Just another happy Tuesday at the office. Someone thankfully turned the air conditioning down and it was a very pleasant eighties for most of the day. Was quite humid, as it rained this morning, my first rain delay - had to wait until the front went by.
So I haven’t checked who said what, but most on Instagram said I should chance it… suspect most everyone who said so was sitting comfortably in a climate controlled environment! I really didn’t want to walk in wet shoes, especially now that my feet are doing much much better..
Was somewhat of a busy, 4 lane highway, Old US Highway 80, which used to be a major east-west thoroughfare through north Texas, and beyond in both directions before being overshadowed by Interstate 20. It did calm down as I approached Marshall, about 12 miles from where I started in Longview. Nice surprise along the way… looked up ant there was Scottie, on his way to a meeting in Marshall! Tempted to hitch a ride, but walked on…
Quite an uneventful 16 or so miles to Marshall, great lunch at a Texan-Cajun place… oyster po’ boy, sweet potato fries, and oh, don’t forget the steamed vegetables. Nice little rest before tackling the last 4 to the hotel.
As I was leaving town, I spotted a little pharmacy near the hospital, and being the guy with not a lot of options, I went it to buy what I needed. I was walking around looking, trying to be discrete, which is hard when you’ve got twenty five pounds strapped to your back, when a nice lady asked if she could help me find something. Well I said yes, I’m looking for lubricating jelly, which elicited a subconscious eyebrow raise, but I followed her to where it was supposed to be, and adding “best thing for preventing blisters, and I should know.” A few more awkward seconds when we tried to find, but we did, and I followed her to the cashier.
At the cashier, one of her co=workers asked where I was walking, said I’d left Austin a couple of weeks ago and was on my way to New York. Suddenly, you could have heard a pin drop, and I realized all the 7 or 8 or 9 ladies at the pharmacy were all carefully listening. Couple of guys there didn’t seem to care, but might have been listening too. One of them asked me if I’d been mugged, I said no, but proceeded to tell the story of their new bad boy friend who roams East Texas scaring people with his trekking poles! We had a good laugh, I told them why the lubricating jelly, they didn’t charge me, and off I went, giggling for the last three miles.
As per the jelly… For the last couple of days, toes three and four on my left foot have been at war. They have been rubbing against each other, bugging each other, making each other hurt, like two bored kids in the back seat. About two years ago, on the awesome YouTube, I saw a video recommending the use of lubricating jelly between toes like these and what they’re doing. Well, it works, hence my embarrassing foray into the pharmacy! So you just put a dab between the toes, cover with a sock, and all day, instead of chafing, they slip and slide around and have a grand time! They do make somewhat of a mess, but it’s worth the sock-wash.
Some (only about half!) of the lovely ladies at the Matthewson Drug Co., Inc. Had a good laugh, a nice chat, filled me with great energy for the last three miles!
Northbound tomorrow… need to retrace about 3.5 miles, but that’s OK, they’re quite pretty. Interestingly, I’m right near Hwy 59, which runs down to Houston. At my current pace, I could be there in 11 days. Nah. Have spent a lot of time in Houston over the past thirty years, a lot of time, and enjoyed it, but it’s not on my I need to go back now list. Or I could go on to Victoria, or Laredo in 27 days. Have actually driven Hwy 59 from Laredo to Houston several times - different part of Texas for sure.