PDY

Greetings from Palestine (Texas). Made it, but in a rather roundabout way, all because someone said they were going to do something and didn’t. Yesterday afternoon, I scheduled an Uber to take me from Buffalo to the spot 16.1 miles away, where Isabela picked me up yesterday, and I would walk on to Palestine. All was confirmed as of last night when I checked before a great rest. So this morning, 6:30 AM, get to the lobby, no Uber, look at the app… searching for drivers. None showed up. I called a couple of cabs, but wasn’t willing to pay $125 just to go 16.1 miles, so at about 7, I walked down to the highway to see if I could get a ride towards Oakwook. Everyone was very nice about it, but no one was going that way! By now it’s about 8:30, it’s starting to get hot, so I made a decision… I would walk to Oakwood, which put me in reach of a ride-share or taxi, and then credit the miles, add them to yesterday’s 16.1 and see where we end up. Off I went, retracing my steps from yesterday, same route, same very pretty views. About 5 hours later, I crossed my stopping place from yesterday and kept going, a total of 18.35 miles… add that to the 16.1 from yesterday, for a total 34.45. Distance from hotel to hotel is 35.6, so I’m throwing in 2.01 from the hotel to Walmart and back, for a total of 36.46, and with your permission, I’m calling Buffalo-Palestine complete. You good with that? And am I the only one worrying about this?!? Yes, I took a cab from Oakwood to Palestine.

But there is always an upside, and today I hit on the shoe! Isabela brought my Salomon’s yesterday - have had for a couple of years but used primarily for hiking, not everyday walking, but they were perfect. Eighteen miles, no problem whatsoever. Blisters from other shoes still smarting but nothing made worse or painful. I hadn’t brought these originally because they’re significantly heavier, but oh so well worth it..

So back to mileage and all that for you number-centric followers (and my own edification). This is what the data looks like.

Part of the discrepancy is the way steps and distance are calculated. Maps is just that, and very accurate, but doesn’t take into consideration crossing roads, zig-zagging, walking up to say hi to the horses etc. Garmin is also very accurate, very precise, uses GPS primarily, but only records when in movement, whereas MapMyWalk, which uses GPS as well, does not stop recording when paused. Fitbit uses an accelerometer that records steps, and though calibrated to my stride, the fact that it is within less than a percent of the maps distance, I think might be a fluke. Don’t trust it entirely…

So decision, again, not that it matters all that much, but I’ll use Maps as the official distance (also because we know the distance to Strawberry Fields (1724 miles), I can safely say that I passed the 10% mark today, and am sitting at exactly 10.48%.

Enough of that… today was a great day. Interesting walking the same steps, recognizing a few things, but seeing a whole new round of sites. What was lacking today was people interaction, with the exception of a very nice conversation with my cab driver. Amazing how everyone has a story, they’ve had a walk, they’ve had struggles, enlightenment’s, and all we have to do is listen. Her story I will protect.

Cool thing happened at Walmart today. I went and bought a couple of things, did the self check out, and asked for $20 cash back. Went to Applebee’s for dinner, and remembered the $20… actually remembered that I forgot to get from the register. So I walked back, and Angela (Angie?) had noticed it there, and put it in the drawer in case “the man with white hair” came back. There are a lot of good people out there. And I thank you.

And had a weird thing happen… can’t understand and don’t try. On Sunday, as I walked towards Jewett, 4 guys in a pickup turned around and stopped next to me on the road, asked where I was going, messing with me a little bit - told me I was going the wrong way! Anyway, we said goodbye, I wished them a Happy Sunday and off they went. But truth be told, it left me a little uneasy. I mistakenly doubted their intentions, but in the end all worked out. So today, walking my last mile or so in Oakwood, a dude calls out from a landscaping site “remember what I told you on Sunday!” I turned, and it was my four guys! So we talked for a while, told them I was actually walking to NY (not Jewett only!), we introduced ourselves, shook hands.. 25 or so miles away from our first encounter. My unease is gone.

With this, I can safely say that in 11 days of walking through Texas, there have been zero negative interactions with anyone! The walking stick incident was unfortunate, but the officers were just doing their job and there was no intention of harming me.

I walk in Peace.

And I leave you with yet another field guide.. late restlessness, loving what is going on…