Round 2 of training began with some trepidation. If I had felt normal after the first go-round I wouldn’t have worried. I wondered if I was going to be too hot. Or, would I get home and feel dizzy for hours? I decided to go out at 7 a.m. to try and beat the heat. My backpack was now 3/4 full. I hadn’t even bothered to weigh it yet as I figured what would the weight matter since it wasn’t full. I had decided to wear shorts, a long-sleeved shirt, and a baseball hat that had mesh on the back. The hat change was so that the heat I was generating would be able to dissipate as I went. I also decided to carry an umbrella for shade. I was hoping for the best.

I got to the end of my driveway and headed North. Of course, I had to gather a swarm of deer flies as I went. Boy, do I hate them!!! I went by the neighbors, and when I got to the road by the West Two River I turned West onto a dirt road. I figured the hike around Spirit Lake was 2 miles. I had already gone a mile, so I figured a 4-mile hike would be great.

Before I got to the next road junction, I found a deceased kitten in the middle of the road. Two people had already driven by me, so I knew that had to have seen the kitten in the road. I looked to see who the closest neighbor was and realized that the kitten and come a distance. I moved it to the side of the road onto the grass in the hopes that someone would see it as I couldn’t carry the kitten from house to house.

I then turned north up the next dirt road. I didn’t get very far before I saw 2 deer staring at me as I approached them. They looked to be a year old. It didn’t take them long to think I might pose a danger and off they went into the woods. Next came the road construction. The Great Scott Township was dumping class 5 gravel to repair washouts from the last rainstorm over a month ago. Next came the grader, to smooth out the work.

At this next junction the grader driver just miles and waved. I did the same. It looked familiar to me and I could have sworn be looked like a semi-driver who worked for a trucking company that brought freight to L & M Fleet Supply when I worked in the warehouse there. I kept right on hiking.

I was hoping to see a farm of pigs that used to be down the road a few years back, but alas, there was only rhubarb growing there now. I walked by a friend’s home. Only the husband lives there now as my friend died at too young an age. Heart related I believe. She used to have the most beautiful-looking hens.

At the next junction of dirt roads, I headed North again. I walked past my cousin Mel’s place. All was quiet there, so on I went. When I finally was at the last dirt road junctions, I decided to take off my backpack, and have some water and a snack. Some people drove by, and I wondered if they wondered, what the heck was this gray-haired woman doing sitting on the corner of a dirt road with a backpack. I wondered the same. Lol

When my break was done, I walked East until I come to the tar road and headed South towards home. I had been using the umbrella and it was nice to have that shade when none was in sight. I started thinking, this sure seems further than 4 miles. I had been checking my phone in a GPS app. At one point it said 2.9 and later it said 2.3. I figured at some point my phone started to count down the miles to home. At most, I figured maybe I had gone 5 miles.

When I got home, I kept moving around the yard after I took my backpack off. I figured maybe I would feel better if I didn’t come to a screeching halt. It did help. I spent the next half an hour watering my pumpkin plants, tomatoes, peas, and cucumbers. By the way, this is the saddest garden I have ever had. First too much rain and cold and now no rain and scorching earth.

All I can say I guess is that I didn’t do myself in on the second day of training.