I was excited about this upcoming day when I got up. After a long morning walk to the edge of the Reservoir I would follow the Snake another four miles into the town of Palisades, then four more miles to Irwin, then another four to Swan Valley. Each step of the way the towns would get a little bigger, and the underlying idea was that each stop of the way I’d have a place to stop in and eat or drink.
My first stop was Palisades, which was so small its town sign read “Entering Irwin” followed by another sign “Irwin 4 miles”. Just past both of these signs was a general store where I stopped in for a can of ravioli and some coffee. I brushed my teeth and sat on the porch bench with my breakfast then went back in afterward to get some homemade peanut butter fudge. Yes, folks, peanut butter fudge. Those who know me are probably aghast that I ate peanut butter, but I’ve developed a strange fondness for it these days and it was heaven in a little mushy cube.
I picked up and went down the road another four miles to come across Irwin and a little family café. Ready for lunch I stopped in and got another mushroom Swiss burger and coffee as well as refill for my water packs. I was feeling quite content with my town-by-town eating program, but starting to feel a twinge of guilt that I was already squandering my newfound support. I shrugged that thought off as best I could.
Down the road again I came across Swan Valley where the intersection lay to Jackson. I was going to pass this one by and go the remaining five miles I was thinking of taking on before sunset before I spotted a little truck stop diner called Angus’. I had to, and did, stop in for some more coffee and an ice cream sundae. What’s traveling if you don’t indulge in the food I say? I ended up going another seven miles making it a 27 mile day in the end and set up getting into Idaho Falls early in the morning of the 24th.
I bed down in front of a winding hill I’d ascend in the morning and nestled into my book. My book was becoming more and more of an addiction as it neared the end and I was now growing anxious as the last pages were beginning to thin and I’d need new material soon. Either way, I read four more chapters before losing myself in sweet slumber.