Left the house this morning at 8 AM. Instead of the fast march pace, I held it to a comfortable 4 MPH (15 minutes/mile). Traveled west on SE 29th Street as far as Sooner Road, then one mile north to the Del City Wal-Mart store. That made it roughly 9 miles. I lost about 15 minutes to check a hot spot on one foot. You learn a lot about a pair of shoes or boots after 5 miles in them. There is no blister, but the shoe presses in at one place. Walking to Wal-Mart included the purpose of getting some better socks and some ankle-high nylon hose. These will cut down on the general friction. After I put my socks back on, the ball of the foot was a wee bit raw from the sock being stretched again.
My sign was made from a half-section of 7/8″ light plastic water conduit. It was top heavy, and one side was hard to read, so I’ll have to re-make that one. I tried to make it reusable with a mounting frame, but that was too much weight. I’ll strip it down in the future. I also made myself a belt clip on which to rest the bottom of the sign, but it turned out to be troublesome in the long run. I learned to simply cup it in one hand or the other and cradle it in my arm. It stayed mostly upright without trouble, with some wobbling. I’ll need to make some sort of handle at the bottom to make it more comfortable.
One fellow driving the opposite direction honked, smiled and waved. Another fellow out checking his roadside mailbox thanked me for doing it, and blessed me. Those were both outside the suburban density area. Once I got past Post Road, traffic began to thicken a bit, speed limits were slower, and I got less direct eye contact. Several police officers waved at me, as patrols were a little thick.
Were it not for the shoe trouble, I could have easily kept going for another hour, maybe more. However, as the summer heat comes on, it may be a lot harder. I won’t know until I try it.
