Jenista Trails

Saturday, August 26 Walk: 3 miles Ox Cart: 0 Temperature?  Who knows!  It was a fine day. What can I say?  It was a pilgrim party, a huge pilgrim party that started with photos and music and speeches at Howard Park.  It became a parade, spanning about a mile and including marching band, through town.  There was a somber period as we prayed at the graves of Father Sorin and the brothers who traveled with him from Vincennes to South Bend. It was pretty much contained chaos, especially so when we arrived on campus.  Mass was followed by a huge picnic on South Quad.  Although the school and community celebrated around us, it was a bittersweet day for the core pilgrims. I realize posts have been on the dry side  (just the facts, ma'am) and skeletal.  I had intended meatier recaps of each day but the Trail became bigger than I had ever imagined.  Even if I had retained more, had more time to pass it on to you, I don't believ...

Friday, August 25 Walk: 17.9 miles Ox Cart: 0 ? Degrees  (I am beyond behind and losing more of the info each day--it's become a tumble of memories.) It seemed strange to walk through neighborhoods and on city streets.  But it was cool to see the folks who came out to watch us go by.  Some watched from porches and waved.  Others waited at the curb to shake hands, take photos, cheer us on.  School children lined the sidewalk to high-five with us. I felt pretty much myself but my feet had reached that point--like on the Camino--where they felt like blocks of wood.  Lift, plod.  Lift, plod.  So I didn't really push myself. . .until I reached the rest stop that wasn't a stop.  We could grab a drink or use the toilets on the go.  People wanted to just finish. The remaing distance was 1.5 miles.  As I continued past, I was seized by the fact that, having traveled over 300 miles, 1.5 was close enough to taste the goal. ...

Tuesday, August 24 Walk: 15.3 miles Ox Cart: 2 miles 70 degrees It was a little alarming when I couldn't eat more than a few bites at breakfast.  Because they'd told me nausea was one of the symptoms to watch out for, I spoke with the Prompt women assigned to us that morning.  As a precaution, they gave me a shot of Zofran.  I was slightly discouraged since I'd woken up feeling better, hoping to be at peak performance.  Instead, I reminded myself that paying attention to my health was more important than how much of the Trail I covered.  After all, I wanted to be able to walk with incoming family on the last day. Walking wasn't quite the struggle as the two previous days.  The shot allowed me to keep fueling my body and the cool weather helped prevent overheating.  However, pit stops were becoming less useful.  Time was precious, the stops not really providing rest.  We rushed to use facilities, grab food and drink, reapply sunsc...

Wednesday, August 23 Walk: 13.8 miles Ox Cart: 0 miles Ambulance: 1.2 miles 72 degrees We started walking as a huge, combined group through the grounds of Culver Academies.  Since it was overcast and cool, it was an effort to remember to hydrate.  I thought my pace was slower because we were walking on uneven ground.  Yet, off campus, back on asphalt, I was only slightly faster.  Like the day before, my body seemed to have hit a wall.  It didn't bother me much because I felt now that I could let my body call the shots, rather than my will. At the rest stop just beyond Culver's campus, Jim and Jerri decided to go Blue for the short 2.5 leg.  Their plan was to start at the front and gradually fall back to Blue Ox.  I declined to join them--my body wasn't up for it and I didn't care to force it into that punishing pace. The Trail took us out of the shady environs in and around Culver, but it was still a bit overcast and sometimes breezy. At th...

Tuesday, August 22 Walk: 15 miles Ox Cart: 1.5 miles 77 degrees, rain We started off the first day with the 5-day pilgrims (almost 100) in the rain.  Producers and ISP were monitoring for lightning, which thankfully did not appear during our walk.  Eventually, it cleared up but remained overcast and cool.  Many of us kept on rain gear for a while because the forecast called for torrential rain ahead of us. The dynamic of this group, its larger number, was significantly different from the core group. The intimacy was gone but anonymity became possible.  I was just another body among many.  I ebbed and flowed from front to back as I engaged in conversation or needed to change pace.  There was less pressure to perform to an external standard.  New pilgrims, knowing no differently, were on and off the ox cart to rest or to seek foot care. Meanwhile, I was drenched with sweat because wonderfully water-resistant ponchos by definition don't breathe. ...

Monday, August 21 Walk: 13 miles Bike: 18 miles Ox Cart: 0 88 degrees; Real Feel ? Third time' s a charm?  Been having trouble with wifi and Blogger.  Hopefully, this time it'll post. This was probably the most unique birthday I've had--on the ND Trail, watching a solar eclipse. Our last as core group.  Last day of biking so Katherine let us choose to bike more of the walking miles.  Last opportunity for the reprieve for tired, aching feet?  Oh heck yes!  I'm gonna miss my bike and my bell. Photos of the dinner settings tell the story of how well they are feeding us than I could. Jim taking in the scene. The Wabash in the early morning.