Day
(Change of pace here. Trivia question. $1000 first place prize, 'yeah right'. On my green 'day of trip' signs, like the one above, what does the small '5' at the bottom signify?)
Judy left me off at Youth Town to start my day. It really looked rainy, and about a mile into my walk, I took cover for the first time. I found a nice group of leafy trees, pulled out my chair and sat out a little bit waiting for the rain to stop. About another mile, and I got to Pinson. I noticed that my left tire was somewhat low, so I stopped at the only convenience store in town and luckily, they had an air machine, and I filled it up.
I had first noticed something wrong at the motel in Jackson and had filled it up Saturday night. Monday, though, it was fine.
It started raining again, so I stopped and ate at the store and waited out the rain for about an hour. While there, two men came up to me and asked, "Did we probably see you in Jackson yesterday?" "Yes, I'm heading south." "yeah", one of them said. "We thought your cart looked familiar." This was the only time this happened on my walk.
<<Corrrection>> On day 7, just after being photographed by the Jackson Sun, I met two couples, young and old, and grandbaby, in a city park close to the paper. Thirty minutes later, when I got to the Burger King to buy something for the homeless lady, there the five of them were. They greeted me kindly. (back to my story and the store in Pinson)
I left the store and realized my tire had gone down dramatically in the hour I spent in the store. I asked the owner if there was a tire shop close by and he said there was one about one mile south. I aired it back up and walked south at a quickened pace.
"A mile my foot." Nobody knows mileage these days. It was 1.8, almost double what he thought. In at least a half mile, my left tire was all the way flat. I found out it is extremely hard to push my cart on a completely flat tire. I finally got to what was a quick lube and repair shop, and I think the sign might have said tires, but I am not sure. I asked the man if he could fix it and he said the only tire fixes he does are plugging holes, and he didn't even have patch equipment.
I told you on Day 1 that I met William, the walker/biker guy from south Alabama? He offered me change, a hamburger and his hat, which I had refused? Well, what I did take from him was a tiny package of self-adhesive bike tire patches. Only 6 in the tiny package. And they worked. 15-20 minutes later, I was back on the road, never knowing that in the next 30 minutes or so, I would be calling the police.
I walked another mile and a half and stopped to sit under the shade of a car dealership. After I left there, I...well....I have to tell this one, not just type it. This next incident kind of rattled my world.
Excuse my editing skills, which are almost nil, and see the 2nd part of this story.
Wow, what a day!!!
But before we left town, we took the advice of some locals and had supper. One of the best cheeseburgers I've had in a long time, and huge.
Comments are certainly welcome. If you have ever lived in or visited one of the towns I walked through, tell everybody. If you know someone I met along the way, tell everyone. If something really touches you, well....scratch it. NO, tell everybody. Let this be interactive. Make any comments at the comments tab at the bottom of each page on the blog. But you have to go to the blog. 60Trip.blogspot.com
sixtytrip@juno.com
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Day 8 map--Just north of Pinson to Henderson
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