The road to Gerald down Highway H was a very serene, very beautiful one with nice blue skies for most of the thirteen miles it was. For the entire walk though I was deeply engrossed in what I had done the day before. It was one of those things where it all seemed like the right thing to do but as soon as it was done I had to continually remind myself of my reasoning to not think of myself as a complete ass as I tend to do. Anyway, this was most of my walk for the day, but particularly in the morning.
There was one strange moment though, as I was engrossed in these thoughts, that struck me as peculiar. Walking along I noticed out of the corner of my eye an old man sweeping his porch. I didn’t really think anything of it until I got a better look and saw what he was wearing. He was stark naked, didn’t have a care in the world, and was just out in the morning air enjoying the breeze while he swept his porch in his seventy or eighty year old birthday suit. Good for him; I suppose you can do that in the country. I tried to give him his privacy and shuffle on but he never seemed to notice me anyway.
About two or three miles from town the blue cloudy sky had swarmed together to make sort of a chocolate vanilla twist color when swirled together and melty. I didn’t bother with my rain gear but felt occasional drops when a particularly dark cloud loomed above, and I watched a thick haze on the horizon to the west which told me they were getting heavily rained on there. The thing I watched the most though was the way the clouds swirled together. At first I thought it was pretty, then I started wondering as I saw one cloud going one way and another near it going another. I realized once again that summertime was tornado time in the mid-west and could only hope that my weather sense was not very good or that I got to town quickly.
It turned out to be nothing, as I’d hoped, when I asked in town. Just a cold front roaming around causing mischief. The town was a little one, but bigger than I had anticipated. I found out there was a library there so I had a coffee waiting for it to open. Several of the people inside were friendly and chatty so I made a few friends there.
At the library there was one computer that went incredibly slow. I talked with the librarian there some and a few of the patrons while waiting to use the computer and then for the screens to change. I didn’t really get fully engrossed in getting everything done because of the computer’s speed, so after getting the posts current I left for lunch. I had particularly wanted to get the posts current because I wanted to write up the day before earlier rather than later.
I felt I needed a treat after lunch so I got myself a slice of lemon pie which was delicious. I lingered about sipping my coffee for another half an hour between brushing my teeth and refueling my water, then eventually left down the road to Rosebud.
Rosebud was another little town consisting of a Main St. and little else. I took a break there as well since I was trying to do better at breaking every three or four miles. While sipping on some Amp, which I’ve decided is excellent, I figured out I’d been going much faster than I should be because of my dad’s wedding in August. I was supposed to fly out of Kansas City on the second and according to my figures I’ll be there at the end of July with nothing to do. From that idea I walked one more mile and made camp.
I did a lot of writing that night as well as reading. I’m reading Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina which is perfect material for everything I’m thinking on these days. I read until about midnight before going to bed taking time only to throw on the rain cover and tarp as the heavens broke that night.