I slept well last night and woke up about the time I wanted to, but I didn’t get out until 6:30 a.m. when I was shooting for 6:00. It wasn’t warm last night but it wasn’t cool. It was one of those odd in between temperatures. But I guess it was cool enough to keep the mosquitoes away.

As I was packing up to leave I could hear church bells ringing not too far away. Apparently they were from the Catholic church at Holy Hill. I wasn’t able to see it until I was nearly an hour away and it was too small to take decent pictures of.

The trail this morning was a constant mix of meadows, woods, creeks, and hills. It seemed like it would change at least every half mile. There were a few short road walks mixed in to get from segment to the segment.

It is Sunday morning so the trails are filled with day hikers. I probably saw 50 hikers this morning. It was sunny but cool and breezy so it would be a perfect day for just about any sport.

There are several places to stop and get water today. But as long as it remains cool I think I have everything to need until my first stop at the convenience store which I should hit around 1:00 p.m.

The trail follows a river for several miles that has so many letters I can’t spell it. It begins with O and ends with OC, and includes many M’s and W’s. We crossed it a few times on various bridges. I even heard some kayakers at one point but the vegetation was too thick for me to actually see them. [Edit. Oconomowoc River]

The last four or five miles to the convenience store is mostly road walking. There is one small trail section a little over a mile that detours away from the road and then back later on. I could probably have shaved a mile if I had skipped the trail section and just stayed on the road. But the trail sections have been nice so I went ahead and stuck to the trail. I’m not sure this one was actually worth it but at least I’m keeping it as pure as I can.

The last mile and a half of the road walk was a little unnerving. It had just enough traffic to keep you from being able to walk on the road. And the shoulders were either steep or filled with thick vegetation and there were a few blind hills. But once past the convenience store, all that would change.

The convenience store was just a Mobile gas station. But they had a small deli inside so I was able to get a fresh ish sandwich and some pasta salad. I grabbed one Gatorade to keep me hydrated through the rest of the walk into town which is about 7 miles. I also drank a Dunkin donuts coffee as my afternoon caffeine. There were two picnic tables in the breeze where I could eat my lunch. It was one of the best gas station lunches I’d ever had and the bathrooms were immaculate. No, seriously, this gas stations bathrooms were immaculate.

Just a few tenths of a mile from a Mobile station, the trail turned onto pathways through town. This one started as just a walkway about 5 ft wide but it was paved. It weaved in and out of parks and around streams behind people’s houses. At least five of the next seven miles would be exactly like this or dedicated trails through woods. The remaining two miles were through neighborhoods with no traffic.

It really was a pleasant hike through the small town of Heartland. I could live here. Except not in the neighborhood by the golf course that they sent us through. The house is there were just gigantic.

The last half mile was along a golf course. And then the trail spit me out at a Walgreens just a few blocks from the hotel where I was headed. Where I’m staying is only two blocks off the trail which is convenient.

Two blocks in either direction are all the stores I need tonight. First up is a Sierra store. I have never been there but it looks like they have some form of sporting goods. It is organized really oddly and I think that there is nothing I need here until I walk by the cash registers and find stove fuel and dehydrated dinners. I don’t need stove fuel yet but it’s good to know that this chain sells it. But I am in need of three dinners so I might as well buy three of the brand of dehydrate dinners that I like which is Peak Refuel.

Chore number two is to get change and soap for doing laundry but I won’t actually do it until morning time. I will plan a late departure again because I only need to do about 15 miles tomorrow.

Chore number three is to get dinner. I have my choice of Five Guys, Applebee’s, or a local brewery. Went in a new town always pick local. I ordered just a chicken sandwich with a side salad and the sandwich was enormous. They actually stacked two chicken breasts on top of each other. The sandwich but must have been 8 in tall when they brought it to me. I just pulled one of the breasts off to eat the sandwich with one and then just ate the chicken piece later by itself.

Chore number four was getting groceries. The first rule of buying groceries is always do it on a full stomach to prevent your stomach from buying too much. Even though my stomach is full of chicken I think I still bought too much cuz it feels too heavy for 3 days worth of food. Not to mention I already have the dinners in the room. Things could get ugly tomorrow.

Emotion of the day, Relaxed – Again

The only hurried part of the day should have been waking up and packing up and getting going. But apparently I was relaxed then because I took an extra 30 minutes to get going.

But I never felt hurried during the morning or the afternoon. I was expecting to get to the hotel by 4:00 which is perfect timing for doing chores.

I took more breaks during the morning. After 9:00 a.m. I was just feeling a little lazy. I had eaten enough for breakfast it was granola and a Danish. But carb meals don’t keep you going the way fat meals do. So I was snacking most of the morning.

Getting a good lunch at the Mobil station gave me energy for the afternoon. I don’t think I took any breaks all afternoon but I easily could have. I just didn’t feel the need to. It was just a nice surprise to be walking on trails 7 miles to the town instead of on sidewalks or shoulders the whole time.

it was just a relaxing, sunny day. The kind of day perfect for taking a hike or just about any other outdoor activity.