to avoid cars who couldn’t care less about getting too close to us. We’ve been making the most of it though. We always laugh about the cars who nearly wipe us off the face of the earth. Especially when you can look and see that their head was down and they never even saw us.

By the afternoon I was pretty ready to be done. My body felt fine, but mentally the road walking is burning me out. We’re so close to the end though. And tonight Shep, a Chaplin and trail angel, is going to be putting us up! He came by for dinner the other night at the KOA when Fresh Ground was down. He’s local to the area and said he wants to help us in any way he can. He was even offering to come out and pick us up to take us somewhere, then return us the next day. But our mileage should have us lined up pretty well today with a small motel. Which is perfect.

This cute horse came right up to the fence as we walked by.

Fortunately by the afternoon the road seemed to improve a lot. I’m not sure if it was because of passed by a particular turn or exit, but it seemed a bit quieter. And the shoulder was even slightly larger. Which hardly made a difference, but felt like a lot to us. At this point we only had another 12 or so miles to go for the day. I was hoping that we’d be done right around 4pm which would be a nice early end to the day.

Another day spent walking along the road.

 

And at some point today we will be turning off of this highway entirely! I’m so psyched to get onto quieter side roads. Road walking is one thing, but walking on a highway for 90+ miles I absolutely wild. In the end though this route is buying us a lot of time, which I am grateful for.

Within the next half hour or so we got off of 231! Then got onto a much quieter side road. It even had a sign that said “no trucks”! That was the best thing I’d ever seen. I was feeling so mentally drained from the constant big rigs flying by us. Now we were still on road, but it was quiet. And not long after that we even got onto a sidewalk! That continued for a while as we got further into Montgomery.

A beautiful sidewalk and some trees! What a great change of pace.

The road was quiet and we passed by some nice communities and there were trees lining the sidewalk. It was an incredible change of pace. Fresh Ground even called us with Long Shot! He had just picked him up to bring him to the Pinhoti outdoor center. We got to talk to them briefly. But while we talked I realized just how drained I felt. My mind was fogged from the chaos of the road.

Getting onto a side walk later in the day was such a great change of pace.

We continued along the sidewalk for a while and eventually it ended. Then we were in a busy city area once more. There were lots of stores and shops lining the road. But the shoulder was still a big nicer than what we had previously been on. Around 2pm we passed by a Wendy’s and decided to stop off for a break. I got saucy nuggets and a drink. Then we just lounged in one of the booths for a while. It felt great to put my feet up and take a long break.

Back onto some busy road.

There were only 6 more miles to go from there. Then we were going to end our day in Wetumpkq at a small plaza area with a motel, gas station, and a couple fast food places. I was looking forward to relaxing in a room for the night after an incredibly taxing last 4 days. Road walking is always hard on the body, but I’ve never experienced road before that was as taxing on the mind. Our break at Wendy’s definitely helped to reset me though.

Then on our way out of town we stopped at a dollar general to grab a bit of resupply. We’re going to be more “out there” for the next couple days as we make our way to the Pinhoti trail. It’s going to feel so good to finally make it there though. Arriving at the Pinhoti outdoor center is going to feel like making it to springer mountain. Marking the “end” of almost 1,000 miles walking along roads. We’ll still have a small bit of road to go before arriving at the Appalachian trail. But it will pale in comparison to what we have done.

The little plaza in Wetumpka where we would be staying the night.

Those next couple of hours went by quickly. The road was still very loud and busy. But there was a decent sized shoulder and the road just wasn’t as busy with semis. Plus I knew that we were getting closer to quieter miles up ahead. As we walked we had some more cars honk at us. One guy even saw us and walked over to talk. He said that he has been seeing us a lot and saw us a very long way back on the road. He had been dying to ask us where we were headed and what we were doing.

Outside of the Mexican restaurant where we ate dinner.

Then around 4:30pm we arrived at the edge of Wetumpkq where we would be staying. We checked into a room at the quality inn. Then shortly after we got there, Shep arrived to say hi! He even offered to drive us down the road to a Mexican restaurant nearby for dinner. We were tired but also super hungry. So we headed over there with him for dinner. The place was great and I got a steak fajita chimichanga with rice and beans. I ate the whole thing pretty quickly and it was delicious.

We stayed there for a bit chatting with Shep. Then he drove us back to the motel to relax for the rest of the night. At the room we got comfortable and got our stuff charging. Then I took a nice hot shower before finally laying down. My mind and body were pretty tired, but at the same time I didn’t want to sleep. We stayed up for a while watching TV and talking. I got a little bit of writing and video work done as well. Then sometime after 10pm we finally turned off the lights and called it a night.

Content in the room after a nice shower.

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Comments 5

  • Wendy : Feb 5th

    O you’re getting through Alabama! You’re on the last town then I can flip my map over for northern Alabama! I hope the walking tomorrow goes better for you & meet up with Long Shot soon. I don’t know anything about the Pinholi trail (not even how to spell it yet -lol!) so looking forward to hearing all about it & seeing it! Have a good rest tonight!!

    Reply
  • Lin : Feb 6th

    Oh Peg Leg – I feel your pain with ALL that road walking!!!! Driver’s are definitely NOT pedestrian friendly at all and that noise from all the traffic would drive me insane! So glad you were able to end your day with a nice shower, meal, relax and bed for the night! ❤️

    Reply
  • Wes & Kelly : Feb 6th

    Hello again, Peg Leg. My wife and I were the ones who stopped and gave you and Punisher Trail Magic yesterday on your way to Pinhoti. It was so cool to finally meet actual future trail legends in the flesh! Y’all are such an inspiration to us old folks and you can bet when I retire in a few years (hopefully) we will be spending a lot more time in nature. We’re here to support you all the way!

    Reply
  • Pastelholic : Feb 6th

    Having done some road walking in my time, I can relate. Some areas aren’t made for pedestrians and I feel grateful to live in a place that has sidewalks and I can walk anywhere. When I look at your total mileage so far, I am amazed and also thinking “wow, you will be in such good shape for the AT.” Congratulations Peg Leg!

    Reply
  • Collin Horne : Feb 6th

    I’m from this area! It’s really cool to me that there is a long trail route through the area (even if it is just a road walk). Glad to hear y’all made it through safely!

    Reply

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