Thursday, May 17, 2007
Day 40
Start: Hwy 6, 4 miles south of lynndyl, Utah
Finish: Somewhere on Hwy 132, Utah
Total: 15.2 miles
What a beautiful morning. I started out at good pace and soon was
passing through the small town of Lynndyl, Utah. It tool me all of 5
minutes. I then turned east onto highway 132. This road would
eventually take me into the fertile valley's that one Brigham Young
once saw and knew to be the new home of his people.
Today is the day before my birthday and I passed through an area that
I would call the transition zone between the desert and the pre-alpine
fertile valley's. Here there was an equal balance of plant life from
both zones. As my teacher Beautiful Painted Arrow taught me to do, I
wondered what the metaphor of this happening was for me. What I came
up with was this... Just as the the earth was transitioning between
two very different zones so too was I transitioning, not just between
the age of 45 and 46 (my birthday is tomorrow) but between my life of
the past 15 years and a distinctly new one to come. As I've written
earlier, I feel as if I've been given a new start or chance since the
time of my surgery this past August. And this walk has opened my eyes
and my heart to so many new possibilities, while at the same time
giving me the vitality needed to pursue them. So without getting too
wordy about this, as I walk through this earthly transition zone I am
also walking through a transition zone within myself. Today my body is
45, tomorrow it will be 46. This was hard for me to describe, but I
hope you grabbed the jist of it.
After turning onto Highway 132 the road became exciting as it twisted
and turned it's way down into a fertile valley while heading to a gap
between two mountains that I could see in the distance. This may sound
funny as slow as walking is and all, but after all the long straight
roads, I felt like I was on a roller coaster coming down that big
hill. Yee Ha!
It was getting greener and greener too, beautiful. Soon I entered the
very small town of Leamington, a farming community that had many
relics of it's past scattered here and there. And lots of big shady
trees and green green fields. I really loved this place. If you ever
get a chance to pass through Leamington, make sure to slow down, and
even get out, so that you can soak in the lovely vibe there. Thanks
Leamington.
A few miles beyond of Leamington I came upon these bee hive shaped
cones made of large bricks. They stood about 16 feet high I'd say and
they were old. It was in these where they would bake coal and turn it
into charcoal. (see pic) I peeked over the guard rail into one, neat.
About a half mile up the road William drove up to me on the opposite
side of the road, got out of the van and came running across the road
to speak with me. "You'll never guess what just happened Skip", he
said. I said,"what just happened?"
He said, "Remember those charcoal ovens back there?" I said "yes" He
said, "Well, I jumped over the guard rail to read the placard and
landed a couple of inches from a huge rattlesnake. Holy shit, it
scared the crap out of me me when he rattled. I just froze. I guess it
was the right thing to do because after raising his head up at first,
he dropped down and started to slither away into the grass. I was
scared, but I got his picture." I said, "let me see it" So he ran back
to the van and got the camera (see pic) Now that's a honker of a
snake. By far the biggest seen on this trip.
About a half mile more and i decided to call it quits after only 15.2
miles, the reason being was that I had to get back to Delta before the
post office closed. I was expecting birthday packages and tomorrow
we'd be too far from delta to return. So off we headed, back to Delta
and it's post office. Yeah my packages were there (though I would find
out a few days later that one my Mom had sent hadn't) I got a pair of
those colorful rubber gardening clogs that are so popular, the very
ones I'd made fun of the past couple of years. And they were bright
blue. But after trying them on and taking only a couple of steps I saw
why people loved them so much. They are way comfortable. I will never
make fun of them again, and anyone who makes fun of mine well, I'll
just forgive you for you'll know not what you're doing" I also
received some lovely art work from my boys Quinn and Galen. In another
envelope i received a musical card from my Dad and Sister. I loved it
and it made me laugh over and over.
Just as we were about to pull out and head to the motel I said hello
to an older gentleman by the name of Leo Hollingshead who returned my
greeting with loving enthusiasm. Another friend. (see photo) We ended
up standing there talking for what must've been an hour. He is a
sincere lover of God and it showed in every gesture. What a wonderful
man, what a blessing. He told us about some product that he swears by,
one that was created by divine inspiration through a man he's met
before. It's called soap but you can use it for a million and one
things, both inside your body and outside. I've been bathing and
showering with it a couple of times and my skin loves it. We made
arrangements to meet that evening where we could get to know each other
better. He'd also tell us more about this product. (he ended up giving
us a bunch of it)
We had a wonderful time together. I recognized him as an old dear dear
friend, from where or when I do not know, but I knew I knew him, and
I'm not talking this time around.
When it was time to part the three of us held hands for a long time,
speaking words of endearment and appreciation. Tears of gratitude and
love were plentiful. I felt as if he had come to usher me into my new
era.
Thanks for checking in.
My Walk Jouranl