This morning we woke up pretty early at the room and got packed up. Then I bagged up my leftover pizza from last night. But not before eating one slice for breakfast, and drinking a whole quart of chocolate milk. Then I was ready to start the day.
We left the room in the dark and began walking along the road. As we walked, Fresh Ground called to let us know he was on his way! He made it about 4-5 hours yesterday and will be making his way to us this afternoon. I’m so excited to see him and hang out for the next handful of days. He’s going to be helping us out along the Alabama road walk portion of our hike. Which is a godsend, as it will be another long stretch of road with even less places to stop off in between. More than anything though, I’m looking forward to all of the laughs we’ll be having. I always have such a great time and laugh so much when he’s around.
Leaving our motel first thing this morning.
The sun began to come up and we enjoyed a really nice sunrise. Then walked through the first small town of the day. We even got to walk along a side walk for a while. Early on in the morning I finished the editing for my week 4 YouTube video which came out today. If you’d like to watch it you can find it @madisonblagden on YouTube. Then I got a blog and a short form video up as well. It feels good to get all of those up early in the day. Then I don’t have anything else to do or worry about for the rest of the day.
Watching the sun rise as we passed through the next small town.
Around 9:45am I wound up calling my friend Dar. She’s the best friend that I’ve had for the longest, as we’ve known each other for 14 years! We might not see each other a lot because of my trips. But every time we talk or see one another it’s like no time has passed. We talked for 2 hours which was amazing. And she had me laughing so much. She’s one of those friends that you can say absolutely anything to. So as you could imagine, it was an entertaining and wild conversation. That was such a great way to pass the time while also getting caught up for the first time in a while.
There’s not much better than packing out pizza for breakfast on the road!
By the time that we got off of the phone we had made it to the next small town. And stopped off for a few things at a dollar general. I got a chocolate milk, a Pepsi, and some chips. Still feeling pretty satisfied from the pizza I had earlier. Then we took a quick break and stretched. Before making our way the rest of the way through town. At this point, Fresh Ground was only a couple of hours out from us!
Punisher up ahead along the bike path.
A quick stop at dollar general for snacks and drinks.
We walked the rest of the way through town, which was historic and had some cool buildings. There was alot to look at and see. Which I always enjoy. Then we walked out of town and continued along the road. We went by yet another correctional facility. Then past some more open land and farm land before entering the next town of Sneads.
These old gas pumps were so cool.
Crossing over a river with an old bridge off in the distance.
When we passed by another gas station we grabbed a couple more things and got water. And not long after that Fresh Ground rolled on by! It was so awesome to see him again. We stopped in a parking lot and he whipped out a couple of chairs for us to get comfortable. Then gave us an ice cold coke and an apple to snack on. It’s so nice to be back all together. This is going to be such an awesome new 4-5 days hanging with him again. It’s always such a treat and a privilege. He’s truly one of the nicest people you could ever meet, and is so dang funny. I know we’re going to have such a blast.
Fresh Ground is back, baby!
He took our packs from us and gave us some slack packs for the last 7-8 miles. Which was amazing! All I brought was a charging brick and some water and I was good to go. The next couple of hours flew right on by.
Fresh Ground whipped out the chairs and brought us cokes and cold apples.
At one point we went walked the road, we noticed a little doggy down in the bushes. When we called to it, it ran right over to us and was super friendly. She was a tiny beagle type dog who looked like a hunting dog. But her collar didn’t have any information on it. She wound up following us for over an hour! We just could not shake her. She just kept on going as we walked.
Punisher giving water to our new little friend. She was the absolute cutest.
I called a bunch of animal shelters and humane societies to ask what to do. And see if anyone could help find her back to her home. But everyone said we were out of their range. In the end, Fresh Ground drove the dog back to where we originally saw it. That way it wasn’t miles from its home. Assuming it lived nearby where we first saw it. The area we had headed into was a lot more desolate without many houses around. She’ll be better off back by the neighborhoods and hopefully that was where she came from in the first place.
An old bridge over a river.
Then we walked for another hour or so before hitting 30+ miles for the day. When we finished up, Fresh Ground met us to drive us back to a campground. We had walked right by it. But stopping there would have been a short day. So we got more miles in and then drove back to the campground.
Passing a pond toward the end of the day.
Once we got there we got our tents set up. Then had a delicious salad before enjoying cheeseburgers and fries. I had 2 burgers and a ton of fries. My body really needed this! I washed it down with some cold Gatorade and then a hot chocolate for dessert. Fresh Ground even whipped out the laptop and we watched some of a movie right there at the camp site. We sure are doing this hike in style when we can!
Fresh Ground swinging by and bringing us back down to the campground.
Fairly early in the evening we called it and wrapped things up. I got some video work and writing done. Then laid in my tent to stretch and wind down. Today was another 30 mile day but felt great. And I know with all this food in me I’m going to wake up feeling fantastic tomorrow.
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