Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Only the Mediocre are always at their best

Only the mediocre are always at their best.   -Somerset Maugham

I am slowly slipping out of the grip of the diphenhydramine (Benedryl) induced stupor that seizes me every June when the Orchard Grass starts to pollinate.  I tried the "non-drowsy" antihistamines and found that they increased the gravitational pull by approximately 40%.  They might have been "non-drowsy" but I sure got tired fast and the gravitational fields surrounding the recliner and couch would reach out and suck me in from fifteen feet away.

One of the items on my bucket-list is to walk home from a distant place.  My original plan was to walk home from the Detroit airport to Eaton Rapids, a distance of about 90 miles.

A problem that can be broken into several smaller challenges is a problem half solved.  The concept morphed into a series of shorter walks with your hero, me, being transported from the start-and-end of the walks each day.*  Suddenly, the insurmountable becomes the proverbial walk in the park, albeit six, 15 mile walks in the park.
Virtually an identical distance.

Then the ever-wise Mrs ERJ suggested that perhaps walking home from Allendale, Michigan might be more advantageous.  She pointed out the fact that the route would be significantly more rural and the bonus that the denizens of Ottawa, Kent and Barry county Michigan are irrepressibly nice people.

The other advantage is that I can lean on Belladonna to perform the first couple of transportation legs.  I can park at her apartment and she can drop me off or pick me up.

Ultimately, I want to walk both routes.  And if I get to feeling really peppy, I might even try to walk them straight through without the support of going home each night.  Ideally, that would happen in September or October after the frost knocked down the mosquitoes and when the corn was tall enough to provide many, many places to hunker down out-of-sight of the rowdy kids.

Do you, my readers have any opinions?  Detroit Metro Airport-to-Eaton Rapids first or Allendale-to-Eaton Rapids first?

*Not technically how we would pull it off.  I would drive to the departure point and park the truck.  Then I would phone my "ride" approximately an hour before hitting my end-point.  I would get picked up and transported back to my truck and we would both drive home.  This approach provides a lot of flexibility.  If I am feeling great I can walk farther than originally planned.  If I get sick or crap out, I can pull the plug earlier.

5 comments:

  1. If it works, more power to you!

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  2. I would drive the anticipated route first, on all of the roads you would walk on, which are not necessarily the route you are used to driving.
    Get comfortable, well-broken in shoes first and carry lots of water!

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    1. Thanks for the advice. I have driven most of the intended routes but not with the intention of walking them.

      I took Herc for a three mile walk yesterday and Zeus for a seven mile walk today. At eighty degrees F it looks like twenty oz of water an hour is about the right amount. Boots are "OK".

      Chafing is an issue but self-correcting to some degree as the rubbing parts are mutually depilating.

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  3. Let me know if you want to start at Pontiac airport in Waterford. I can pick you up in Charlotte and then drop you off at KPTK, it would be about 90 miles or so back to Eaton Rapids and a bit nicer starting area for walking than the Detroit Metro/Romulus area.

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