I found a shortcut on Google this morning cutting off the 2 miles I was thinking about yesterday which took me down old highway 10. I would go off under the freeway onto a side street that would take me 3.5 miles up the road to the next exist where I could get back on the freeway.
I took down camp, and set out. When I got to the road, I saw a DEAD END sign, and stopped. Well now what? It was a half mile to get here, which means if I turned around that would be another half mile, and then the 4 miles to get back to this same spot, but on the freeway... 5 miles added on to my already 24 mile day.
Luckily a truck was pulling out of a drive so I waited for him to pull up by me and I asked if the road went through. He looked a little older than me with the same red hair. First he said no, it did dead end, but I told him what I was doing, and he changed his story to that it didn't dead end, but it was private property. I asked if he thought the person would mind if I walked through. He told the man's name is Earl, and he was super nice and probably wouldn't have a problem with me walking through his land. So I continued down the way for another half mile and came up to a old log cabin house with two large, old railroad lights flanking either side of it. There were old cars and lots of stuff everywhere, but still well kept. As I came up to the front, I saw his name across the front porch "Earl Kay", I went up to his door and knocked. A old man came over and opened the door. I introduced myself and explained what I was doing and he was more than happy to help me out.
I continued walking while he got himself together and jumped in his truck to go open the gate down the way so I could get through. It was all dirt road, and not used a lot so it took a lot of extra energy to get BMW through it. I got to a fork and did not see which way he went. To the right, was flat, but not used much at all and to the left, was a horrible looking hill with soft sand and rocks and it went straight up, but looked like it was used pretty often. Soooooo I took that one. I huffed and puffed and pushed that cart up the ridiculous hill. As I neared the top, I looked down and saw Earl at the gate below me. I nearly fell over, and almost crashed BMW.
I told Earl I could cry, and he laughed and said "Well you better turn 'roun and get down here." Awesome, okay sure. I meet him at the gate and he told me to go through and then come back to his truck. I looked at him, and reluctantly agreed. Back at his truck he had a pen and some paper and had me write down my name, but no website or email because his wife who passed way a few years ago was the internet master, not him. Then he said that his mother always said when you have company over, you should never let them leave when an empty stomach, so he brought down a hard-boiled egg, and some frozen, home made elk sausage! He also told me to come back some time, and he would show me his museum with all his cool old stuff.
We said our goodbyes, and I was off. I walked down the road a bit and saw some bald eagles in a tree and stopped to take in the beauty around me. Some forest service guys came up behind and we talked about Earl and his cool old stuff, and I made my way back down to the interstate.
My destination for the night was a rest stop called Quartz campground. I was so glad to be done. It was really hot today, I drank 6 liters of water and had to SPRINT across a bunch of bridges because they hardly had any shoulder on them. So between the 24 miles, dirt, hilly roads and the 6 to 7, 100 meter sprints, I'm pretty well done. I talked with a forest service man and talked with the camp hosts who let me use their grill to cook the sausage and I went back to my tent and passed out!
I took down camp, and set out. When I got to the road, I saw a DEAD END sign, and stopped. Well now what? It was a half mile to get here, which means if I turned around that would be another half mile, and then the 4 miles to get back to this same spot, but on the freeway... 5 miles added on to my already 24 mile day.
Luckily a truck was pulling out of a drive so I waited for him to pull up by me and I asked if the road went through. He looked a little older than me with the same red hair. First he said no, it did dead end, but I told him what I was doing, and he changed his story to that it didn't dead end, but it was private property. I asked if he thought the person would mind if I walked through. He told the man's name is Earl, and he was super nice and probably wouldn't have a problem with me walking through his land. So I continued down the way for another half mile and came up to a old log cabin house with two large, old railroad lights flanking either side of it. There were old cars and lots of stuff everywhere, but still well kept. As I came up to the front, I saw his name across the front porch "Earl Kay", I went up to his door and knocked. A old man came over and opened the door. I introduced myself and explained what I was doing and he was more than happy to help me out.
I continued walking while he got himself together and jumped in his truck to go open the gate down the way so I could get through. It was all dirt road, and not used a lot so it took a lot of extra energy to get BMW through it. I got to a fork and did not see which way he went. To the right, was flat, but not used much at all and to the left, was a horrible looking hill with soft sand and rocks and it went straight up, but looked like it was used pretty often. Soooooo I took that one. I huffed and puffed and pushed that cart up the ridiculous hill. As I neared the top, I looked down and saw Earl at the gate below me. I nearly fell over, and almost crashed BMW.
I told Earl I could cry, and he laughed and said "Well you better turn 'roun and get down here." Awesome, okay sure. I meet him at the gate and he told me to go through and then come back to his truck. I looked at him, and reluctantly agreed. Back at his truck he had a pen and some paper and had me write down my name, but no website or email because his wife who passed way a few years ago was the internet master, not him. Then he said that his mother always said when you have company over, you should never let them leave when an empty stomach, so he brought down a hard-boiled egg, and some frozen, home made elk sausage! He also told me to come back some time, and he would show me his museum with all his cool old stuff.
We said our goodbyes, and I was off. I walked down the road a bit and saw some bald eagles in a tree and stopped to take in the beauty around me. Some forest service guys came up behind and we talked about Earl and his cool old stuff, and I made my way back down to the interstate.
My destination for the night was a rest stop called Quartz campground. I was so glad to be done. It was really hot today, I drank 6 liters of water and had to SPRINT across a bunch of bridges because they hardly had any shoulder on them. So between the 24 miles, dirt, hilly roads and the 6 to 7, 100 meter sprints, I'm pretty well done. I talked with a forest service man and talked with the camp hosts who let me use their grill to cook the sausage and I went back to my tent and passed out!
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