January 17, 2008

Today’s miles: 17.0

It is miserable and raining outside and I am at an impasse as to what I should do today. It’s supposed to rain pretty much now until 4 pm (at least it’s not sleet and snow like in Durham). But then again, my sister Amelia will probably have classes canceled. I will have… hiking cancelled? Maybe. It would be unfortunate to be a day behind schedule, but it would be more unfortunate to be wet and cold and unhappy and on schedule. Right? A day off certainly isn’t the end of the world.

I did hike today. They didn’t offer a place to sleep for another night, and I didn’t ask so by 9:45 am, full of decaf coffee, off I walked into the dreary rain – 100% chance of rain all day. Hallelujah. Most of the day actually wasn’t so bad – I listened to music and stopped for a lunch of pizza, pop, and chocolate at a BP station. I got about 10 ride offers over the course of the day. By late afternoon, as I was looking for the Neusiok Trail and being barked at by unleashed dogs, the rain began to fall harder. After wandering around for an hour, searching for something trail-like between the ramshackle houses, I gave up and settled into a soggy strip of land tucked next to the road in the briars.

As soon as I stopped walking, the rain stopped and I set up my tent, hesitantly because it was most definitely private land and I was in the private property pride capital: the rural south. It is a wet, cold evening.