While I was sleeping, no more than an hour, the entire field grew noticeably taller, sprung their tassels and the bases of the plants had turned brown.
That night while everyone slept we walked halfway to Crawfordsburg and avoided the heat. Later, at the edge of the city, by the Walmart entrance I decided I would press on thru town. Just then a woman came to talk. Her family had seen us earlier as they were on their way to a nearby July the Forth, Independence Day Parade. She asked how I sleep and get support. Telling her my story, she offered to shuttle us back to Parkersburg. They asked, and I answered questions all along the way. Then I returned to the parking lot at the Fitness center where the clientele had watched over the World. We had a short break and lunch before pushing on thru town.
I wanted to get to the north side of the city before the end of the day because I was expecting a visitor. The Veterinarian who had helped us in Nashville had some business nearby and wanted to walk with us for an evening. There was a campground at the north end of town which was my goal. It worked out perfectly fine. I was less than a mile away when she arrived. At the time I was speaking with some folks who where staying at the camp, they led us to it. The Vet and I had a shaded spot where she could set up her tent and I could shower. Much better than the steamy hot parking lot at WallyWorld. We arose early, after I slept through any fireworks the holiday may have had, to a lovely night to walk. When we turned onto the road at the entrance to the campground we both saw a shooting star spiraling to Earth which is rare for two people to see at the same time. Usually one is looking away. They rarely spiral into the atmosphere, they usually fall with a slight arc and disappear.
I enjoyed sharing the night and having someone to talk to, especially someone who was caring for Nice(the dog) who understood "dog". The miles went by almost seamlessly, the road opened with a pull off lane for much of our walk making it easier as I didn't have to spend so much time standing in wet grass along a ditch line. We made it to the edge of Linden before the sun rose high. A woman I had met in the city the previous day had invited me to come for a family get-together drove us back to camp. It was a great outing where everything seemed to fall into place.
After saying our goodbyes from the KOA I returned to the Family reunion about to begin. The long day and night had left me exhausted my understanding host let me park in her drive. Out of the way, ran a power cord to the van and with a fan I rested until most of the family was lining up for food. The smell of grilling onions roused met to take my place with plate in hand.after filling my belly and meeting the kin' I soon retired for another nap while they played Cornhole and caught up after years between their last family gathering. I awoke again to find the competition picking up at the Cornhole lines and the rest reclining in the shade of the yard.
Another snack and a ride on the old refurbished glider on the porch I was soon back for my third nap of the lazy day. Late in the day, my next trip to the back yard I laughed because the competitors who all had been relatively light skinned were pink like lobsters and those who were still there were in the only two shaded areas of the yard. I had a great day meeting the family between naps.
At the end of the day my sister called to wish me a happy birthday, my mother was born on the fifth of July. I could sleep no more after the reminder... My mother dying from the effects of diabetes is a large part of how I found myself in this journey.
With a good day of rest behind us and fourteen miles to walk into Lafayette, I began at the stroke of midnight. I turned onto Main and a lite rain began to fall. It rained this way all night making it a very pleasant walk, except for one period before daybreak, while we sheltered under a tree, when the road was soaked and every passing auto left a cloud of spray in their wake. I nodded-off for only a moment. While I slept the darkness retired to a shadowy outline of the surroundings. Walking on, I realized ants had taken up residence in my hat when we rested. In the shadow between dark and light I kept seeing something walk across the brim. Only when I turned on my flashlight and looked closely did I find my hat was occupied with the tiny ants.
When I arrived in Lafayette I stopped after finding a parking lot behind 'Mac-Donald's in the strip-mall by the dollar store. While awaiting my ride from my host of the previous day I was interviewed by the Lafayette tv-news. Upon returning with the van I let the World dry so I could revalue the patches that had separated from the rains and wet ditch-ways. Before the end of the day I had patched Nd declared the World with fresh paint
I had thought I would get going early but I suppose I needed sleep. Waking up before it was light I lay my head back down and dreamed of meeting a large group of modern native people. We were all sitting down for some sort of meeting when I seemed to loose consciousness, spun around a few times, flopped into my chair in the circle and (in the dream) dreamt through the gathering. As dreams go, remembering a dream in a dream is a stretch but when I awoke in the dream it continued. I remember two of the natives remained to guide me on the rest of this dreams adventure where we covered much and ,as dreams go,most is indescribable.
I awoke this morning late. I was about to be upset but rain began to fall. Sleep delayed me enough to keep from being soaked. Walking thru downtown I could see puddles all around showing I surely would have been miserable and damp for he day.
Enough! Off to the other edge of Lafayette.
http://wlfi.com/2014/07/06/world-guy-walks-for-diabetes-awareness-in-lafayette/
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