GAP Daily Journal - October 15, 2008
Oct 15th, 2008 by Lyn Hanush
GAP WALK JOURNALS - VIII
Wednesday - October 15, 2008 Day 224 10.5 miles
Total Maryland miles - 78.9 Walking Days - 105
Washington D.C. miles - 4.6 Cumulative miles 1810.7
Three of us started out from Harri and Evelyn’s house this
morning to pre-drive today’s route once again. We were trying
to work our way backwards on it, but one turn just wasn’t
working out. Finally we gave up, and decided to just get to the
start and drive it that way to the point we were missing. That
worked perfectly. The last thing I want to have is Bonny
wandering around all over Maryland trying to find her way back
to where Austin and I were walking. 
Bonny really does great once she sees the route just before we
walk it. And if she does get off course, she also finds her way
back on course. She is very dependable.
Austin and I started walking finally. What a beautiful day! And
our route - fantastic! For the first time in quite awhile I was off
the busy highways. What a perfect day for Austin to start
walking with me. In a way Austin and I are a perfect match for
walking together. He is 6′7″ with very long legs. I’m not so tall,
but I walk fast. So we’re a good pair.
Our walk took us through beautiful residential areas (houses
must have been on one to five acres) along tree-lined streets.
And autumn is definitely here. The trees are turning bright reds
and golden. We had to stop to take a few pictures of the colors.
And in one open field we just couldn’t resist singing, “The Hills
Are Alive With the Sound of Music” as we twirled and danced
around in the open field.
Back to the business of walking. Ten miles seems so short,
but since we get a late start with the pre-driving, it’s probably a
good thing.
After about six and a half miles of back roads, our route took us
onto highway 29 - a much busier highway, but with wide
shoulders. Our only problem was getting to the side facing
traffic. In order to do this we had to walk through some thorny
bushes and climb a low double fence. That fence was nothing
for Austin - he just stepped over it. But for me it was quite a
task - one I could not have accomplished without help. I ended
up with a few “trail badges” - remember those, Marilyn? A trail
badge is a scrape that draws blood while walking. This part was
a challenge, but that’s part of the adventure.
On the highway we began waving to the cars. I heard Austin
say, “This is fun!” And I quite agree with him. We both enjoyed
looking at the faces of people as they waved - or not. Some
people really get into it, and others just give us a ho-hum wave,
and, of course, others ignore us completely. Some just don’t see
us, but some we can tell are pretending not to see us.
We had only about two miles on this busy highway. Then we
got off onto the Old Columbia Pike. This was a bit quieter.
Finally we arrived at the car where Bonny was waiting. After
getting out of our gear, we got in the car and drove across the
street to Taco Bell/KFC for some lunch/dinner. It’s “Cook’s
night off” at Harri and Evelyn’s, so we were on our own for
dinner. As late as it was we just decided to combine them.
Then for dessert we went across the parking lot to Starbucks.
Now another thing you need to know about Austin is that he is a
Starbucks shift manager - that means discounts for us. How cool
is that?
As we walked today I learned a lot of Austin’s story. I love
listening to people tell about their lives as we walk, so this was
great. He and I prayed as we walked and talked, and prayed with
Bonny before starting and when we met her at stopping points.
Then we also prayed for granddaughter, Sam, a lot today as she
was pretty busy giving birth to an adorable little girl - Lois Rose.
Isn’t that a pretty name? I don’t have all the statistics yet, but I
do have a picture sent to me via text message. That’s great-
grandchild number three, and the first great-granddaughter.
Once we finished our lunch/dinner time, we drove tomorrow’s
route. That didn’t take long to drive, and will be an easy walk. It
will take us to the edge of Washington D.C. That will be saved
for Saturday’s walk.
Our drive back to Evelyn and Harri’s went well, and we were
soon getting showers and taking turns working on the computer.
Now I’ll do my e-mail, then get to bed.
