Day 14 – 7/12 – Matteson to Joliet, IL – 23 miles
When I walked the American Discovery Trail the first time, following the southern route between Cincinnati and Denver, I took zero days off. That’s ludicrous. I suppose, in the end, that the walk only lasted a little more than two months, and I’ve had pilgrimage summers that were equivalent. Nonetheless, the physical demands on the […]
Day 12 – 7/10 – Schererville, IN to Matteson, IL – 21.5 miles
Nacho is a man who will stop to smell the roses. Or any other kind of flower, really. The garden outside his home in Chicago Heights is bursting with flowers, all the product of his caring cultivation. In time, he needed more room, so he crossed the road to assume control of the outer edge […]
Days 9-11 – 7/7 – 7/9 – Rochester to Schererville, IN – 86 miles
I left Rochester angry. Nobody showed up to lay out the breakfast buffet in the Super 8. Don’t get in the way of a distance walker and his empty calories! I also departed with an added measure of enthusiasm. After reviewing the ADT’s route through the next stage, I rejected it in favor of an […]
Day 8 – 7/6 – Peru to Rochester, IN – 24 miles
Yesterday, I realized that the trip had been marked by a bipolar character up to that point, alternating more enjoyable days with more exhausting or challenging ones. I was pleased, then, to finally break the streak today, completing my second consecutive easy-enough day. The funny thing, though, is that sometimes the easier days become the […]
Day 7 – 7/5 – Marion to Peru, IN – 34 miles
The most common piece of well wishing that I get from people when walking is to “be safe.” On one hand, that’s an easy platitude to fall back on; when you’re walking on roads, with cars whipping past, safety is a sensible concern. On the other, more often than not, there’s a thornier issue embedded […]
Day 6 – 7/4 – Muncie to Marion, IN – 32 miles
A timeline of the day, as it unfolded: 4:45am – Alarm. Roll out of bed, pack clothes (all successfully dried), electronics. Tape up heels. 5:00am – Out the door. 5:10 – Pass a Maverick gas station. Get excited about the possibility of drinking coffee. But then, for some reason, convince myself that it would be […]
Day 5 – 7/3 – Blountsville to Muncie, IN – 15 miles
Note: For full access to everything from the walk, check out my Patreon and Instagram pages. I slept marvelously well under the shelter at Blountsville’s Cardinal Greenway trailhead, and then strolled merrily through the shortest walk of the trip thus far, arriving in Muncie before 10am. Once in the center, I split from the Greenway (and the ADT), in […]
Day 4 – 7/2 – Richmond to Blountsville, IN – 27 miles
When one thing goes wrong, it’s annoying. When two things go wrong, it’s infuriating. When three things go wrong, it’s a comedy. Today’s walk was thoroughly relaxing. I woke up rejuvenated, ate the cold spaghetti that was left over from last night–I really need to stretch out my stomach asap; I ate shockingly little for […]
Days 2 and 3 – 6/30 to 7/1 – Miami Whitewater to Oxford, OH to Richmond, IN – 59 miles
Note: For full access to everything from the walk, check out my Patreon and Instagram pages. When one day is pretty easy and the next one is far more demanding, it’s easy to fall into an analytical mode, working to derive judgments about what contributed to each outcome. After all, clarity on the differentiating factors just might–if one were […]
Day 1 – 6/29 – North Bend to Miami Whitewater, OH – 15 miles
Note: For full access to everything from the walk, check out my Patreon and Instagram pages. I knew exactly what this post was going to be about. The idea had crystallized in my mind in the days leading up to my departure. In resuming my walk, I decided not to start back in the center […]