What Happened During the Second Half of November

A lot of walking!  Not hiking but road walking.  In north middle Tennessee, there are not very many steep hills, or big hills that I would encounter during my walk-about.  There are long gradual hills app. 100 feet of elevation change from start to finish.  I don’t have a pack yet, once I get one I’ll start saying that I’m “Hiking”.   I’m walking a few main roads in town.  That’s what I’ve got available to me so that’s what I’ve got to go with.

How Many Miles Walked

158 miles were walked during the month of November!  I have gotten my walking legs back.  At the beginning of the month, the steeper part of my sidewalk walking had me huffing and puffing.  During one walk I felt my thighs burn in now I can get up the hills without issue.  The distance walked has gone from four miles to 12.  I feel stronger with the training that I have been doing.

Any Pain or discomfort

I read on here that a lot of people get blisters.  I have yet to get a blister (knock on wood).  My feet though are not very happy with me!  I know that’s from pounding the hard surface, if I were on a trail I’m sure they would be a lot happier.  I keep reminding myself of a time I went to Pre-Ranger.  We had to do a 12-mile road march with a 50-pound ruck and I got chosen to carry a heavy weapon.  The nickname for the weapon is called, The Pig, it is also called the 240B. Anyway, it was a hot July day and my feet got blisters from my toes to my heels.  I also had blisters on top of my foot.  I was in a lot of pain.  The best part is THAT ruck march was just to get us to the training site!  It didn’t count towards anything.  Except to weed out the weak.  Two days later we did the ruck that did matter and I was not able to finish it.  I did not quit though so I was still in the school.  The next day we went on a 5-mile run, I could not do that.  I quit, I was in so much pain I could hardly walk let a lone run.  Sadly, later that day the class started doing movement formations on the grass.  IF I would have lasted just a half mile more, I would have been on grass the rest of the day and would have made it through the class.  THAT is what I keep thinking, this is only temporary and I will be on a softer, root-infested trail soon enough, AND your feet are going to hurt no matter what so suck it up cry baby!

Has Anyone been with you

In previous post I talked about having two dogs.  One is older and does good to get out of her comfy bed.  The other is a 3-year-old Goldendoodle named Oreo. At first, I had him on his leash. It quickly became a pulling match between us.  He was pulling me or I was pulling on him to slow down.  Eventually, I said you walk yourself and put the leash around his neck in case we needed we had it with us.  Oreo really enjoys being off the leash and being able to go where he wants as fast or as slow as he wants.  He gets to smell things for as long as he wants.  He is always in front of me except when we are in the development then he is right next to me.  Oreo walks about 100 to 200 yards in front of me at times then stands there and waits on me.  The friends he has made are a frog and a cat.  The deer and rabbits run away when he tries to make friends with them.  It couldn’t be that he is running full speed towards them though.  Every time that we walk past where he sees them, he looks for them.  They have only been there once and he is disappointed that they aren’t still there.  On the 25 we left for our walk and were preparing to cross a busy 4-lane road.  The cars coming towards us had stopped coming, two cars were coming from behind us.  Oreo was about 50 yards down the street from me and I started to cross the street.  When the cars that were behind were next to me, I called for him.  Well, he had seen me start crossing the street and came back to me and ran in front of the first car.  It hit him in the back right hip.  He ended up spinning around and doing the splits.  When I got over to him, I grabbed him to pull him off the roadway.  In his pain and trying to figure out what had happened when I grabbed him he ended up biting me.  Shortly after that he calmed down and accepted his fate.  I was able to get him back home.  After getting him situated I went to the ER to get myself taken care of.  I got one stitch and part of the tattoo where he bit me is now gone.  I will always have that memento to remind me of him.  Oreo did not make it through the night.  We ended up getting him cremated and now he sits above the fireplace.  He was an awesome puppy and will be missed for a very long time.  It took me several days to get back out walking.  It hurt too much to walk where we had been walking.  Now I walk it in memory of him and enjoy what we had.

Who Will Take Oreo’s Place

We have a new kitten named Opa, I call him The Rat.  That boy is into everything!  He takes toys and runs through the house, pounces on the other cats, mostly he causes chaos!  I love him all the same though.  Since Oreo’s passing, he has become even more affectionate.  The Rat has ALWAYS demanded attention when HE wants it.  Those demands have increased in the last week.  The older puppy Chole has also stepped up her game.  Since the minute that Oreo passed, she has become my shadow.  Chole was and still is depressed over Oreo.  We have been here for each other and helping with the great loss of such a great puppy and a huge part of our lives.  Chole has never, in her 15 years of life, gotten on the couch.  Oreo did all the time, to cuddle with me and get his pets in.  Since Oreo’s passing Chole has climbed up on the couch and cuddled with me.  She has changed a lot in the last week.  I am so happy that both of these pets have been here to help me through this loss.

Is there Any New Gear

With the passing of Oreo and Christmas, buying gear was put on the back burner.  I was able to get a few things though.  A sleeping mat, Sea to Summit R4.  It has been a game-changer!  I have gone from needing another warmer sleeping bag to being good with what I have.  I am also, sleeping in warmer clothes than I was. However, it’s been getting in the low 30s around here and I slept very warm.  I know that the clothes that I’m sleeping in are not the clothes that I’m taking with me though.  I will have to get warm sleeping clothes.  I purchased a very warm pair of socks that have kept my feet extremely warm.  A Sea to Summit clothesline to dry things out.  I was thinking I could attach this to the inside of my tent to keep my clothes off the floor.  That is not going to work though.  I’m going to bring it along though, it doesn’t weigh anything.  I’m sure at some point I will use it during the 6 months out walking about.

In Conclusion

During December I am planning on doing a lot of walking and tent sleeping.  I plan to walk 4, 8, 12,16, and 22 miles then take a day off.  Then to walk it backward 22, 16….  Sleeping in my tent on the walking days.  On walking days 4 and 22 I imagine that I am walking into a town and getting a hotel.  On that night and the next, I will sleep in the house in a nice comfy bed.  I only need a few more items like a pack, a trowel, sleep gear, a pot, and new shoes.  I’m sure that I will come up with more stuff for right now though that’s all that I know of.  I hope that you come back for the next post.  It will probably be around the 1st of January.  Don’t forget to subscribe!