6/11/2011
Swimming with the kids was fun yesterday but, combined with an upper body workout in the hotel, it left me crippled. I mustered all my strength to get up for check out. It was the first time on this trip I checked out after the designated time. To top it off, the sky was dark and I felt tiny drops of precipitation. No doubt I felt dreary. Luckily Elwood is pretty close in proximity to Dwight. Despite all the factors weighing me down, I fell into a nice stride and I began to pass town after town.
It was in Braidwood that I decided to break for lunch. As I was about to have my meal, two lovely ladies came over and asked if I was Dennis. Linda and Michaelanne had come from their shops across the street to greet me. Apparently, Ellie had sent an e-mail to people in the towns ahead of me to keep an eye out for me. (Thanks Ellie) I had been checking out the cement statues at Linda’s shop right before I decided to eat. The garden was filled with angels and anyone that knows me knows my obsession with angels. So, I was pleased to be invited to take a look around. Michaelanne runs the flower shop in the same building. After having a little tour of the place, I received an angel of strength coin from Michaelanne and several cookies from Linda. Both would come in handy shortly.
With twenty-five miles still ahead of me, it was time for me to hit the road. Oh did I fail to mention I had been rerouted to Joliet. What’s an extra half marathon for the day? The miles just sound like numbers to me these days. As I started running again, I began to get stomach cramps. This was unusual but, it was a very unusual day. There were even a couple of cops that passed me but they didn’t stop me. Perhaps they too had received the e-mail from Ellie. But surely Jean-Phillipe a tourist from Paris couldn’t have received the email. He hadn’t even passed Pontiac yet. We had both just arrived in Wilmington and we were both taking a picture of the Gemini giant. How did this guy know who I was? Something is happening that I don’t know about. He asked if he could take my picture and of course I let him.
I decided it was time to bear down and take the last stretch. Like every day of this journey, you never know what’s going to happen. Today, I couldn’t have foreseen the way google maps would utterly fail me. On my phone it showed a road that ran straight. I followed the directions perfectly. There was even a blinking light to show my exact location. The location was correct but I hit the end of the road. Literally! Before me were thick trees, followed by train tracks, a wall, and then a fence. What was worse, it grew very cold and it looked as if the rain might come down. I took a minute and pulled out the angel of strength coin. As I looked at the coin, I felt calm as well as hungry. Ha ha! I had cookies to eat. Oh my, these cookies just melted in my mouth. I put them away like Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. These two little items helped me power up and find my way around the tracks.
I found my way back on to the supposed straight road and found that, yes, it continued on the other side of that wall. I crossed a huge river with a narrow bridge but it didn’t bother me. I found my stride and my second wind. It carried me all the way to the Elks Motel in Joliet.
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