Fortunately, what looked like another 10 miles of road walk was actually an old railroad line. It cut through the land like a road, but it was mostly trail of some sort.
I met several friends.
Dilapia the frozen dog was the first friend. He didn’t speak much, on account of being a one time taxidermy client.
The next friend I’ll call Johnny.
Johnny was the spitting image of Bill Hader as a Vietnam vet. Johnny was as high as you could possibly imagine.
Johnny was a bit off.
You never know who you’re going to meet when you walk trails near civilization, and if engagement is necessary, it’s best to set the frame as if you’re all good friends with lots in common.
Johnny was really trying, but I’m convinced he only understood every 3rd word, so I bid adieu and walked away slowly.
If Johnny was a danger to me normally, he certainly wasn’t right now. I doubt he could walk another 10 steps without falling.
Sunset was approaching fast, but I was not moving accordingly. My Achilles was acting up again, and I began to get worried.
Nothing I could do about it now, though. I couldn’t stop because I was walking very close to private property, and there were many unruly dogs about, likely owned by unruly owners. It was still many miles before I could safely set up camp.
One of the waypoints on the trial had a note:
“One of the land owners just south of here was firing a semi automatic either from or just over the trail”
At about the 30th mile, I entered a several mile section that allowed dispersed camping, and seemed sufficiently far away from local traffic. Part of it was a OHV trail, but it was 9pm on a Tuesday.
I listened to the dogs bark in the distance as I camped. 32 miles today, even with a fairly slow pace. Granted, it’s been 12 hours.
My Achilles isn’t happy, but it seems like it weathered the day without incident.