04-01-2015 – the walk

Journal – day one Wednesday, April 1- walking

We began our adventure by walking what was supposed to be a twelve-mile hike Wednesday April 1, almost exactly a year after we had discussed the possibility of taking this trip. (The original itinerary indicated we planned to leave on Friday the 3rd, but because of a rainy and cold forecast, we decided to be “comfortable” and walk in the sun.) The temperature that sunny morning started out brisk in the thirties and ended close to seventy. Dressing for a day of temperature extremes was a challenge!

We walked the short distance from our truck through a farmer’s field to the headwaters of the Wabash River, which is nothing more than a drain pipe with water flowing from it. (This becomes a river?) After the obligatory pictures to record the beginning of the trip, we walked with the sun in our eyes to a nearby woods and gathered two walking sticks, which were a welcome asset.

We stopped for a snack about mile three – thinking that we were a fourth of the way done. We stopped again at the “halfway” mark – six miles and had a nutritious lunch. Taking off my shoes revealed a couple of blisters. Ouch! John’s brother Paul had suggested we take duct tape along for just such a scenario – duct tape can fix anything! During lunch we were entertained by a fire across the bridge – luckily it was downwind.

Onward to mile nine for another snack. Thinking we had only three more miles, we limped (at least I was limping) along. Then we reached Eldora Speedway and realized we were much further than three miles from Ft. Recovery. Alas, we knew Ft. Recovery was more than twelve miles from the headwaters of the Wabash River.

The final count at 6:00 was 18 miles…. And the journey begins!