Friday, June 5, 2009

Lessons from the Road

#1. Getting an early start is important. Take advantage of the "cool crisp" morning air. Nobody wants to brave the mid-afternoon heat (or even late morning heat for that matter). Visualize yourself in 30+ degree heat: do you really want to be out, let alone walking in that heat? Let's face it. Most of us aren't as tough as we think we are.

#2. Walking changes your sight line. Things that you see when you drive, suddenly aren't as visible. And then, there is a whole new world to discover that you can't see from your SUV. We realized as we walked that there are beautiful meadows that are only visible when you are walking. Plus, large landmarks were missed entirely, because eyes were focused elsewhere.

#3. Cyclists are rude. Especially those "professional" looking ones. The fancier the gear, the higher degree of snobbery we received. Those with garage sale bikes at least made eye contact or gave a smile!

#4. You don't realize when you are driving the amount of debris that is on the road. Garbage, garbage everywhere! Not to say that all of it is completely useless. We did find a ball of twine. But the rest was pretty much fast food containers or bits of car, or semi loads that were dropped.
Note to drivers: Its called a trash can. Get off your lazy arse and put it in a can (preferably the recyclable kind.) Come on folks, we hike our trash for 20.9 km!!

#5. Honking and waving to long distance walkers really lifts their spirits. It gives them motivation to keep walking.

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