Hikers in the Hotel Presidential Suite

This morning Long Shot and I packed up at the room around 5am. Punisher had already left and began heading north. But we’ll be seeing him tomorrow at the Florida trail kick off. The rest of the gang is keeping this room for another night. Which means we can leave most of our gear and do a slack pack again!

We’re only 37 miles from the oasis visitor center where the Florida trail starts. So today we’ll slack pack about 24 or so miles. Then tomorrow we will only have about 13 or so miles to get to the oasis center. From there we will get a ride down the road in the early afternoon and join everyone at the kick off event! The timing of all of this could not have worked out any better. I hoped to walk straight to the kick off, but it required some big miles days. Initially I was expecting to get there January 8th for day 2. But now we’ll get there fairly early on the 7th, which is killer.

Taking the elevator down to the lobby to get this slack pack going!

Once we packed up we headed down to the lobby. I just brought a couple small things to eat, something to drink, a base layer, and my charging brick and cords. That’s really all you need for a slack pack other than your Fanny pack filled with odds and ends. It doesn’t take much to walk all day. The rest of the gear is primarily for sleeping and what not.

Fresh Grounds picked us up and made us some coffee to start our day.

Before we headed out I did some audio recording and video work. It was nice and quiet in the hallway of the hotel so that worked out perfect. Then we headed into the parking lot to find Fresh Grounds. He camped out by the casino last night and is going to drive us down the road for our slack pack today. He made us mochas to start our morning off. Then drove us 24 miles north along the road. That way we can just mark our location to return there tomorrow. Today we will head south for those 24 miles, back to the casino. Then tomorrow we will return to our marked location and head north to the oasis visitor center. This just simplifies things a bit. It’s easier to get a ride in the morning and then just walk back to the hotel. Versus getting a ride back at the end of the day.

We stopped 24 miles down the road, right by this sign. I wanted a real marker to ensure that I maintained my continuous footpath once we came back tomorrow to continue north.

Around 6:20am got dropped off a little over 24 miles out and began heading back to the hotel. It was still dark out so we wore headlamps to start. Within the first half an hour a car passing another car just barely missed hitting me from behind. That will wake ya up real quick. I never walk in the lane, so I was fine. But if the car had gotten over the line and into the break down lane, I would’ve been in trouble.

The sunrise over the road this morning was stunning.

When the sun began to rise we got to enjoy a lovely sunrise of the road. It was so bright and filled with light yellows and pinks. Then we were following along a canal for most of the morning. I was on the look out for gators and others critters. As we walked the sun rose fully and it turned into a lovely day. It’s supposed to be quite hot today though.

I love starting in the dark and getting to watch the sun rise to start the day.

I felt really good as we walked along. I used my time to write up a gear review for the Specter 2 Topo road shoes which should be up on my blog in the next day or so. These shoes were a godsend for all of this road walking. They definitely made it easier to bang out big mile days back to back. I’ve done this section before and can say for sure that my feet felt much more comfortable this time around. The cushion is dense and really helps to protect from the hard road.

These Topo Specter 2 shoes have been treating my feet like gold!

I also wrote up and did some blog editing after that. The road walking has been helping a lot with allowing me to edit blogs and videos on the go. I’m trying to stay up on everything daily this time around. I won’t have many zero days to catch up on my writing. So being disciplined on the daily and avoiding falling behind is going to be how I pull this off. But discipline is at the core of my entire mission this year. So adding the writing and video work into my daily routine has come easily. I wish I’d done this better on previous hikes! But it’s so easy to be lazy at the end of a long day of walking and just go straight to bed.

Long Shot and I approaching the parking area where everyone was set up.

While we were walking the road I suddenly got a bit of a sharp sensation in my right shin. That was new and didn’t go away as I changed my gait and did some shin massage. So instead of waiting, I stopped within a minute of it starting and KT taped my shin. And I shit you not, within 30 seconds of getting back to walking the pain was entirely gone! I don’t know how KT tape is so magical, but by god do I love it. I was so glad that I nipped that in the bud right away. Then I was back to walking comfortably. Today I’m feeling much better than yesterday. I’m obviously still a little sore, but nothing is concerning. I feel loads better. And today is a significantly shorter day than the last few. So that will be great. We’ll probably be at the hotel again before 3pm. These big miles have a 24 feeling like a partial rest day! What a crazy concept. Tomorrow’s 13 mile day is going to feel like a Nero.

This simple piece of tape absolutely eliminated even the smallest tinge of discomfort in my shin today.

Luckily this road has a lot of stands for boat tours, so there are a plethora of porta potties! So we got to enjoy those rather peeing right next to the road with nowhere to hide. Then a little after 9am we crossed paths with Punisher. He’s not slack packing today and is just walking ahead and is going to get a ride to a campground with a trail angel. Then will do similar mileage as us tomorrow and go to the kick off event afterwards.

By 9:30am we were getting close to the ValuJet Flight 592 Memorial Site. That’s where Fresh Grounds and the gang are going to be set up to meet us for lunch. Which will be a little over half way for the day for us. It will be nice to take our first break of the day there and enjoy some rest before continuing on.

My first gator of the season! I’m sure there will be many more to come.

The two of us continued road walking until just around 10am. Then could see the parking lot in the distance with Fresh Grounds van and Tripod’s truck. Most of the gang was there when we arrived too. Fresh Ground had already made up two massive breakfast sandwiches, loaded with eggs and sausage. Then with two banana cinnamon pancakes on the side. I was ravenous and ate most of the sandwich right away. I chased that down with a hot mocha. Then a Dr Pepper. After that I was feeling fantastic and ready to go again. All the calories got me a bit sleepy. But I knew that once we got moving again we’d be feeling good pretty quick. My body definitely needed all the fuel.

Nothing like a massive sausage and egg sandwich and a Dr Pepper to get the day started off right!

The iconic Leapfrog Cafe van.

We started walking again around 11am with just about 12 miles to go. This is going to be the earliest day we’ve had yet! I’m excited to be horizontal, lounging at the room. Luckily though the majority of the remaining miles are actually up on a dirt levy that parallels the road. There will hardly be any traffic at all up there which will be a relief. Plus the dirt is alot more forgiving on the body than a hard paved road. Soon enough we will be at the hotel again, in full relaxation mode.

The trail goes right past the 1996 plane crash memorial site.

While we were walking along the levy my body immediately felt so much better. The dirt had some good give to it. And you had to move your feet around rocks and holes in the ground. I could tell that my body was already appreciating the slight change of pace. It felt good to change the motion up even if just slightly. The monotony of road walking is what takes its toll on my hips and knees. Once we’re on actual trail in a day or two I know I’m going to feel unstoppable.

Nothing but wide open dirt road for miles ahead!

As we were walking along, Long Shot pointed out a river otter! It was right on the road and ran across to get back to the river. Watching that cute little guy hop along was the most adorable thing. I’d seen one or two last time I was down here. That is such a treat! 

We wound up banging out another 6 miles in well under an hour. Then passed by a large dumpster which was creating a big chunk of shade. The clouds had blown out earlier so it was quite hot out, even with a breeze. We decided to stop off there for a quick break from the heat and to do some stretching. But by god am I feeling good today. My hips and other joints have loosened up a lot in the last 24 hours. The difference is stark and it has me feeling really awesome. Mentally more than anything if I’m being honest. I needed this. The slack pack today was like medicine. The two of us sat in the shade and did our exercises and enjoyed the shade. And after only 10 or so minutes we were good to continue on. Only 6 miles to go to the casino hotel! We’ll definitely be there at or before 3pm which I’m stoked about.

These Specter 2 shoes have been crushing it. And the soles look great even after the last 170+ miles of road.

Leaving the shade it was quite sunny out without a cloud in sight. But the sun was almost behind us and the breeze was strong. We continued making our way at across the levy as it passed through a small reservation community.

Today has been fantastic. My body feels so good and we got to see so many friendly faces. Plus I got a complete blog and video up today in the afternoon from the day yesterday. And I wrote up and edited most of today’s blog as well as a gear review for my shoes. I was feeling productive in so many ways! And so good physically and mentally. The icing on the cake is finishing our day at the hotel with a tub, food, and plenty of space to be comfortable.

Right before we got off the levee we passed by this gushing dam.

Those last handful of miles went by really quick. I got work done on my phone and then watched some videos. Before I knew it we could see the casino in the distance. Around this time it was getting dang hot out. The sun was baking my legs and I was ready to be done. But my body felt so good! Today was perfect. I needed a good day of walking where my body felt totally fine.

Eventually we got off the levee and onto the actual road. Then it was a short walk the rest of the way. We stopped off at the gas station down the street to grab some drinks. I got so many! I got a coconut water, sprite, 2 pedialytes, an aloe water, and a strawberry milk. There’s a lot of down time today and I can pack at least one out tomorrow.

All of my drinks! I couldn’t just choose one. But I’ll be drinking them between tonight and tomorrow.

After that we headed to the hotel and arrived just around 3pm. That was so perfect. Then I just chilled with everybody for a while, made some phone calls, then repacked my pack once more. Tomorrow we have the option to slack pack again. But I’m tempted to just leave my bag with the guys and then bring a water bottle for the road. It’s only going to be a 13 mile morning and will be nice and cool for the first bit.

Later on at the room I decided to take a hot bath. There is a jacuzzi tub at the room, and Fresh Grounds bought me epsom salts! The tub was incredible. It was massive and really long. So I was able to soak right up to my neck. I stayed in for a while and then got out briefly. Then got in again. My body felt so good after that.

The tub in the room was the biggest I’d ever been in! That was complete luxury.

When I got out of the tub I showered and then joined everyone. Fresh Grounds had just come back after making his famous seafood delight. A recipe with rice, beans, andouille sausage, shrimp, and salmon. That was so good! Then we put a show on and everyone just lounged around. It feels so good to rest and relax. I feel good but I’m pretty sleepy now after the bath and food. Lucky for me I get to relax all night long! Then all we have is a short day tomorrow.

Seafood delight!