DAY 45 ~ 10/29/21

As the RV passed us while walking this morning, Clarence stopped, and then a truck came slowly passed him and stopped to talk to us as well. The guy said is that your RV? We said yes. He said are you walking across the country? We said Yep we’re going to the ocean of Texas. He said well welcome to Arkansas. We said are we in Arkansas? (We knew we weren’t there yet). He said oh wait we’re in Missouri oops I came from Arkansas :-) Too cute!!

Another truck stopped and said y’all good? We just said yes and he said all right-ee then. The southern drawl is getting thicker!

Another guy stopped and said are you guys just out for a walk? We told him the story and he said oh man I seen you guys a while back and said to myself there they are again there still walking? He asked a couple of really good questions. What are you doing if it rains and where do you sleep?

We were meeting the RV/Clarence at a designated stopping point for lunch and noticed him driving towards us down the road. He pulled into a turn in point which we thought would be where he would be stopping, but then shortly there after, he backed out. We were a 1/4 mile away so we couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like he was backing right into the ditch!! After several minutes of him not moving, we knew he was now stuck and yes was indeed in the ditch. It is so weird that it happened right before our eyes. A few calls to AAA and Good Sams Club, as well as a sherif showing up; we secured a wrecker who was on the way. Randy’s Towing showed up a hall hour later and got us unstuck within a few minutes. When I was paying the bill, he said it’s a good thing all it needed was a winch and not a tow. I joked and said winch isn’t really a good word is it. He said yeah and I’m a hooker too. We laughed. He then said and I’m not a very cheap hooker either. He was great fun! Clarence felt bad. He said all he was trying to do was avoid the mailbox!

Joan and I walked a total of 13.9 miles today. It was the first fall feeling day of the trip so far. Cloudy skies, low 50° temps, windy and fall leaves blowing everywhere. It was a great day of walking even though we both felt pretty tired. There were hills again today but they seemed more gradual at least, thank goodness.

Once again we had a pack of dogs run out to greet us, and then follow us up the road at least a half mile. I am beginning to think that the dogs around here just don’t get many walkers! And since it doesn’t happen very often they don’t want to part ways!!

The music festival here is very loud and goes until midnight. As much as I love music, it is hard to shut the ears off to go to sleep. Since sleep is the priority, we all bought and will be using earplugs for tonight!