4-9-06
Start: China, IN
Destination: SR 256, Hanover, IN
Miles: 20.0
Weather: Beautiful, sunny, no clouds
The weather has been treating us well these past few days. We are delighted about that. I got a blister on my little toe, now, which is very weird. I've gone over 1,000 miles with no serious blisters - mom's had all the "luck" - and now I've got a liquid-filled doosie right on the bottom of my poor wittle pinky toe... I know you're all cryin' for me! :) It's really not bad - besides, I think I've got the world's best blister-care expert along with me!
We had some really great scenery. We walked country roads along ridges high above and a little north of the Ohio River, and it was a lot of farmland in rolling hillsides. Curious cows, donkeys, sheep, and horses come out to greet us at the fence line. So many cute animals! We have a lot of fun talking to them - they think we're crazy, I'm sure!
Mom and I had a lot of different smells as we walked today. For some reason, we just seemed to notice a lot more. Some good, some bad - skunk, carcass in the ditch somewhere up ahead, stale beer, bacon, vanilla cake, pistachio pudding, and biscuits and gravy. Not in that order, though. It's weird when we're in the middle of nowhere and we smell vanilla cake!
We had a dog follow us today, and when we turned onto a busy highway, we thought he turned around and went home. But no - under the guardrail, across the road, back in front of us, back under the guardrail - he kept crossing in front of traffic. At one point, he even sat in the road and backed up traffic for a short while. We just shrugged and mouthed, "It's not our dog." It was wearing a collar with 2 phone numbers, so we called both of them, but could only leave messages - we just didn't want to see him get hit. He was a really pretty dog. He had blue eyes like a husky, but reddish fur. I don't know my dog breeds - maybe there's such a thing as a golden husky?? But he followed us right into the town of Madison. He was so distracted by Main Street, we finally parted ways. We tried to call the owners again, but had to leave another message. I sure hope he made it home.
We ate at a little restaurant, and while there, a group eating heard about our hike, so they bought our lunch! How nice. These Indiana folks are still overwhelming us with support! We had another gentleman stop us and ask about our journey, and mom chatted with him - I was on the phone - Richard from Aurora called to see if we made it through the storms safely. He had even alerted the police in case they happened to see us walking! We sure have a lot of great people watching out for us!
We walked through beautiful Clifty Falls State Park. I wish we had more time for the day hikes, but we cruised through, giggling the whole way. A tired spell must've hit us or something. We just got so goofy. If you ever see me, have me show you the difference between a millipede and a centipede - two little grimy critters I hate! I don't know if my descriptions will be funny to anyone else, but mom and I just about lose it every time it comes up.
We got out of the park, and when we got to where we were supposed to turn, we decided to go straight. There was a good shoulder, and we sort of had "to go," and there were businesses, so it was an easy choice - they both went to the same place shortly anyway.
It was a very good choice.
Get this - we're walking and this woman comes out and starts asking about our walk. We walked up to her and told her we were walking for bone marrow disease. She said, "Oh," and pointed back to her home and said, "Heinz has MDS - have you heard of that?" WOW! Of course! So I told her I was an AA survivor, and that they are both bone marrow diseases and that was why we were doing the walk. It was a connection that was meant to be.
She directed us in the direction of a hotel up ahead (we stink badly), and said she'd come pick us up and bring us to get our groceries. She even offered to do our laundry for us! We turned her down for her own safety! Our clothes are raunchy right now. Anyway, I gave her the AA&MDSIF contact info. She had never heard of them. So we were very excited to run into someone and be able to help.
We were thrilled to no end to know this hike directly helped at least one person get in touch with the AA&MDSIF, who may have never known. She also told me he was going to be starting a new drug. "Revlamid?" I asked. She looked surprised. That's the drug that one of our awesome sponsors, Celgene, recently had approved by the FDA. So it was just all together a great connection for all of us.
What a wonderful day! I'm going to try to read up on some of our guestbook entries and get some rest. I hope for a big-mileage day!
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