Never Assume Anything!

While at lunch with some of my Saddlebag friends this past Thursday, we began to talk about "walking" as a form of exercise.  I have been walking 4-5 miles every morning for quite awhile, just along the county roads near my home.  So Deb said she would like to walk with me sometime,  so invited me to meet her at her house the following morning and we would go for a walk together.  I was all-in for that, a change of scenery would be nice!

I thought since Deb doesn't walk every day like I do, our walk together would likely be a leisurely stroll.  So to make it be more of workout for myself, I donned my backpack (loaded with 17 1/2 lbs. of gear), and away we went. 

Here is my dear, sweet, unassuming friend Deb.....

 You'll notice that she is only carrying a partially filled small water bottle, so again we can't be walking very far or long, right?

I have a question, "How many years does it take for a tree to completely cover a sign that has been nailed to it"?

 We saw this armadillo crossing the road directly in front of us!

When we turned the corner near I-20 there was a large patch of these beautiful purple flowers....

They look like petunias!

 

I suddenly remembered to start taking "gate pictures" to add to my collection for my planned coffee table book called "The Gates of Texas".

By this time we had been walking for about an hour and I asked Deb if we were going to turn around and go back soon.  She explained that we were probably already past the halfway point in an 8-mile loop that goes right back to her house, so it would probably be quicker to keep on going around that loop rather than turn around and backtrack.

 After all we were on a nice quiet road that had a nice canopy of shade trees, like a green tunnel.  Deb asked if I was O.K. to walk 8 miles, even offered to carry my backpack for awhile.  I told her if she could walk eight miles, I'm sure I could too, even carrying my 17 1/2 pound backpack.

Besides I was enjoying getting a lot more "gate pictures"!

However, I cannot tell you how glad I was to see this sign!  I knew Deb's house was on C.R. 313 so we were now on the "home stretch"!

Actually I was feeling pretty good, only my feet were beginning to feel the effects of walking on "hard surface".  I tried to stay in the grass and dirt along the sides of the roads as much as possible to lessen the impact on the soles of my feet.

Yea!  More gates!

 All the neighborhood dogs announced our passing!

The Wagners naturally have a wagon on their gate post!

Two hours and forty minutes after we set out on our morning walk, we were overjoyed to see this little guy!

 He lives in Deb's front pasture!

So happy to see Deb and Patrick's front gate! 

 Eight miles of road walking, carrying 17 1/2 pounds on my back, two hours and forty minutes!  I have not walked that far since last January when we Saddlebags did our 15-mile benefit walk.  I immediately downed about 20 ounces of water, chatted with Deb and Patrick for a few minutes, then headed home, drinking another 20 ounces of water while driving home, because I had planned to mow our yard today.

When I got home I had left-over peas and cornbread for lunch along with a couple large glasses of iced-tea!  This sort of revived me so I headed out to begin mowing.

Now when I mow, I do not use our riding lawn mower, I use our 22-inch push mower.  It is not self-propelled!  It is a great form of exercise......

 ...and I love how neat and manicured our lawn looks afterward!

I pace myself by mowing for about an hour, then take a 20-30 minute break, enjoying some ice-cold watermelon....

...and drinking an ice-cold Gatorade!

 Then repeat this process again after the next hour of mowing.  It usually takes me about three hours of mowing, great exercise by pushing the mower, to do our whole yard!  Well I can tell you that I only lasted through the first two hours of mowing yesterday.  By that time, it hit my body that it had already backpacked 8 miles that morning and after two more hours of pushing that mower in the afternoon, I was pretty well spent! 

I went to bed by 8:20 p.m. and fell asleep almost immediately!  And I slept until 7:30 this morning!  Reminded me of when I was thru-hiking the A.T. and regularly slept 10-12 hours every night!  Nothing like a good workout to make the body rest good!

So thank you to you, my dear friend Deb,

 for pushing me a little yesterday.  I feel pretty good this morning.  Gotta get out there and finish mowing!