I spent the night outdoors, on Georgiana’s center concert stage. Though I stayed up till midnight, resting on a rocking chair while charging my phone on the porch of the adjacent Hank Williams Museum, I’d still hoped to awaken & depart around 6 AM. My body, however, was telling me otherwise: more rest!
Yesterday’s miles have taken a toll on me, and I’d really prefer to simply rest & recharge today–even if I’m still somewhat sticky after sweating through sunscreen all day yesterday. I didn’t finally arise till 9 AM, when the lawnmowing contractor showed up to service the grounds, parking in front of me. I said hello to him, and received a “who’s-this-weirdo-bum” look in response. (It probably would have helped to have had my signs out and aimed at him.)
After some restorative yoga & meditation for the next hour, I repacked my belongings and prepared a green superfood+protein+chia shake, materially ready to return to the road. Making my way outta town, a locally-owned, “Unhealthy Foods R Us” style restaurant with a blown out front sign invited me in for a free meal. (Yay!) While it’s typically true that a plethora of additional pounds are to be found on nearly all patrons and staff of such joints, a much louder-to-me and happier truth appeared with their extremely sweet, love-thy-neighbor attitudes. I explained my advocacy simply to them: “more walking; more water.”
It’s almost 11 AM here, and 17 WARM miles await me to reach Greenville, where I’ll once again arrive unexpectedly to townspeople, and seek to make the best of possible scenarios…