Okay, the first half of the title isn't exactly true; it just rhymes. While today's walk went very well (great company, 10 degrees cooler and overcast, no traffic exactly when I needed no traffic, smaller segments rather than long stretches, lots of nice folks), there were three sock pit stops to try to make the blisters on my right foot stop complaining so much. That was a lot of time added to the day (I finished at just about 1:00). Anyone who does distance--hiking, running, walking, maybe even cycling--knows that you will eventually get blisters somewhere. (I think it's Newton's Fourth Law of Friction or something like that.) Once they appear, you have limited options: you can quit participating or you can deal with them so you can keep moving.
But dealing with them means stopping is a necessity, and that change in schedule can create unexpected results further down the line. That's the second half of the title. We presume that any alteration to our plans means we get something less. Today proved the opposite.
If yesterday's mission was about maintaining pace and sticking to a schedule, today's journey was the counterpoint to that--in many good ways. I had the privilege of starting the walk with Laurette Cameron and Kaye Douglass of the Poets of Friendship Haven, women who participate in a poetry gathering I get to facilitate on the last Friday of each month. Because Laurette mentioned that she would like to walk a bit with me, she inspired me to alter my original route; actually, I scrapped it and decided to start the day at Friendship Haven instead of at IU Kokomo. The practical effect of that decision provided me nearly ten miles on flat sidewalks and streets within Kokomo rather than the riskier county road journey I had originally planned. The more intrinsic effect of that decision allowed me to spend time with five remarkable women (see the photo) who don't define their lives by how many birthdays they have had. Kaye, Laurette, Lila, Marva, and Penny filled my morning with delight. And bless them, they not only wanted to walk but also wanted to donate money and/or join the organ donor registry. They each walked at least a mile, and most kept at it for a little over a mile and a half before they turned around to go home--keeping a very good pace. Their company encouraged me and put a spring in my step for the rest of the day. Stopping to consider a new way to do the mileage and changing the route created that serendipity.
The whole day was like that, including each time I was changing socks and ripping duct tape off my feet. (That's a little hiking tip from Becky Jones--cover your blisters with duct tape on your foot and outside the sock. It works really well, but put a bandage under the duct tape on your feet. Otherwise...ouch.) Some of those unexpected schedule and route changes resulted in
a chance to travel the Industrial Heritage Trail (past the Kokomo Praying Mantis, and don't ask me why that is downtown Kokomo's mascot) to learn more about the Haynes factory, where some of America's first automobiles were built (I would have been walking past house after house after house);
absolutely no traffic in either direction when I needed to cross Indiana 31 at Southway in Kokomo (I worried a lot about that potentially dangerous spot);
missing a rainstorm in the south end of Tipton (it was sunny by the time I arrived, and thank goodness because I left my poncho in the car);
keeping the big woofy dog on the porch in Tipton (because the sun came out in a big way after the rain and he was too hot to get up);
encountering many friendly, even chatty folks on the sidewalk in Tipton (each would have been somewhere else had I arrived any earlier).
And while that seems obvious, we sometimes lose sight of the fact that every change alters our experience. There is always a chance that alteration can lead us to what we were really looking for all along. Day Three was certainly that.
We'll see if that carries over. Tomorrow, my journey starts at my own front door--Arcadia to Noblesville. Look for me at El Camino!
