Reading Time: < 1 minute A High Wind Advisory has been in effect since last night, with winds at or near 30 mph and gusts much higher. (The desk clerk told me this morning that wildfires threatened areas near the hospital.) When I tried to go out last night the wind was blowing so hard I just went back to […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes I’m pleased to announce that as of this week I’ve walked a total of over 1,000 miles since my journey began last April. I fooled myself into thinking today would be a “light day,” and a “day of rest.” The joke was on me. Instead of spending the whole day in the motel room looking at […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes Other than the regularly scheduled whistles that announce oncoming freight trains, my night was comfortable enough. No one bothered me, and I lucked out once again in finding a suitable place to camp off the highway. Unlike the Camino de Santiago in Spain with its albergues, or even the Appalachian Trail, where hikers can camp […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute Since it’s 44 miles to my motel in Amarillo tomorrow night, I wanted to do at least 22 miles today. I did 23, and am now in my tent off the side of Hwy 60 in some sort of field, camped next to the inevitable barbed wire fence. As I was walking today, I had […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute On this Ides of March I walked 22.4 miles from Friona to Heresford. The wind was at my back, the temperature moderate, and I looked forward to a night’s stay at the Best Western Red Carpet Inn. Sadly, I was told the Jacuzzi “isn’t in operation.” (The pool is covered as well.) Fortunately, I was able […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes At about 6 am, Sandra knocked on my bedroom door to let me know that Antonio needed to lock up the house. They all needed to leave for work and school. So I threw on some clothes, grabbed the gear I’d taken into the house, and pushed my kart back out to the tent. After […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute Seven or eight miles after leaving the Days Inn this morning, I walked into Texas. You may think I’m nuts, but somehow it felt different. I’m not sure why, but after walking over 330 miles in New Mexico, it was probably just refreshing to enter a new state—my fourth. Texico (that’s the correct spelling) is […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute A freight train passing by at 7 am this morning was an effective alarm clock. The road to Clovis was one continuous highway construction project, although the shoulder was generally acceptable and eventually a sidewalk appeared. Early in the morning the sky was cloudy and gray, but by noon the sun was out and the […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute If I had not been in my tent last night weighing it down, it would have blown into the next county. It’s windy, cold (outside, but not in my sleeping bag), gray, and overcast this morning. But no rain. The weather apps kept telling me rain will begin “now” or “within 120 minutes,” but nothing. […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute When you make plans, sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes death. I had a simple plan—Walk 21 miles per day for the next 3 days and reach Clovis in 3 days instead of 4. And I almost made my goal today. But 4 miles short of the Mile 350 marker, 3 sheriffs cars sped […]