May 14, 2020
For the sake of some exercise and free vitamin D, Bonnie and I have been getting out for some walks in our neighborhood, basically our first miles together since we finished the 1,440-mile Buckeye Trail last fall. Hiking the trail was a great adventure, but now it’s nice to take a lazy stroll and just reminisce about our journey.
“Only 14 miles to the car,” I joked today. A couple miles later I said, “Only 12 to go!” The beauty of it was that I was kidding. I was merely bringing back to mind some of the glory—minus the sweat—of our four-year trip around Ohio.
Buckeye Trail Flat Tire #2
We hiked each spring and fall starting in October of 2015. After solving all of the problems of boarding our dog Sugar, finding hotels for us, and then locating places to spot both cars each day along the trail, it’s amazing to me to see what we accomplished in the limited hours we had left to actually hike.
Today it is nice to walk out our door and leave both cars parked in the driveway. On our hike our daily shuttles could take hours. In one part of the state we flattened two new tires on gravel roads. In northeastern Ohio our cars got separated at night on a busy interstate while we were returning to our hotel. Yep, those were the good old days.
We were turned back by a flood on Parker Road
All we took today was our house key. On our hikes, though, careful preparation and packing was crucial. Take our rain suits, for example. If we packed them, it wouldn’t rain. Well, a couple times it did anyway, but we brought the rain to a quick halt when we took them out of our packs and wiggled into them. Fun times.
OK, now what?
There are few surprises in town. But along the trail many things would happen to make our hike longer in time or miles. Some days we would get to our car just as the sun was disappearing over the horizon. Maybe it was from getting lost, or simply planning too many miles for the day. We couldn’t always know there would be long stretches of deep mud, sometimes churned into a brownish pudding by horses. Then there was unmaintained trail, unplanned construction which closed roads, and even floods. Our walk today is so easy I am starting to feel a little guilty.
Reports of snow and mud were not exaggerated
A lot of people in our town are out walking with us. Everybody seems to be very conscientious about social distancing. Most people that meet us get off the sidewalk six feet on their side, while we get off six feet on our side. Counting the width of the sidewalk, that makes about 16 feet the virus has to traverse to find a new host. Avoiding people has been easy.
Sometimes on the trail it was a chore to keep a safe distance from things we encountered. After some hikes, we discovered the ticks hadn’t been as conscientious as our friends in town are. And a couple growling dogs needed a shot of pepper spray in the air between us to become compliant. (If that becomes best practice along with masks, we’ll be ready.)
Made at Deersville General Store
War stories are fun, but that’s probably enough for now. If you want more, you can read Bonnie’s very detailed blogs of our hike on my website. It’s not all painful—there’s a lot of ice cream in them.
How did we even pull off a hike that amazing? We experienced the answer every day. And that answer is amazing grace. We had what we needed at the time we needed it.
These days, I have about enough grace for a three-mile walk in the neighborhood.
