Dayton, TX: When messing with Texas . . .

Miles since last blog: 56.4
Miles Total: 2112 (Ooooh, a palindrome! Yes, I'm a dork)

Route

For the short version, skip to the bottom.

Delusions of grandeur, or at least a moderately overestimated stamina assessment, led to a hard few days. In the last 4 days I've traversed over 115 miles, which truthfully I have done in 3 days before, but this time I was a bit overzealous in my downtime affairs and I may simply be worn down to a nub of the man I formerly was. I need a sharpening, I believe sharpening might take place over 6 months of restful recuperation with exercise that does not involve being on your feet 12+ hours daily, but anyhoo . . . In any case, taking on Texas was inevitable, but with the gusto I took it on, it may have been a bad idea. I've piled on 30+ days back to back before, but usually this involves doing nothing but, and certainly no drinking.

A beer or two might not effect me in any serious way during normal life, but it slows me down just a bit, and two days ago that left me dragging my heels through the beginning of the day and not truly starting to move until almost two o'clock. I spent the rest of the day trying to catch up. I was moving pretty good and dreaming of an epic crossing of the state in record time, I was getting my heart set on it in fact. A fast trip across the vast expanses of Texas and I could really cool my heels when I got into towns with more than 8000 people. By ten I had made it my 30 miles into the small town of Devers where I rested sleeplessly for a few hours. I had another 30 to my CS hosts tonight and I usually like to hit over 35 the first day to make the second day easy, short and to have social time when I arrive. Power naps have worked in the past, but they were also midday naps after just a few miles. I laid down for three hours thinking that when I got up I would be ready to sprint the rest of the way to Huffman. I did get up, and was ready to sprint, for about 100 yards. I quickly pooped out and regretted leaving such a perfect sleeping spot on a night that promised rain.

I only made it about 5 miles before I fell asleep in a field and didn't wake up until the 11 am. When you walk too far, the next day, your body punishes you by not wanting to move at all. Three extra miles one night can mean losing 15 then next day. I struggled to push out a measly 20 miles before my hosts picked me up in their car leaving me to return to my spot tomorrow and do my now backlogged walking. Yeah, I'm breaking in new shoes, yeah, I've been sick, no, I haven't been getting enough sleep, but mostly, I think it was the hubris of believing I could "Mess with Texas" by minimalizing its size with a too quick crossing.

When messing with Texas:

Expect pain,
Don't expect sleep,
Expect physical manifestations of pain, like blisters
Expect things to breakdown (poor Cherry broke her hip again, and my feet aren't so hot either-duct tape for both)
Expect to be put in your place, and your place is under the massive thumb of Texas, in fact Texas is one giant deformed thumb of a forgotten Greek god put here just to be on top of you should you mess with it
Expect pouring rain that will leave you soaked on the side of the highway (Thanks to the girl who gave me an umbrella during the end of the day, I must have looked pitiful)
Expect hunger
Expect thirst
Expect people to look at you as if you should have known better, because you should have
Don't expect relief, it's a big thumb and it has more stamina than you
Expect to burn
Expect to freeze
Expect delays