Month: January 2023

Day 19 Road Walking through the Deseret

That’s not a typo. Deseret is a very large cattle and citrus Ranch in the area. The next 30 plus miles will be walking on roads. It is going to seem like a desert.

Campsite Bonus SpaceX Launch

There was an unexpected bonus to staying at this campsite last night. It is sparsely populated with pine trees and for the most part very open. It is also only about 40 miles from the Space Center.

Last night was a launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. I had a great view of the entire sequence. You could see both boosters separate from the main rocket and do their firing maneuvers to come back to the lunch pad. I couldn’t see them land but I could see the final deceleration burn.

A Falcon Heavy set of contrails. Two boosters return to the pad half way through the launch.

Road Walk One SR 192

After the 1 mile out of the campsite to the parking area, the road walk begins for the day. State road 192 that leads to either St Cloud or Melbourne.

It is a pretty high speed road with a decent amount of traffic, but at 7am, the westbound traffic is not too bad.

The road is four lanes of traffic with a bike lane sized shoulder. The grass shoulder is very wide and very flat. I am able to walk on the pavement about 90 percent of the time. About fifty percent of the drivers move over into the other lane so I can stay on the pavement.

The grass is covered with hard frost when I start the walk, but by a mile in, it is turning to water. My feet are getting a little damp, but not bad.

I had in my mind that this part of the roadwalk was six miles. After three miles, I passed a road with a sign indicating the Deseret HQ was six miles down that road.

Only twenty yards past that road, my Spidey senses told me to stop. The road sign said Deer Park Rd, which sounded familiar, so I checked the map, and sure enough, this is my turn. It would not have been a good start to the day to have to backtrack on a highway.

Road Walk Two Deer Park Road

This road is a country road with not too much traffic. It would turn out that the ranch owns everything on either side of this entire road.

It begins with houses and pasture. The pastures are huge and I can see cypress domes scattered throughout. I know there are cattle here, but they are very far away because these prairies are huge.

For the first half of the road it is easy to find the shade tree about every half of a mile. On the second half of the road they are a mile plus apart. And by then it is getting quite warm so the north half of the walk was far less pleasant than the south half.

About 5 mi up the road there was a water cache and a bench on the side of the road. It was the only bench on the entire road. I sat for 10 or 15 minutes and had a snack.

Shortly after leaving the bench, a truck pulled alongside me and stopped on the side of the road. I was expecting them to ask if I needed a ride. But to my delight he asked if I wanted some oranges and beef jerky. Oranges would definitely hit the spot right now so I grabbed two red navels out of the back of his truck.

I chatted with him for a while and find out that he is the owner of the fruit stand that’s on State Road 520 at the end of the next road walk. I was planning on camping on the road before State Road 20 but who knows. I should have time to actually get that far today.

This Ranch is so huge that they label they’re farming operations as units. Most of the units are for cattle but some of them are for citrus. I have no idea how large this Ranch actually is. But from my perspective it looks like an entire county.

I have to stop pretty frequently on the road walk in the afternoon. It is getting warm and I am getting tired. I’m saving my secret weapon, my coffee, 2:00 p.m. when it should have the best effect. I should be at the end of this roadblock at about that time.

On one of my stops I decide to take the insole heels out of my shoes. There are some discomfort under the front part of the heel that I’m hoping goes away if I remove them.

Within 5 minutes of walking in this new arrangement I can tell it is a step backwards. The pressure is gone under my foot but my achilles tendon is getting more pressure. I think in this situation it’s better to have the pressure under the foot and have the tendon feel its best. So I stopped and put the insoles back in.

Road Walk Three Nova Road

Nova Road has a lot more traffic than Deer Park Road. It is also a two-lane road but it’s obvious that it is a connector between two cities. There is both automobile and semi trailer traffic.

Deer Park Road ends and Nova Road begins.

The shoulder is fairly narrow here in the grass is somewhat sloped but it is walkable. I am able to spend about 60% of the time on the pavement and 40% in the grass.

At the first shaded area I find on the road I stopped to drink my coffee. I had a small snack too.

This road walk is about 7 miles long. I can’t go a full 3 mph while walking because of my achilles tendon. But I can manage two and a half without too many stops.

I actually mixed two different instant coffees in my bottle today. One of them is a Trader Joe’s with cream and sugar and the other is my typical Cafe Bustello.

Normally cream in instant coffee will not dissolve in cold water, but this Trader Joe’s dissolves extremely well. The Cafe Bustello Cafe con Leche will not dissolve in cold water. I may have found a new addition to my standard hiking foods.

The coffee today is doing its job quite well. I’m not sure if I even took any breaks other than maybe 60 seconds to adjust gear or grab a snack or water. I have no aches, I have no pains, I am just a hiking machine at this point.

About halfway through the Nova Road hike, it is obvious that I am going to reach 520 well before dark. I begin to wonder if the citrus stand will still be there by the time I get there. I am hoping he is so I can get some more oranges.

SR520 Leads to Cocoa Beach

The plan the entire day was to find some place along Nova Road to camp. I am eyeing every potential site along the road with a discerning eye.

The only spots available are trees which are only 50 yards away from the highway. You are definitely not well hidden. You are also definitely not going to get more than 10 minutes of sleep.

I am certain that this road see some form of traffic all night long even at 4:00 a.m. and any vehicle moving down this road is going to wake you up. I wear earplugs to drown out noises at night. But there is nothing that’s going to drown out the road noise this close to the highway.

Since the fruit stand is only about 10 mi from Cocoa, I begin to think that it would be quite easy to either hitch or Uber from here to Cocoa. And if it’s easy to get to Cocoa, then what’s another 10 mi to go all the way to Cocoa Beach?

After a few minutes on the Marriott app, I find that our favorite hotel next to Ron Jon’s has availability and for just a few Marriott points. It would be nice to do laundry and soak my feet in the ocean tonight.

When I finally get to the end of Nova Road and look to my right, I can see that the fruit stand is still open. I am there in less than 5 minutes eating fresh boiled peanuts.

Fruit Stand Man

The fruit stand operator is an awesome person. Not only did he stop on the side of the road earlier in the day to give me oranges and beef jerky, but he refuses to take payment from hikers for anything.

After eating a bag of peanuts and another Orange, I am ready to put my plan into action. I tell the fruit stand guy my plan and he offers to drive me as far as Cocoa. It sounds like this plan is going to work out after all.

He has a steady stream of customers, even for the 20 minutes or so that I am there eating his peanuts. Nearly everyone buys peanuts and one other item.

After talking about it with him later, I find that tomatoes are the trigger item. If he ever runs out of tomatoes during the day, people will begin to lose their shit when they find out he doesn’t have any more tomatoes. He could run out of any other item and people will not care. But a lack of tomatoes could start world war 3.

Luckily today he still has about a half a box of tomatoes. And people are still buying them even as the sun is sitting.

He decides it’s time to pack it up so I help them pack up all of the produce into his truck. Within twenty minutes, everything is packed up. Now comes the hard work.

He has rows of signs each direction on the highway telling the drivers what goods he has today. I think getting all of the signs took well over 45 minutes. The big signs are held up by rebar driven in the ground. He has a special tool to help pull them up. Even with the tool it is very difficult to do.

It is pretty dark by the time we have gotten all 10 sets of signs. But we are now headed in the direction of Cocoa.

It has been at least 25 years since I have been to this part of Cocoa. It has grown significantly. It is hard to recognize as the same city until we get right near the downtown Center.

We passed through downtown cocoa and then I realize we are on the next causeway to Merritt Island. I asked him if he realizes he just passed US1 and Cocoa and he says yes he’s planning to take me all the way to Cocoa Beach.

I was not expecting that at all. What started out as an easier way to get an Uber has turned into a full-blown delivery. The graciousness and the compassion this guy has is just overwhelming. He really does love hikers. He talks the talk, but he walks the walk even better.

He ends up dropping me off right in the Ron Jons parking lot. I only have to walk to the other side of the building to get to the hotel. Within minutes I am showered and clean.

Neon and tacky colors can only mean we are near Ron Jons.

The first order of business is to buy some flip flops. The second order of business is dinner which I eat in the hotel restaurant. The third order of business is laundry. When I find that the dry cycle is 45 minutes long I initiate the fourth order which is to walk in the ocean water.

All the chores are done but it is nearly 11:00. There will be no blogging tonight. There will only be slumber.

Emotion of the Day

Definitely gratitude.

One person made a very big difference in the outcome of my day.

This should have been one of the less pleasant days of the entire trip. Along hot road walk and camping next to a highway, unless you want to do 30 miles worth of road walk in one day.

But fruit stand man fed me and kept me company and refused payment. He drove me 20 miles in the opposite direction of his home at the end of a long work day. And he again refused payment.

If you die and go to heaven and find a fruit stand up there, make sure you stop by, eat an orange, and shoot the breeze for a while. You will not regret it.

Day 18 Forever Florida and Bull Creek WMA

Man was it cold last night. The forecast said 32 and the hard frost on the ground agreed if not a little colder.

Night Time Visitors

I always bring ear plugs with me when I’m hiking to drown out the noises of the animals around me. But last night they came out extra early.

I think I was visited by a few deer but I’m not exactly sure because I could never see them. They came out right as I was getting ready to go to sleep. I tried shining my light in their direction, but I couldn’t see them even on the highest setting.

I had all the same layers on last night and was warm through most of the night. A few times when I would roll over I would untuck something that would then get chilly so I would have to adjust.

I started my morning routine at 5:45 and yet I still only got out at 7:20. This morning was oatmeal by OnTrek meals. You can’t screw up oatmeal right?

Well I won’t say it was screwed up, but it wasn’t very good. I don’t like really sweet oatmeal but this could have used some sort of sweetener.

It was basically oatmeal, nuts, and cinnamon and that’s about it. They wanted me to cook it in the pot but I just put the boiling water in the bag and prayed that it would cook enough to eat. Luckily it did.

Heavy frost on the ground this morning. I am guessing 30 degrees.

Forever Florida

This used to be an eco tourism attraction but I think they closed around the time of Covid. Who knows if they will ever open up again. They do have one campsite that they will let you stay at if you call ahead for permission, but I knew I wasn’t going to make it that far last night.

The trail through the park is mostly double track road, but there are a few cut sections of single track trail. A lot of the habitat is Osceola Savannah which is palmetto’s and pine with some grasses.

There are a few Cypress domes around, so the trail or road did get muddy at times. I had to stop and wade without shoes once and then step through mud another time with my shoes and got them a little bit wet.

Bull Creek Wildlife Management Area

This is your typical wildlife management area set aside mostly for hunters. It is also a lot of Osceola Savannah with a few cypress domes.

But the main part of this trail is another flood plane. There is a high water alternate that goes around and follows roads. It leads right up to the hunt check station that has water. Because I’m still trying to avoid water, I decided to take the alternate route.

I still had to wade one time and also got my shoes wet another time so the high water route isn’t completely dry. But I’m sure it was better than the regular trail.

Thick section of cabbage palm at the north end of Bull Creek.

Hiking Pureism

There are different levels of purist in the hiking community.

The absolute purest must see every colored blaze, no matter what the trail conditions and sometimes even if they are closed.

There are others that are basically out to get a taste and will skip sections or hitchhike or just completely bypass whatever they don’t want to deal with. I don’t really know what these people are called but I have seen them plenty on the Appalachian Trail and some on the PCT.

And somewhere in the middle is where I am. Whether I am on the orange blaze trail or the white blazed alternates, I do not care. And in the case of this season I have pretty much decided I will take every high water alternate that I find unless I know for sure the regular trail is not underwater.

For my level of purism, I just wank an unbroken footpath from the terminus in the Everglades to the terminus in Pensacola. I won’t hitchhike to skip Road walks, but I am not going to see every single orange blaze either.

The Afternoon is Warming Up

It was below freezing last night, and in the afternoon the temperature is quite pleasant. The weatherman says it is 52°.

The sun is out and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. It is not nearly as windy as yesterday was so it feels like an entirely different planet.

I stopped for lunch at the hunt station that was on the high water alternate. Black bean burrito yum. I think I may have had one of the last black bean burritos I could possibly eat. The refried beans are just not appetizing when you’re tired.

A couple was there looking for the trail I had just come off and asked how to get to it. I gave them directions and then they offered me a tangerine and some seaweed snacks which I eagerly accepted. I also made coffee for this afternoon and filled up my water. It’s pretty sulfury water but it’ll do.

I’m feeling kind of tired this afternoon. It might be a combination of the cold temperatures and not eating as much as I should have the day before.

I stopped by a bench on the trail and decide to check the map. To my surprise, I am only two miles from the campsite and it is only 1:00. I should be able to make the campsite by 2:00.

About a half a mile from the campsite, the trail starts getting really wet and muddy. The trail is following a double track road. The road has just worn ruts in the mud.

A very nice creek just south of Jane Green campsite.

I can see people have been making trails off to the side in the woods, so I start to explore those. It looks like this stretch will be very long, so I’m hoping these trails will prove they’re worth.

The muddy conditions go on for about 2/10 of a mile. Luckily, I was able to use side trails to get around all of the water. Dry shoes yay.

Home Sweet Home

Because the trail is so muddy so close to the campsite, I’m starting to get nervous about the condition of the ground there. But just before I reach the campsite, the ground rises quite a bit and it’s dry sand and pines. There’s tons of wide open space in the pump is working well so this is my home for the evening.

There is only one mile between this camp and the beginning of the road walk. If this campsite had not been suitable, I would have had to have found a place in the next mile to stealth camp.

The first order of business is setting up the tent and unloading all the crap out of the pack. The second order of business is taking shoes and socks off and letting everything air out. There is nice grass at the campsite so I am able to walk around barefoot without any problems. This is where having camp shoes like flip-flops would really be nice.

The water pump is in good working order so I fill every jug I have after dumping out what sulfur water I have remaining. I eat one tiny snack but I’m not really hungry, so I’ll wait as long as I can before I actually make dinner. If I time it right I won’t have to eat two dinners tonight.

Since I got here at 2:00 and it is a Sunday, there has been quite a bit of traffic of day hikers going by the campsite. But I have yet to see any other Florida Trail hikers other than Max.

I am pretty certain he is behind me. But he has the same situation as me that this is the best camp to start the road walk from. There is a good chance I will see him roll in tonight.

Day 17 Three Lakes and Forever Florida

The weather has definitely changed. It was cold last night and chilly most of the day today. Not the best and days to have headache.

Brrr Chilly

The temperature was supposed to be 37 last night. My sleeping bag is only rated for 40°. So I wore additional layers to sleep. Except for my nose, I was toasty all night.

But getting up in the morning was another matter. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be to change clothes, but it wasn’t super fun.

The cold made it take a little longer to get going. I think I was finally hiking just before 7:30. But I started getting ready around 6:00.

Sketchy bridge over a large canal. There is a concrete one 100 yds away. Why not just route the trail over that instead?

Breakfast was coconut granola by the same OnTrek company that made my horrible dinner. How can they possibly screw up granola? The answer is by using a creamer that won’t dissolve in cold water. It was a fatty gooey mess. It didn’t taste bad but it was very unpleasant to eat.

The trail all morning was in and out of fields, oak hammocks, and palmettos. It looked like typical Florida.

Headache

I started getting a small headache as I was getting ready to start hiking. I was drinking coffee every morning at the resort. And now I’m faced with a caffeine withdrawal headache.

I purposely drank coffee yesterday afternoon to try and combat the inevitable. I also tried drinking some more this morning. But when these things start, there’s just no stopping them.

By 10:00 in the morning when I stop to have a snack break, It was throbbing pretty good. I was headed to a campsite that I should reach by 1:00 to make lunch.

The last hour to the campsite the headache was so bad I was actually feeling nauseous. And when I got to the campsite I had to cook Pad Thai and force myself to eat it.

I was definitely not feeling well.

I went ahead and left the campsite at 2:00, but by 2:30 I just couldn’t go any further. I found a nice sunny spot in the trail and just laid down on the ground for 30 minutes and took a nap.

Good enough place for a nap.

When I woke up from the nap it was as if a light switch had been flipped. I no longer felt nauseous and I actually had energy. That’s a good thing, cuz I still have plenty of miles to go today and I can’t afford to stop short.

Can’t Slack off Today

The day after tomorrow I start a very long road walk. It is important that tomorrow night I camp at the very last campsite before the road walk begins. Today needs to be a longish day so that I can be close enough to that last campsite to be able to rest a little before the big day after that.

It’s already too late to make the campsite I wanted to make, but there should be opportunity to camp in some of the woods on the side of the trail. I will just hike until 6:00 and then try and find a place to camp.

There are also two major road events for today. The first one is crossing under the Florida turnpike. That one is uneventful as I’m just passing through a single lane underpass under the rush of traffic above. They never even knew I was there.

The second one is a two and a half mile road walk on highway 441. This one is not very long but it is at the end of the day when I am tired. I started just after 4:00 p.m. and finish at about 5:15. That’ll do

Find a Campsite

There is a creek where I can filter water from right as the trail enters the woods again from the highway. I go ahead and filter a liter and a half because I will be camping at some random spot that won’t have a water source.

Shortly thereafter, the trail passes by an animal rescue. I can see that the compound is very large but I can’t see very many of the animals. One that I do see is a male lion. I am glad there is a fence between me and him.

Entering the Forever Florida area.

He and some of the other animals start to make a ruckus as I pass by because they know I am there. They’re not your normal Florida animal sounds. These are all exotic cats.

Shortly after 6:00 p.m. I do find a place to stop and pitch my tent. It is not been as easy as I expected because the ground here is fairly marshy. But the site I select looks like it will be nice and dry and under an oak tree.

I dig through my food bag to see is what for dinner tonight. It is definitely not an OnTreck meal. It is Mountain House Chana Masala. I have never had this flavor from this company before, so I hope it does not upset my stomach.

I eat my tuna while I wait for the Chana Masala to rehydrate. The tuna fish is still very good and satisfying. The Chana Masala is not fully rehydrated and overpowering in cardamom. That is a very pungent spice. This will be the last time I buy that flavor too.

It is supposed to be 32° tonight. I will wear the same garb as last night and hope that the extra toastiness is enough to keep me warm tonight.

All day I was cold until I took my nap. But after then I have been warm. But now that I have changed and I’m ready to go to bed the temperature is dropping very rapidly. Let’s hope I can sleep well.

Emotion of the Day

It’s not a word I would have dreamed to pick for a daily emotion but it’s going to be nausea.

Getting caffeine withdrawal headaches, I am used to. Getting one so bad it makes you nauseous, I am not used to. Today was a really weird day.

The headache was bad enough. But the nausea made me not want to eat. And not eating means you can’t hike.

I am very thankful that the nap in the afternoon actually made me feel better. Because without that I doubt I would have even been able to finish the road walk along 441.

No more morning coffee for the rest of the trip. It’s going to be decaf only before noon just like at home.

Day 16 Entering Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area

It is nice to be on real trails again. But I will miss having a toilet and a shower.

Waiting out the Rain

The forecast kept changing a little bit, but early in the morning the expectation was that it would start raining at 7:00 a.m. and end shortly after 10:00. This would be absolutely perfect for my schedule, as check out time is 10:00.

I woke up and started getting things ready about 6:30. Packing the food bag was the hardest of all. I have so much food that I can’t close the bag properly. I have to leave the food that I will be eating today outside of the bag.

I have eaten on my leftovers, drank all my smoothies and milk, and I have everything packed and ready to go by 9:00. There is nothing left to do but wait out the rain. An hour of television will help that. HBO just happens to be showing Dune so I watch an hour of that.

The entire trip so far I think I’ve only watched about 20 minutes of television. It’s just so horrible these days. But an hour of a movie I can deal with.

At 10 minutes till 10:00, the rain has stopped. Time to make a break for it. There is water dripping from the trees but it is no longer raining.

Run by the general store for a croissant for the road.

I go and check out then run by the general store to grab a croissant to go. I am finally leaving the resort.

Road Walk Number One

It takes about a mile to just get off the resort campus and through the main gate.

Wave goodbye to the resort.

The next 2 miles will be on the same road. The trail then turns into a managed area for another 2 miles. This will be the last wooded trail I will see for a while today.

Road Walk Number Two

Once the two mile wooded trail ends, this time for the big road walk. I have about five and a half miles to walk on State Road 60. This is a very high speed and heavy traffic Road.

The first half mile is just getting to the bridge that crosses the Kissimmee River for the last time. Luckily there is a pedestrian walkway on the north side of the bridge.

Other than this walkway over the bridge, I will be walking on the grass shoulder for 5 plus miles. It is somewhat sloped but it is not as bad as some others. The grass has been mowed fairly recently, so it is not terribly unpleasant.

It is a little bit cloudy and quite breezy during the walk. I am cool when the sun is covered and I am warm when the sun is shining. It is too windy to use the umbrella and I don’t want anything to block my vision of the cars. The hot and cold cycle is perfect.

It takes about 2 and 1/2 hours to complete the road walk with two small breaks along the way. When the road walk ends another one begins.

Road Walk Number Three

I enter the Wildlife Management area on a dirt road. I have to follow this road for another three or four miles.

When the road comes to a hunting check station, there is a hand pump so I stopped for water and decide to eat lunch. It’s a late lunch as it is about 2:30 in the afternoon.

The trail begins behind the check station. I will be hiking trails that zig zag across this road for the next 40 mi or so. But tonight I am only worried about 10 of them to the campsite.

It’s hard to pass up a good sunset.

After doing a little math, I figure out that it’s going to be dark by the time I get to the campsite. Oh boy. There is one campsite just ahead of the trail but it is way too early to stop hiking.

Future Road Walk

There is another really bad road walk that I have coming up in about 3 days. I am timing the next 3 days so that I can camp at the very last campsite before that road walked begins. This will give me the maximum amount of daylight to finish that road walk.

For this reason I can’t stop at the close campsite. If I stop now it will just make tomorrow and the next day worse. I need to try and push on now to see how far I can get.

The trail in this area is very wide open grasslands much like the Kissimmee Preserve State Park was. The difference being that these trails are not flooded like the state park.

The wind is quite strong because there are very few trees. And with the cool temperatures and the cloud cover I am getting a little chilly. The only thing I have convenient is my rain jacket which would absolutely cook me if I put it on. In this case it is better to hike a little cold than to get all sweaty for nothing.

Time to Camp

At about 5:30, I am still more than four miles away from the campsite I am aiming for. In the Wildlife Management areas, you’re supposed to camp only at designated sites during hunting season. It is still hunting season here until January 26th.

But I spot a very thick tree line of oaks and palmettos. This will provide lots of protection from the wind and the dew. This is an ideal place to stop and camp so I decide to go back away from the trail 100 yards and stealth camp.

It is already starting to get dark, so they set the tent up very quickly behind a set of palmettos to block the wind. After that is done I go away from my tent to cook dinner.

By the time I start cooking, it is already dark enough that I need my flashlight. I have one of the OnTrek meals that I decided to try for this trip.

This particular brand requires you to cook the meal in the pot. Most dehydrated meals you just pour water into a bag and eat out of the bag. That is one thing I really don’t like about this brand.

Another thing that I don’t like about this brand is that this particular meal is horrible. It is called Shepherd stew. It is basically just potatoes with some flavoring and vegetables added. I don’t think there is any meat in it at all.

It requires a large volume of water which is really beyond the comfortable limit for my pot. There is a vegetable bag that needs to be boiled for 2 minutes. Then the rest of the ingredients go in the pot.

It is nearly impossible to get everything in without having some spill over the edges. I am careful to capture anything that has spilled. This meal takes up valuable propane for no return. I am never buying this brand again.

Once everything is cleaned up it’s time to crawl into the tent. It is still quite windy and it is starting to get chilly. The forecast says it will get down to 37° tonight. My bag is rated at 40°.

This means I will be wearing the long johns and the down jacket to bed. As I am changing it is quite cold in the tent. But once I get all my layers on I am very toasty. Let’s hope I am still toasty at 6:00 a.m.

Emotion of the Day

Today’s emotion is dread. But it is probably not for the same reason you are thinking of.

I am not a fan of the busy highway road walks. But these three today did not cause me dread.

The temperatures in the 30s for the next four nights are not causing me dread.

What I am really dreading is having to eat five more meals made by the same company. I don’t know how many I have on this stretch until Orlando. I will have others scattered throughout other boxes for the rest of the trip.

Most of my boxes have extra freeze dried meals in them to extend the food I will be buying locally. As I encounter these in the future, I may end up pitching them unless they look really good. Or I may just end up buying additional food as back up.

The thought of having to buy additional food that I may or may not need and carry it causes me dread.

Day 15 Zero at the Resort

Yesterday, I expected the emotion today to be comatose. But today has been quite busy doing chores literally Into the night.

Breakfast

After waking, the first order of business is coffee. There is a coffee maker in the room and it makes reasonably good coffee. There is a Starbucks at the resort but they don’t open until 8:00 a.m. and that might as well be noon in my books.

I reheat a slice of leftover pizza, then check my laundry to see if everything is dry. Everything is good to go except for one pair of shorts. The water shoes are even bone dry.

I start working on blog posts because I am behind by several days. I actually write them and schedule them to automatically publish about 5 days later. This way I can keep a steady stream of posts even when I don’t have good cell signal.

I am also blogging for another site, https://thetrek.co, but those blogs span regions of the trail and not days of my hike. But they still take a lot of time to prepare and publish. I also scheduled those to publish after several days of delay.

Once 8:00 rolls around, I head over to the general store to grab a croissant and a milk. Back at the room it is more blogging.

Just before noon, I decide it’s warm enough outside to go hit the pool. I swim for about 30 minutes and spend a few minutes in the hot tub stretching my legs. It really feels good and my feet are actually pretty clean now. I love smelling like chlorine.

Lunch

After changing into dry clothes, I head over to the main restaurant to check it out. It is a limited menu but they have some decent selections. I order a patty melt and fries. I wanted a salad but they don’t have any side salads. They are only full dinner salads. I do not want that much salad.

Back at the room, it is more blogging. I also spend time backing up videos from the cameras to the phone. Videos are definitely harder to deal with than photos on a phone.

At some point I decided it’s time to open the box. And as expected, it is a massive amount of food. Not all of it is going to fit in the food bag. I wonder how heavy the pack is going to be tomorrow.

There is a post office on the resort and I was hoping that I could mail some excess equipment back home. But the post office only mails out letters, not parcels. They don’t ever really open either. It’s just a slot in a wall to drop letters into.

The cell service is almost non-existent here. And the Wi-Fi is so bad did it takes forever to upload just a few images for each blog post. Most of the time they failed to upload and I have to try four or five times before they work.

Dinner

The current blog post I’m working on refuses to upload any images. I need to go to one of the main buildings to try and get a stronger Wi-Fi signal. I might as well grab dinner at the same time.

I go back to the general store to get a sandwich. While I am waiting I walk around the various buildings looking for the strongest Wi-Fi signal. There is a picnic table right behind the general store that has a full signal. I grabbed my sandwich and headed to picnic table to begin uploading.

Even with the stronger signal, one of the images refuses to upload. It takes me nearly 45 minutes to get the one image up to the web. This blogging stuff really is a significant chore. But I enjoy doing it. I just like having a better signal while doing it.

Back at the room it is more blogging. In fact it is now 11:00 p.m. and I’m still blogging. I am starting to become comatose but not in the way I was expecting yesterday.

Emotion of the Day

It is definitely not comatose. I think frustrated is the word for today.

What should been a day of swimming, sleeping, and watching TV, has become a day of fighting with the internet. I’m not sure which is worse – bad internet or bad blisters.

I did manage to swim for 30 minutes and watch TV for an hour. But other than that it has been cleaning, packing, and blogging. With the emphasis on blogging.

It’s more fun being in the woods.

Day 14 The River Ranch Resort

It is always motivating when you’re going to a town. Not only is your pack lighter because you have less food, but the promise of a shower, a soft bed, and laundry puts an extra spring in your step.

Chilly Evening

Last night while I was cooking dinner, I was wearing my rain jacket because it was a little chilly. The forecast said only 42 but it felt a little colder than that.

So I decided to wear my puffy jacket to bed and I’m glad I did. I have been wearing my fleece hat so that I can cover my eyes from the moon while I sleep. But Last night I also wore my gloves. It was the perfect combination and I slept toasty if not a little bit warm.

Since I only have nine miles to go and I can’t check in till 4:00 p.m., there’s no rush this morning. I don’t even start my morning routine until nearly 7:30.

Chilling out in the tent making coffee.

Since I have a leisurely morning, I decide to cook a cup of coffee. Actually, Cafe con leche. The chilly air this morning makes it a perfect antidote for the cold.

It is nearly 8:45 by the time I actually leave camp. This is a full hour and a half past my regular time.

The Road to River Ranch Resort

The trail weaves back and forth across a dirt road for much of the day. This suits me fine because I am wearing my dry shoes.

The Kissimmee River is peaceful this morning.

When I went to get water this morning, it felt like my heels were rubbing a little. So before I left, I put on a second pair of socks to add more cushioning and a little more slip. So far it seems to be doing the trick. I really should switch out to a pair of shoes that I would normally wear for this kind of hike.

The trail passes by three or four very large beehives. They also had some other contraption nearby which I think was just water or some kind of nectar food source for them. There were a million bees everywhere so I did not get too close.

The cows are checking me out.

Since this is the road out from the campsite where I stayed last night, there are a few cars coming by throughout the morning. I see the same truck three times. He is in no hurry.

Time for a Little Work

When I glanced down at my phone, I noticed that it is exactly 10:00. This is the time of my normal weekly meeting at work. I checked to see if there is cell service and there seems to be one bar, so let’s give it a try.

I dialed into the morning call and I am delighted to find that the audio and video quality is quite good. I spent the morning chatting with my coworkers and showing them some of the sights and sounds I was going through. I think they all expected me to be eaten by alligators by now.

I also find out that we have a company all-hands at 1:00 this afternoon. That is about the time I expecting to be at the resort, so I might try and dial into that too.

Time to Relax

Since I only have nine miles to hike this morning, I am definitely in no rush. I stopped two or three times throughout the morning to sit and drink and snack.

But when I get to the campground host at the end of the road, I know I am only 1 mile from the resort. It is only noon, so I decide I will take an extended break here. I will see what other food is hidden in my food bag that I can snack on. And I will sit and drink some water for a while.

When 1:00 rolls around, I dial into the meeting and find that I still have good signal. I actually feel like I’m no longer hiking at this moment. And I guess I’m not, since I’ve been sitting at this bench for an hour now.

After the call is over, I pack up and head out. It is much warmer now and I need to get the umbrella out. I can already see the water tower for the resort. And it is so large I can tell I’m already on their property.

Welcome to the River Ranch Resort

This is my first official mail stop. Karen mailed a box full of food to the resort a week ago. It has five days of food and needs to get me to the Orlando area.

Since I have abused my feet pretty badly the last week, I am planning on staying here for two nights. I am only hiking part of the day today. This is considered a nearo, or nearly zero miles. Yes, nine is nearly zero in hiker brains. Tomorrow will be a zero, because I will hike no miles at all.

I will probably spend half the day in the swimming pool and the other half blogging.

I can see the main intersection of the resort is coming up and I notice the Conestoga wagons and teepees on the left. They are very high dollar accommodations. I am just staying in a lodge room.

Luxury teepees cost big dollars.

I turned down the road into the resort facility and start to see more and more buildings appear. There is the primitive camping or rent-a-tent on the left. On the right is the petting zoo. Next on the left is the chapel. Next on the right is the saloon. Are they sure they wanted to put the saloon right across the street from the chapel?

I see signs pointing me to registration so I head that way. It also happens to be the main restaurant, a steakhouse.

I check in even though it is only 2:00 p.m. and they are fine with that. The desk clerk also asks if I need anything and I ask about laundry and Band-Aids. They don’t have laundry but she can give me laundry soap to do my laundry in the sink. And she hands me a giant stack of Band-Aids.

When I ask about the box I had shipped here, that’s when the confusion begins. She calls to maintenance to get the box and they sound like she has three heads. Just happens to be the same clerk that I called two weeks ago before mailing the package to verify that I could mail it here. She says she will find it and call my cell phone when they locate it. Sounds good.

I go to the room and then immediately start washing my feet. The blisters on the tops of the toes have definitely gotten worse. I will lance them after I have cleaned my feet.

I can now see that new blisters are starting to form on my heels. I think the extra socks and extra insoles is actually causing more harm than good at this point.

It is very fortunate that I am not going to be hiking any miles tomorrow. I definitely need some healing time.

After the feet are clean, then it’s full body shower time. Even though I had a shower yesterday, I am amazed at how much filth and slime has accumulated on me in just one day. I guess when you put dirty clothes on a clean body the body isn’t really clean anymore.

The next order of business is laundry. Since I don’t have an actual dryer, I need to do them quickly so they have time to dry out for using tomorrow. It takes over an hour and a half to wash just 10 articles of clothing. I am glad she gave me two bags of laundry soap.

While I am in the middle of doing laundry, a knock on the door is one of the maintenance guys bringing me my box. Now all the critical items are in place.

Explore the Ranch

After a shower, laundry, and a quick call to home, it is time to find some grub. I have not been eating any of the remaining snacks I have on hand. I have not opened the box yet, but expect to find that I have too much food for the next section. Since the prices at the resort here are very expensive, I don’t want to be forced to buy anything I don’t need to.

I check out the list of restaurants and I’m sad to find out that the main smokehouse is only open on Friday and Saturday but today is Wednesday. The general store has a deli or the main steakhouse is open. I think I will scope out the deli. I hear they have good pizza.

The Smokehouse is not open until after I leave.

On my way out, I head towards the pool first to check it out. There are only three people in it and it is a pretty large pool. I will definitely be back tomorrow.

I then head in the direction of the general store. It is situated in a little u-shaped arrangement of small stores. Most of the stores are closed, but the general store and the Western Wear store are still open. There is a post office that is only open a few hours a day. I might try and mail a few heavier things back home tomorrow.

I head into the general store and indeed they do serve pizza. So I order a pepperoni pizza and browse around to do some shopping.

All of the laundry rooms are kitchenettes. The food selection at the general store reflects that. It is mostly canned goods, bread, cold cuts, and what I call a car camping food.

My eye spots of fruit smoothie and a bottle of milk. My other eye spots a jar of olives. I miss olives so I grab a jar. I also noticed they have Boar’s Head hot dogs and fresh hot dog buns. I think that might end up being a staple of tomorrow’s lunch time menu.

When the pizza is ready, I head back to the room. It takes only 5 or 6 minutes. When I began eating, the pizza it is still scalding hot. It is also dripping with grease. A New Yorker would be proud, but it is not New York quality. It will suffice for a hiker.

Emotion of the Day

Relax I think is today’s emotion even though I think tomorrow will be absolutely flooded with it.

I felt relaxed when I woke up this morning and just vegged out in my tent. I felt relaxed when I was walking down the road stopping frequently to drink and snack. I felt relaxed when I called in to my morning work meeting. I felt relaxed while I sat at the picnic table for an hour at the camp host.

And I definitely feel relaxed after a hot shower and a big soft bed.

Even though I was just as hot, just as smelly, just as sore, and just as thirsty as any other day, none of it seemed to matter today.

Perhaps tomorrow’s emotion will be comatose.

Day 13 Leaving the Kissimmee Preserve State Park

I could use a little less mud and water.

I Feel Like I Have the Park All to Myself

Even though I am camping near someone else, the park is remote. I pack up and leave before Max is even stirring.

The ground is very wet so I am wearing my water shoes. My feet felt pretty good when I woke up, but they don’t feel great walking in the water shoes. The ground is uneven because it has been torn up by wild hogs. The uneven ground twists my feet in odd positions that are uncomfortable.

I have six or seven miles to the park headquarters. And the only thing I can see for miles is grass and palmettos. The tree line has to be at least three miles away.

I feel like I have the whole park to myself.

When I am only two miles from the campground, I passed by a walker coming the other way with the dog. I decide it is a good time to switch to the dry shoes. I am walking on a road in the grass is not very thick at all even though it is still slightly wet.

Get Cleaned Up

As soon as I am within eyesight of the campground, I start scouting out the buildings. The first one I spot is the bathroom complex.

As I am headed that way, the campground host tells me where the office is and also tells me that the back left shower has the best water pressure. That is where I must go.

Best or not, the water pressure was fine. And the temperature was just perfect.

It took at least 30 minutes to get everything clean. I washed a pair of socks and a pair of underwear in the shower because they don’t have a laundry facility. These two items were in desperate need of cleaning.

I put on a clean set of clothes and I feel like a million dollars. It seems like forever that I have not felt slimy and dirty. I wonder how long is feeling will last.

I sat outside the shower room to eat first lunch as it was now about 11:00. After I finished eating, I took inventory of the food I had remaining to get me to the River Ranch Resort. It looks like I packed exactly the right amount. It is very rare that I show up to a spot without having too much food left over. I rate myself five out of five stars.

Campground Office

I make my way to the campground office to pay my camping fee for the previous night and the entrance fee to the park. A $2 entrance fee and $5.50 to camp.

When I go to pay my fee, I find out that the camping fee includes the entrance fee so it is only $5.50. Score!

While I am in the office, I also glance at the photos they have of birds and plants. I’ve seen a million birds on this trip that I have not been able to identify. One of them is tan and brown with a very dark flat top haircut and a prominent yellow beak.

close up shot of a bird
Photo by Elizabeth Figueroa Leaño on Pexels.com

I spot a huge painting of him and another photograph that identifies and as a Caracara. What a really cool looking bird. Too bad I don’t have the equipment to get a really good photograph of one. I’ve been seeing them ever since the sugarcane fields.

Time to Head Out

I still have 14 miles to get to the campsite I am planning on staying at tonight. And only a half a mile from the headquarters, I can see a water crossing. There is no way around this one, so let’s pull the shoes off and walk across barefoot.

This crossing is very wide and very deep. It is at least 150 yards long. And I find that about 2/3 across it is also very deep. The water here is even deeper than in the Everglades and gets my pants wet. But I make it across in one piece, just a little wetter than planned.

It turns out that for the next ten miles this scenario is going to repeat itself every half mile. I am really losing time having to stop and take my shoes off.

For short periods I put on the water shoes knowing that another one will come up soon. But the water shoes are wearing my feet out. They’re definitely not as comfortable as the dry shoes are.

When I am only about three miles from my campsite and it is well after 5: 00, I come across a bicyclist heading towards me. He is from Quebec and his English is not great. Is hard to communicate with him but I understand the trail ahead is very bumpy and there is more water. Yay water.

Sure enough, there are several more water areas that I have to wade through. About half of the water areas had a trail where you could bypass it. But the other half you had no choice but to go straight through.

Crossing the Kissimmee River

Once I make it out to the dirt road, I know there is no more water for many miles. About a half a mile away is another lock across the Kissimmee River. This one we get to walk across.

It is less than 30 minutes to sunset and the view of the lake is quite nice. But walking straight into the sun makes it hard to see things.

Walking into the Sun.

I finally make it to the campsite and there are many vehicles camped here. I thought there was a pitcher pump here, but when I check the information I find that the river is the water source.

As I begin collecting water from the river, one of the campers comes out and offers me a bottle of water. He is interested in my water filtration system. As we are talking, another camper comes up with a Great Dane. This dog is huge and is still a puppy, so he is very playful.

I leave them talking to go set up camp, which I make under the cover of a tree. I get things set up quickly and then grab my food to go borrow the picnic table of the camper who offered me the water.

We begin talking again as I am cooking dinner, and the other camper comes back with a different Great Dane this time. The first camper is from Cincinnati and escaping the snow.

The second camper is from the space coast and worked at the space Center for 33 years. I worked there for a 5-year period that overlapped his 33 years so we have a lot in common and chat about it a bit.

After dinner, I went back to my tent and set up my bed quickly. It is actually pretty chilly. It’s supposed to get down to 42° tonight. I may have to wear extra layers.

I also start researching the resort that I will go to tomorrow. Seeing that I now have blisters on my other foot, I decide I will try and book two nights and take a day off.

I need some time to recover before I push again. But I will say that between yesterday and today, I am starting to feel like I am properly conditioned for hiking again. It’s only my feet that don’t agree.

So for tomorrow I only have nine miles to the resort. Check-in time is not until 4:00 p.m. and seeing that it’s going to be cold tonight, I will probably sleep in a little bit tomorrow. But the swimming pool and hot tub at the resort are definitely calling my name.

Emotion of the Day

Refreshed is the best word I can think of for today.

Just having that shower and clean clothes on made me feel like a completely new person.

I ended up putting dirty clothes on to actually hike after I left the office. But even with dirty clothes on I still felt refreshed for many hours.

A shower is powerful medicine.

Day 12 Entering the Kissimmee Preserve State Park

There is a reason they call ibuprofen vitamin I. Sometimes it essential nutrition. And it works.

Start the Day in Water Shoes

I know the grass will be wet with dew this morning. I know I have a water crossing in the first 200 yards or trail today. Two reasons to put on wet shoes and socks this morning.

Putting on cold shoes and socks is never fun. It is doubly not fun when you have blisters. But at least they are not soaking wet.

I don’t get rolling until about 7:30 today. I have been avoiding that first plunge of the day. It is deep enough that the shoes get a full dunking. They are loaded with mud, too.

The dew from the grass is actually cleaning the shoes as I walk. The blister is not hurting at all. The tendon is still a little better but the cool water makes it stiffer.

After an hour, I exit this section of water management district land and begin another road walk. I stop to switch to the dry shoes. By now the tendon is warmed up and actually feels pretty good.

The road walk is on a small road and only lasts a few miles. Now I am entering a larger section which will take me to a new section – the Kissimmee Preserve State Park. This park requires an admission fee and paid backcountry camping sites. I have to pay tomorrow as I hike past the park office.

Better follow all the park rules.

Dry Shoes

The land here is dryer, and I can stay in my dry shoes most of the time. I think I switched to the water shoes or went barefoot only five or six times today. This is progress.

The tendon is a little bit sore still, but much better than yesterday. As long as I don’t flex it more than 90 degrees, it is good. This means more careful foot placement is required.

One of the highlights for today was walking past a spring that had been capped off and a hole drilled in the cap. It made a water fountain that looks like it is coming out of a tree. There are also some sour citrus trees around.

A water fountain just six feet off the trail in the middle of nowhere.

Another Hiker at Last

The final highlight of the day was running across another they hiker today. He started the day before me and is probably the same hiker I almost met on the dikes around lake Okeechobee. Small world.

He just finished the PCT three months ago. He plans to finish the Florida Trail and then jump out and do the Arizona Trail. Quite ambitious I am a little jealous.

We are both heading to the park office tomorrow. He is going to camp there. I will probably only take a shower then move on.

We both make camp at a campsite about six or eight miles from the office. There is a hand pump at this site. It is the first functioning hand pump I have found yet on the trail. I filter the water out of habit but it looks like it would be good to drink straight.

The first functioning hand pump I have encountered on the trail so far.

Emotion of the Day

Today is definitely relieved.

I am relieved that the blister is under control. I am relieved that the tendon is much improved today. I am relieved that ibuprofen is working. I am relieved to be able to hike a full day today. I am relieved that I am not the only one hiking this trail.

Day 11 Mud Hopping in the Kissimmee River Basin

I love hiking, but some days are just tough. Today was one of those days.

A Cool Evening

I Don’t know what the temperature was last night but it got pretty chilly. This morning was still brisk, but didn’t seem quite as cold.

I have 24 miles to the campsite I have reserved for tonight, so I need to get up fairly early. I managed to get packed and leaving at 7:15 which is a little later than I wanted.

The ground is dewey and the grass is well cut, but my shoes still get a little bit damp. I am wearing my dry shoes now, but I know I have some roadwalks ahead so I keep the dry shoes on. I think tomorrow I need to start out with the water shoes.

Road Walking

The road walk doesn’t last very long before the trail dips into the woods again. After just a few miles it pops out to the same road again. luckily, this road has very little traffic.

I am getting a little tired in my feet or so I stop at the exit of the trail onto the road walk. My blister is a bit sore and when I look at it I can see it’s swollen pretty well. I decide it’s best to lance it and let it drain, so that it doesn’t spread any further. The sewing kit comes in handy once again. I also have a smaller blister on the top of the big toe and put a band-aid on that one.

When I begin walking on the road again I can feel the pressure on the blister forcing out more fluid. After about a half a mile it actually feels pretty good. I think all the pressure has been relieved. But it also probably means I have a gooey sock. The Achilles tendon is pretty sore, but I will manage.

When I get to the end of this road, it intersects with a very busy and high-speed road. There is a wide shoulder and the grassy area is well mowed and easy to walk on.

There is a church across the street that supposedly has water, but I got one liter from the water cache a few miles back.

About a mile down this road walk and on coming car stops to talk to me. It turns out it’s local trail maintainers. They offered me an apple and a Gatorade. The apple I eagerly accept, because fresh fruit is so hard to get. Eventually, I accept the Gatorade as well, because I know I’m going to have a long hot walk today.

I talked with them about the trail conditions ahead. From the maps it looks like it’s going to be pretty wet. There is an alternate high water route for a portion of the next two sections.

The maintainer says the first high water route should be taken to avoid some wading. But the rest of the first section is just a few little mud puddles. The second section she said is dry enough you don’t need to take the alternate high water route.

I thought this style to the first section was going to collapse while I was crossing it. When it is tilted like this, you can’t fit through it with a pack on. Channel your inner octopus and slither through it while it is shaking and creaking.

Wading and Mud

The high water round on the first section basically just hugs the fence line of the property. But even then there are some moody spots that get my shoes a little wet.

But just as soon as the two trails meet again, I can see within a hundred feet that the mud is several inches deep. There’s no way I can walk through this with my dry shoes.

Hurray, mud!

So I stopped and put on my wet shoes, which are actually bone dry right now. They actually feel comfortable since they are well worn to my feet.

After taking the first few steps into the mud, I am surprised to see it is actually cool water and not hot. With black mud and only a few inches of water, I expected it to be very hot. The coolness of the water is actually refreshing.

The mud wading only lasts about 100 yards, maybe less. But then a few tenths of a mile further, there is more mud.

After about a half of mile with no more mud, I decided it’s time to put the dry shoes back on. But in less than a 10th of a mile it turns to mud again. This would be a repeating theme for the rest of the afternoon.

After the 4th or 5th time of putting the water shoes on, I stopped bothering you to even put shoes on at all and walked through the mud barefoot. It saved a lot of time.

I am so thankful the water is no longer this high. That water line is almost three feet high!

The trail on the second section hugged the fence line most of the time, but I went ahead and took the high water route. Oddly, it went through the middle of the park on a road instead of the fence line. I don’t think it made a difference either way.

Not Going to Make it

This was supposed to be a very long 24 mile day. But on the road walk, I could not do my normal 3 plus miles per hour. Because of my achilles tendon, it was more like two and a half. Going fast just put too much pressure on it.

On the trails, I was even slower. I could barely do two miles an hour. And every time I stopped to change shoes, I would lose another 15 minutes.

By the afternoon, it was obvious that 7:30 was about the most optimistic arrival time at the campsite. I was running low on water, so my first priority was finding a decent water source.

Just outside the park boundary is cattle country. Any water source shared on both sides is disgusting. And many of the water sources on the prairie side are not great either.

But I see a post in the comments of the hiking app about an unmarked site where a bridge goes over a creek. The commenter says the water is pretty good. I decided that would be my destination to refill on water. Then I will stop at the next decent campsite.

Once I get to the bridge, there is a good amount of water and it’s easy to get to because of the bridge. One side is covered with surface scum and looks disgusting. The other side looks pretty decent. So I stopped and filtered two liters of water. I collect some extra unfiltered water for cleaning my feet at camp.

Only 2/10 of a mile past where I filtered water, the trail goes through mud that requires taking shoes off again. Rather than deal with that tonight I decided I will turn around and go back to an area that looked like it would have decent camping.

I don’t want to have to deal with wet and muddy feet tonight. Because the area is very grassy I will be starting out in my water shoes in the morning. I may as well make that mud crossing the first part of my day.

Cold Soaked Dinner

When you have a long day or a lot of road walks, sometimes it’s easier to eat things that don’t require cooking. So at my stop in the morning, I put ramen noodles in my cold soak jar and then ate them for lunch several hours later. Ramen noodles taste pretty good this way if you only use half of the seasoning packet.

So at lunch I decided I would try it with the cheddar and broccoli rice that I intended to eat tonight. Many people on other long trails cold soak those dinners and say they taste fine. I am here to tell you that they’re disgusting.

I am not against cold soaking. I think it’s a wonderful idea to rehydrate something without having to boil it. But this evening’s rice and noodle dinner is intended to be cooked to thicken. When they are not cooked, you feel like you just eating flavored dirt. Think of trying to make gravy without heat. Yuck

I only have one more of those rice dinners and might eat it tomorrow. But you can bet your ass I’m going to cook it.

Emotion of the day

Disappointment is the first word that comes to mind.

Disappointed that my Achilles tendon is slowing me down as much as it is. Disappointment that the trail today slowed me down because all of the mud. Disappointment at the inaccuracy of the report from the locals.

But that is what hiking is all about. It’s not all fun and games. Most days are actually quite hard. This just happened to be one of those.

Day 10 Entering the Kissimmee River Basin

When I woke up, my foot felt much better but was still very tender to walk on. I also noticed some swelling in my left Achilles tendon.

Shopping is a Pleasure

I can go get the hotel breakfast now, but I have to wait an hour for Publix to open to go shopping. I head out 10 minutes early so that I can get there right as they are opening their doors.

I only have a few items I need to buy other than first aid for the feet. I was supposed to resupply at a gas station about a day and a half in, but their deli is not open on Sunday and that’s when I will be there. Plus it is a road walk to get to it and I think I need to try and avoid as many road walks as possible with my foot.

In the foot department I can find soft insoles, some sheets of moleskin, and a tiny pair of scissors. This will have to do.

Back at the hotel, I cut two big sheets of moleskin for my foot. I am basically covering the entire ball of my foot except for the spot that is blistering. The hope is that by raising the pressure around the blister that it will relieve the pressure on the blister. Either that or it will make my entire foot blister up.

I put on the thickest socks I have which are wool and not my favorite material for socks. Wool tends to be hot and captures moisture. I don’t have a single pair of the Thorlo socks that I normally wear. Who planned this trip?

Uber

I am packed up and ready to roll by 8:00 so I call for an Uber. It takes over 10 minutes to confirm a driver and when I get the driver I find out it’s the same one I got last night.

Once she picks me up, she says I’m the third hiker of the morning. She had just dropped a couple off at the end of the road and they are going to be hiking to where I’m starting. That means they took the Eastern route around lake Okeechobee and they have six more miles to finish at the same park I’m being dropped off at.

It would be nice if they could catch up to me. And as slow as I’ll probably go today, they probably will. I still have not actually seen any other hikers.

The trail from the park is another double track dike along the Kissimmee River. It is crushed shells for most of the way, so hopefully this will be easier on my feet.

Lock Tender

Right at noon I reach the lock where the trail moves away from the river. The lock tender is sitting outside in the lawn chair relaxing in the sun. Before I even have my pack off he is offering me a cold bottle of water.

We chat for a while and he encouraged me to eat my lunch in his office that has air conditioning and even better – shade. This is better than the back of the building where I was planning on earing. He even has a bathroom in his building. Luxury accommodations.

While I am eating, two boats approach and I get to watch him operate the lock. It’s basically open doors, let both enter, close doors, open other doors slowly to let the levels equalize, then open the other doors.

More Road Walking

I leave the lock at about 1:00 and begin an eight mile road walk. It is mostly on pavement but it is on a very low traffic back country road. But that doesn’t mean it’s not hot and hard on my feet.

Early on there is enough traffic that I have to find driveways to get off the road to find shade to rest. But the last two miles there are no driveways and I just pull off on the shoulder because there is much less traffic on this end.

The road eventually turns to dirt the last half mile. Then it is a half a mile to the campsite I have reserved.

Entering actual wilderness again.

The campsite has a pitcher pump but it is broken. There is a small pond right after the campsite, but it supposedly has giant alligators in it. I think the next reliable water is a church eight miles ahead.

After cooking, I will have about 1 liter left. It is probably not enough to get me to the church. The water situation will be interesting tomorrow.

The campsite itself has lots of oak trees. There are many good branches to hang a bear bag. There are also open views to the prairie all around. But most importantly, there are two good picnic tables.

I select my tent site as soon as I get there and immediately set up the tent. It is still early, only about 4:30, but I am not sure if and when the mosquitoes will arrive.

The next order of business is to take off the shoes and socks and inspect the damage. I took off my shoes many times during the day but left my socks on to help my body heat dry out the socks.

One of my fears is that I won’t be able to get the most skin off without damaging the blistered skin. I am relieved to find that it is still well adhered but very easy to pull off my skin. The blister looks a little more swollen and maybe it’s a tiny bit larger but it doesn’t look terribly bad. It is quite painful though.

I begin cooking dinner and then begin to do chores while I wait for it to rehydrate. As soon as the dinner and chores are done I plan to basically just hide out in the tent until I go to sleep.

My intentions were to catch up on blogging, but I am tired enough that I quickly fall asleep. It is going to be chilly tonight so I have more layers out ready to put on if I get cold.

Emotion of the day

I will choose pain as the emotion for today. While I think I might have a good handle on my blister treatment, that doesn’t mean it is not painful. Nearly every step today had some degree of pain associated with it.

And the sad part is when I actually got off the road and back on to the trail it seemed to be the worse. The uneven ground pressed the blister in unusual ways and caused pretty intense pain. It was also the end of the day when it was at it’s most tender. Let’s hope that starting out on the trail tomorrow, the pain is not as bad.