Saturday, January 5, 2013

An Average Day

The world was covered with frost. It had not dried from the rain of yesterday so it was covered in a crystal sheen.i pumped some air into the world, put the sweater and jacket on Nice (the dog), loaded my gear and began walking in the dark of the morning. The store was a short walk down the road. The sun was just beginning to brighten the sky as I finished my coffee in the parking area outside the Harold store. A patrol car from the county sat across the road as i plowed along the tree line far from the road until it was fully light. I then switched to the other side and rolled against traffic where I could stay on the bike lane until I saw oncoming cars and trucks. We soon stopped and i put our sweaters into my backpack. eventually the world dried enough and released the sand that had accumulated and I began letting air out of the ball until the mid afternoon when I need to pump air into it with my battery powered pump. As the sun sets i have had to add air five or six times. Nice plays with the leash, jumping and tugging as I steer and push through the grass for a few minutes then walks at my side between the world. Sometimes I forget he is there. He occasionally walks through some spurs that I have to remove for him. By the end of the day I'd picked dozens from his paws and a few off my fingers in the process. He'll catch a strong scent sometimes and we do a pull me, hold him back, roll and steer dance while he scans and sniffs straining every muscle. Not to mention all the dog encounters. At the end of the day we had walked seventeen miles, talked to dozens of people, smiled for as many cameras and had a picnic by the side of the road. Then just before we wobbled to the Milligan BP station to ask about parking on the property with our six foot ball the local television news man stopped with his video camera for a quick interview in the last few minutes of usable light. Night had fallen by the time we walked the hundred yards to the BP and talked to the man inside. The good people support system, in the form of the newsman, gave us a ride back to the van leaving the World tied by the BP until we returned. All evening people have been snapping pictures by the World now tied to the van. A few knock on the window for my story and leave happily saying they will spread the word. A man came knocking, he had heard about some crazy man walking with the World down 90 while he was at work. After we talked a minute he knew why. He was diabetic, had bypass surgery and now controlled his diabetes with diet. Everyone I have met who had been obese and had that type of operation has had similar results to turn around type2, adult onset diabetes. However his son was insulin dependent with juvenile diabetes, he said it has become the epidemic of our times. As he was leaving he told me I was doing a great thing, that I was still crazy, that he loved me... I said i loved him back and got back in the van. I know, I'm as stunned as you. Spreadin' the love. An average day.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool seeing you and Nice out there today, from the two young dudes(ultrarunners) that pulled over on 90 to say hello. Keep up the good work.

Aaron

Anonymous said...

Craziest thing ive seen in a while in crestview! Pure awesomeness!