On the seventh day… I just kept on walking. Left Franklin relatively early, and was pleasantly surprised when Thomas, my son, support Unit A (SU-A) , was on his way! Had walked about 6.5 miles by the time he caught up to me… so I crawled into the car and drove about 6 minutes back into Franklin – not fair, an hour and about 45 minutes walking, 6 minutes driving! Had a great Mexican/American breakfast.. nothing invented, just huevos rancheros and pancakes – swear my body asked for it! Then we drove back to the pickup point, and I walked 5 more. I admit, I shed about 5 pounds of pack stuff,… another nice stop in the shade with Thomas, iced drinks, a chair, and all the while shooting drone footage. Last leg, with SU-A still available, I shed my entire backpack and walked with only my ominous walking sticks! Never said anything about carrying my backpack the whole way, felt like I was flying!
And here I am in Marquez (pronounced Markee – I have been corrected twice!). As they say down here, it’s a bitty little ol’ town, but the people are very nice. Having my second meal at the one and only restaurant. Body ordered a burger, with cheese. There are actually 2 gas stations here, competing, one motel, one restaurant, 236 souls according to the sign. Kinda nice in a way.
Thankfully SU-A was with me all day, allowed me to dress yet another, the dreaded word, blister! Not going to bore you, but they are an issue, have no idea how they came about, but they are adding a little more of a challenge to this - they hurt, and it makes it a bit more tedious. I will determine tomorrow, depending on said annoyances, whether I go on to next town. Will let you know what I decide, and many thanks to today’s support, made it all that much better. I thank you Thomas…
So after my recent run-ins with law enforcement and sheriffs and the conversations we’ve had, I’ve learned something about the importance of waves, especially road-side waves. I have always waved when I walk, regardless of whether people wave back. It’s a gesture, a simple hi, I see you, and acknowledgement of their presence, and an indication of mine, whether it be on a trail, a bike path or a highway. I’ve probably waved at 1,000 cars so far, this week easy… and here is the very non-scientific albeit somewhat accurate observations.
When waved at…
Drivers in pickup trucks wave back between 8 and 9 times out of ten waves.
Sometimes it is just one finger; I am assuming index finger and not the one next to it.
Semis and big trucks wave 7-8 times (though it may be they wave but I can’t see them).
Cars as a whole, 6-7 times for every ten.
Motorcycles, all the time.
Kids, when not looking at screen, always, so about one in ten.
Other walkers, don’t know, haven’s seen any!
About 1 in 50 waves before I wave at them.
However, on bullet point three, I must divide the group “cars” into regular cars and luxury cars (BMW & up). There is a marked wave-return rate difference between those two categories, Normal regular cars wave back 7-8 times per 10, whereas luxury car-drivers wave back between 2-3 times for every 10, which brings the overall average down. I will continue gathering data, and am in no way interpreting these results.. this is just the data folks… you figure it out, but I am finding that waves along the road are like smiles.
Very pretty country around here, nice to see more trees. Very peaceful.
