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Kentucky – Saturday, December 15

I had ended up in the town of Richmond, and thought I’d start with a little walking there before driving on. Once again there was a nice downtown area which led me to some nice residential areas, which led me to Eastern Kentucky University and we walked all around that campus, which was pretty quiet. I’m guessing most of the students had headed home for the holidays. So we ended up with a nice long 4.8 mile walk for the morning. They had a Gulf gas station in town, and I don’t see too many of those – reminds me of traveling as a kid! Then I headed for the town of Berea, but stopped along the way at the Richmond Battlefield. It was sprinkling on and off, but not enough to prevent me from being outside. We walked on the paths of the battlefield, and learned it was the site of one of the most decisive Confederate victories. The huge numbers of soldiers involved in these individual battles continues to amaze me. This one had 9000 Confederate soldiers fighting against the 6500 Union soldiers who were sent to stop them. Almost 5800 of the Union soldiers were either killed, injured or taken prisoner during questionable decisions by the commanding officer – it’s difficult to comprehend those kinds of numbers. They had a memorial plaque to honor a large group of soldiers from Michigan. We nearly finished the day’s walking there, but with heavy rain in the forecast for tomorrow, I thought I’d drive on to Berea to get a little walking in for tomorrow’s miles. Berea was also a great walking town. It’s a town known for artists and their studios, and that’s the part of town I started in. I left Tula in the car for this walk – she had been off-leash at the battlefield and had run and scampered all over the place, and I figured she had had enough. I headed into the main part of town, which had a lot of pretty Christmas lights. Berea College was right there, and I walked through that too – not a big campus, but a pretty one. I walked way out along one of the residential streets and that led to a relatively short bike path, and back to the residential street. I was worried the rain was going to start coming down harder and had forgotten my rain jacket, but it let up again. I really enjoyed the walk, and got in another 3 miles – making it another 11 mile day. But that only leaves 6 for tomorrow in case it’s rainy.

Then, even though it was 7:00 at night, it was time to take care of my donation-of-the-day. Berea had a food pantry, and they also had a wish list of canned fruit, fruit juice, vegetable oil and tuna. They said they would be happy to take donations at any time of day, and indicated there was a large box and shelves out on the front porch of their food pantry. I drove by it to make sure there was indeed a place to leave things, then went shopping. I felt kind of strange leaving bags of groceries on the front porch in the dark, but I just had to have faith that they would still be there Monday morning (or maybe the church people would find it on Sunday) and if not, then someone really needed it, so that would be okay too! So this was new for me – just dropping something off and not talking to anyone.

At this point I got a bite to eat and drove west for a couple hours – it was nice to just be in the car!

Kentucky – Friday, December 14

I knew my animal-related donation in Kentucky would have something to do with horses, since horses and Kentucky seem like they’ll be forever joined! I had given some thought about whether to make a donation to a horse-rescue facility, or the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation which would be used for educational and outreach purposes – and the KHP Foundation won out. So I went back to the Kentucky Horse Park and found the Foundation office, and made my donation. They were happy to get it, and even gave me a Breyer horse ornament – which I will have to wait until next Christmas to use! The Kentucky Horse Park is a dog-friendly place (except for the museum areas), which kind of surprises me with the horses around – and there’s a lot of land. Tula and I ended up walking through a lot of the property, including the attached campground area and went through the 2 mile lightshow area and back, and saw all the displays by the light of day. All the displays have metal frameworks to hold them up and lots of wires and cables to get them in place even in the wind. I can’t imagine setting all that up – none of that is visible during the light show and it was interesting to see some of the work that went into it. We then walked through all the stable areas and visited the big memorial where Man O’ War is buried – possibly the best racehorse of all time. We watched a display of horses – and Tula just laid down and took a nap til it was over. I’m glad she’s used to horses! They had a miniature horse who was interested in Tula during the “meet and greet” after the show, but Tula wasn’t too sure about that – she’s used to big horses, not something just a little bigger than her! They also had a Marwari horse – an unusual breed from India that nearly died out, and there are only 10 of them in the U.S. and KHP has 3 of them. They have very unusual curved-in ears, which is one of their identifying characteristics. It wasn’t crowded at all, and altogether Tula and I covered 6 1/2 miles, then we were ready to move on.

Before I left though, I made a phone call to the Eastern Kentucky Veteran’s Center about my second donation-of-the-day (to make up for last Sunday). I had learned that they are lucky enough to have a therapy dog named Graham, who is apparently very popular with both the residents and the staff. Graham usually is at the Veteran’s Center during the week, but the recreation director (who Graham stays with) was not in today, so neither was he. The receptionist told me that Graham is very helpful, and can deliver mail to the residents, turn lights on and off, and he also is able to help with some of the physical therapy exercises. There is actually a “Graham Fund” as one of the items on the Veteran’s Center wish list for donations, and that was what I was calling about. The money they receive for the Graham Fund goes toward food and vet bills and the rest of his upkeep, so they can keep him in the program. Since Graham was not in today, and I woulds no longer be in Kentucky on Monday, they just gave me the address of the Veteran’s Center, and I mailed in a donation. That takes care of my military-based donation for the week.

Then I started to drive east, and soon came to Winchester which looked like a good walking town, and we enjoyed walking through a big downtown area, which had a lot of interesting old buildings, and way out into some residential areas, and just kept going! It was a very pleasant afternoon/evening. We covered another 4 1/2 miles and by the time the sun went down, we had covered 11.1 miles – making up most of what I needed to! We didn’t have to drive far to the motel, and I was hoping for an early start in the morning before the forecasted rains were due to begin.

Kentucky – Thursday, December 13

When I was researching food pantries in the Lexington area last night, I read about one called Open Hands Community Food Pantry, and I liked the name. It was located in Lawrenceburg, which is a bit southwest of Lexington. So I called them to make sure they were open, and to see if there were any items in particular that they might need. They told me they could really use cooking oil, sugar and peanut butter – a combination of items I haven’t shopped for before!

I headed out in that direction, but soon was easily distracted by a sign for Midway’s Historic District. I always like walking through historic districts, and thought a short walk would be good so Tula could get out a bit before I stopped to shop. Our short walk turned into nearly 3 miles – the small historic district was cute, with lots of unique looking shops, and lots of people doing Christmas shopping. We wandered into neighborhoods, and got far enough out of town that I was getting into horse country again – sadly, the sidewalk ran out right as the “scenic drive” was starting. I walked past a restaurant with a big sign advertising their soup-of-the-day – Bourbon Maple Carrot with Spiced Walnut Creme Fraiche and Cinnamon Nutmeg Croutons – I have no idea how people dream up this stuff – it sounded like a dessert to me! I was tempted to try a bowl, but didn’t want to take the time to sit in a restaurant for a while.

Then I drove to Lawrenceburg and found a grocery store and loaded up the cart with vegetable oil, peanut butter and sugar. Once again I was glad for the GPS to find the food pantry! I met Debbie and Katie there, and as we were carrying the bags in, they wondered how I found them, and I told them what I was doing, and they were wonderfully supportive and excited about the journey. They wanted to meet Tula, and we took some pictures. They have a nice organized space in their food pantry, and the recipients can make some choices of what to get within the different food groupings – depending on family size. They said anyone needing baby food can come in as often as they need to, even if it’s once a day. It was fun talking to them, and they told me about a community park with a paved walking path, so that’s where Tula and I headed. We did a couple laps of the 1.1 trail in a pretty park.

Then I headed for Versailles, which was another town with some historic neighborhoods. The drive there was beautiful – winding hilly roads through horse farm country – views I never get tired of! The town of Versailles was really pretty – I’m enjoying seeing all the different kinds of Christmas decorations and lights. Walking through town led me to one of the historic neighborhoods with grand old homes, and that led to another park with a maze of paved trails, and I got another 3+ miles of walking in. It was pretty to see the big houses both in late-afternoon daylight, and then just after dark on my way back when all the Christmas lights were on.

Then it was time to head back to Lexington, and another visit to the Kentucky Horse Park for a little more Christmas shopping – one of the vendors had run out of something I wanted, and promised to have more tonight. The only way to get to the craft/art area was to go through the light show again, but since I had my stub from last night, and explained I was picking something up from one of the vendors, they let me in for free. So I was able to enjoy the light show again, and saw a few things I had missed the night before (it’s hard to see everything with displays on both sides of the road). I got the gift I wanted, then decided to briefly go through the history of human and horse display again. And somehow last night I totally missed the Arabian Horse exhibit, and they had desert tents set up, and great displays of the history of the breed. There was even a Black Stallion area, with all those Walter Farley books I loved to read as a kid.

By this time it had gotten late, and very cold. Daytime temps have been unusually warm for this time of year, and it’s been sunny, but there’s frost at night, and I was glad my motel was close by.

Kentucky – Wednesday, December 12

I left Tara’s house a little before noon and got back into Kentucky a few hours later. I made my way toward Lexington, trying to figure out a good place to get out and walk. When I saw the signs for historic Georgetown, I knew I had my spot. Georgetown had a nice downtown area, lots of neighborhoods and Georgetown College to walk through, and we covered 4 1/2 miles before dark walking all over the place. Then I headed for the Kentucky Horse Park, where Tara’s friend Paige had told me there was a wonderful light show. And she was right! It was a wonderfully festive display of “animated” Christmas scenes (The 12 Days of Christmas was a highlight); fairy tale/Disney/cartoon scenes; and horse scenes. My favorite scene was a starting gate at a race track with numerous horses breaking out in a race. It’s astonishing how they can use wire and lights to create scenes with such detail that the racing horses actually appeared to be moving (while taking a walk down there by the light of day I could see the framework for 12-15 horses at different points in their stride, and they were just lit up in sequence which made it seem like they were moving.) At the end of the nearly 2 mile long light show (mostly through the campground on the Horse Park property), visitors had the choice of going inside the visitor center where local craftspeople had set up lots of booths, and the international horse museum. I went in and actually accomplished some Christmas shopping, and I went through the museum which highlights the relationship between human and horse back to the beginning of known history. I had been to the Kentucky Horse Park back in 2010, but I think we missed the museum in favor of all the other outdoor shows and programs going on at the time. I was glad to see it now. There were also model train displays, doll house displays, a petting zoo for kids, lots of fair-type snacks (fresh-popped kettle korn – yum!), and pony and camel rides for kids. It was a very enjoyable Christmasy evening. It was a long walk from the far end of the parking lot, and then thru the Horse Park to the museum, and I got another mile in (more actually, but I’m only counting one). I have 2 1/2 miles to make up for today, and combined with the extra miles I need to make up for Sunday when I left for Ohio, I will be doing some extra walking during my remaining days in Kentucky!

I stayed nearby in Lexington, where I had found a very reasonable rate at a motel (that AARP card has saved me lots of money!). Since I had arrived late in Kentucky, I didn’t hold out much hope of making a donation today. But as I started looking into different food pantries and getting some ideas for upcoming donations, I ran across a website for God’s Pantry Food Bank, which seems to be a combination of many churches and non-profits in the area that reach out to help people in a large geographical area. The fun thing to read about on their website was a 12/12/12 Goodgiving Guide Challenge where numerous non-profit organizations had a contest to see which one could raise the most money between 12 noon and 12am on 12/12/12, and the prize was a $1212.12 contribution from the Council of State Governments. So that’s where my $56.12 donation-of-the-day went – I couldn’t pass up a fun opportunity for a special 12/12/12 donation!

Ohio – Monday and Tuesday, December 10 and 11

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Ohio – babysitting both days; playing with the 2-yr-old and snuggling with the 3-month-old. Happy times! Busy times! Enjoyed some good food, and even got some Christmas packages ready to mail. It was a wonderful early Christmas visit.

Now, time to continue with Kentucky!

Kentucky – Sunday, December 9

I woke up to thunder and lightning – haven’t heard much of that on my journey so far. It was raining hard, so I took my time getting ready and packed up, and the storm began to move on. I decided to take a gamble on the rain, and headed out for a walk in Bardstown with Tula. Bardstown is a fun old town, dating back to the late 1700s when it was a popular stagecoach stop for people like Daniel Boone, and other prominent political and social people of the times. It’s also a central location for numerous bourbon distilleries – the local water and limestone provide the perfect conditions for producing all the bourbon. It still amazes me to drive past so many huge rectangular 3 to 6 story brick buildings that are all used for storing the aging bourbon in thousands of charcoal singed barrels (and each barrel can only be used once). There are still old inns and taverns in town, and the rain let up and I thoroughly enjoyed a 3 mile walk past old historic buildings, a festive Main Street, and out into neighborhoods. Even though it was a rainy Sunday morning, there were a lot of people out and about. With a late start and a long walk, I couldn’t resist stopping for a very late breakfast at Mammy’s Cafe – with a name like that, it had to be good, and it was!

I then continued heading toward the Kentucky/Ohio border – I’m taking a 2-day break in Ohio for some grandma time and babysitting the 2 grandkids. I can’t let toooo much time pass in between visits with them! Along the way I stopped in La Grange for some more walking, and got in 1.7 miles before the rain started again. La Grange has a long Main Street with what I thought were old trolley tracks running down one side of the street. Then I heard a freight train coming, and realized they were train tracks, not old trolley tracks. The huge, long train went right through the whole town with no fences, guard rails or anything – right along all the parked cars. It just seemed a little out of place – kind of dwarfing all the shops. But there are signs saying trains are not allowed to blow their horns in town.

Since I wanted to get to Tara’s house before it got too late, I didn’t make a donation today and will simply double up on a day when I’m back in Kentucky. And I will walk the remaining miles for today later too. I made my way to Ohio through the rainy gray late afternoon – looking forward to a warm fire, homemade soup and family time 🙂

Kentucky – Saturday, December 9

I had arrived in the west side of Kentucky kind of late, and stayed at the first pet-friendly place I could find, which was in Mayfield. This morning I started reading up about the surrounding area, and discovered there was a 5K Jingle Bell Run/Walk up in Paducah, which was only about a 1/2 hour away. I’d been reading a lot about these Jingle Bell walks, which support The Arthritis Foundation. Different towns have been hosting these events for a couple weeks, but I never seemed to be near one til now. Even though I would miss the actual start of today’s race, I knew I would still be able to get there to make a donation, and could dedicate my own walking to the Arthritis Foundation – I just wouldn’t be part of the race. So I drove up there, and found the park it was being held in. The adult event was over and there was a Candy Cane walk for kids going on. Never having been to one of these before, I didn’t expect to see so many people dressed in holiday-themed outfits! And that included dogs too – one lab was elaborately dressed an an elf with a large coat, big bell around his neck, and a hat. I don’t think I could get Tula to dress up! I found the tent where the organizers were, and told them that even though I hadn’t participated in the 5K race, that I’d still like to make a donation, and that I would walk on my own in support of the Arthritis Foundation. They were happy to get a post-race contribution, and were very supportive of my journey (I explained how I had missed the race) and they took my picture for a newsletter, and gave me a t-shirt anyway. Then Tula and I set off on the trails around the park, and covered 2.5 miles there. The one bad thing that happened was I somehow lost my pedometer, which had taken a while to get calibrated just right, and I was disappointed to find it missing. The only thing I could think of was that it fell off while I was leaning over cleaning up after Tula, but I went back and checked that spot and a couple places, and no luck.

From there I drove into the historic part of Paducah. I have driven through Paducah in the past – in the summer of 2010 when Kentucky was my annual “state-of-the-year” – but we didn’t get into the historic part of town down by the river. Paducah has a lot of river traffic due to its strategic location near where the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers merge, and I saw numerous tugboats pushing their strings of barges upstream and down. We walked in town, and down by the river, and again admired a bunch of murals on the city side of their levees. The murals were well done and depicted the history of their town. We also walked out in a neighborhood along a pretty divided boulevard with a bunch of nice old houses. Then I headed back to the park from this morning, because I had discovered there was a short 1.75 mile Greenways trail that started at one side of the park. Tula and I walked the length of that and back – part of it was on an old railroad bed, and they’re looking to expand the trail. That finished the walking for the day, so I decided to bite the bullet and head to the mall to replace my pedometer. At 3:30 on a Saturday, that was kind of a mistake – huge crowds, and long lines and all I needed was one thing! I couldn’t find the exact same model of pedometer that I lost, so I’ll now have to figure out a different one, and get that set up just right.

Then we were ready to sit in the car and head east for a while toward Louisville. It started raining, so I gave up any thoughts of camping, even though the temperatures were quite mild. I missed the turnoff for Louisville, and ended up in Bardstown, another favorite from 2010, and I knew I’d have some fun walking in the morning…assuming the rain let up.

Mississippi – Friday, December 7

Once again, one of the things I like about camping is being able to go for a long walk as soon as I get up. The state park was pretty and Tula and I quickly got in 3 1/2 miles of walking. No one was out on the lake – I know I’m being spoiled by lack of crowds at campgrounds this time of year – next spring and summer will be a different story! I hadn’t registered last night because it was dark, and hard to read the different camping rates. So I stopped by the office this morning, and there were people there, and I explained I had arrived late, and wasn’t sure what the rates were (and I couldn’t find the tent camping sites in the dark, so just stayed at an RV one). The person working there said the tent sites are hard to find anyway. I told her I had arrived late because I was doing a little Christmas shopping and she wondered why I would come down from Michigan to shop in Mississippi! I explained a little about what I was doing, and she told me a local TV station was sponsoring a big food drive in Tupelo in front of city hall, and to go talk with them to see what they might need. I was going back there anyway to walk, and to find a food pantry, so this made it easy! I found them, and avoided the news people, and went around to talk to some of the guys by the pick-up trucks that they were hoping to fill. I told them what I was doing and asked if there were items that they needed. There were cases of soup in one of the trucks, so it was obvious they didn’t need soup. Turns out one of the guys I was talking to was the host of a morning radio show, and he wondered how long I would be in town because he would like me to come on his show. But I told him I was leaving as soon as I shopped and walked. He then told the news person about my journey, and they asked some questions. In the meantime, I went and shopped for some of the things they wanted – they really needed baby food, tuna, mac and cheese and boxed dinners – they were in good shape with soup and vegetables. I brought everything back, and someone helped me carry the bags to the pickup truck, and then the news lady asked if I would do a one-minute live shot for their news station. I didn’t know what that involved, but she made it seem so easy, the next thing I knew they were counting down the seconds, and she was gave me a nice introduction on-air and then I was apparently on live TV – on WTVA which is Tupelo’s local NBC affiliate. And I was in the usual t-shirt and jeans and hadn’t showered because I had camped – oh well – that’s me! I talked with her afterwards and she said she was going to have to call for another pickup truck – they had 2 of them pretty full, and were hoping to fill at least 2 more. She let me take a picture of her.

Tula and I walked almost 3 more miles around Tupelo (named for the tupelo gum trees that early settlers built their houses out of.) Tupelo is also Elvis Presley’s hometown, and there were metal guitar cut-outs all over town, but I didn’t go out to see Elvis’ house this time around. I was planning the rest of my day – since I’d gotten such an early start with the walking, I knew I’d be able to finish today’s, and the mile and a half from yesterday. And since I’d walked extra miles occasionally during the week, I only needed an additional 3 1/2 to get my full 56 miles for Mississippi. And since my donations were done, if I could finish all my walking before dark, I would be able to drive through Tennessee in the dark on my way to Kentucky, which will be State #14 (there’s a reason for that!) and not “waste” good daylight hours tomorrow driving through Tennessee. So that motivated me to keep hoofing along.

It was a pretty short drive to Oxford – a beautiful town and home to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Tula and I walked a couple miles all through town and out into one of the neighborhoods, admiring some of the grand old homes. William Faulkner lived in Oxford, and John Grisham also does, so it’s a town with some literary connections. Then we went and parked near the campus, and walked about 3 1/2 miles more – all around the beautiful campus and even along “dorm row” and past all the administrative and lecture halls. It has an air of Southern hospitality and charm – old brick buidlings with arches and columns, gardens that still had flowers, brick-trimmed curving sidewalks, and a fountain. The settlers had named the town Oxford in hopes of getting a university established there, and they did – Ole Miss opened her doors in the mid-1800s. During the Civil War, the main building was used as a hospital. And it was also the site of a contentious moment in time when the first black student tried to enroll, but in the end he was successful. It amuses me to see almost every student walking around talking on their cell phone, or looking down at it while texting. I don’t think I could have even imagined something like that when I went to college many, many moons ago! It makes me wonder how my grandkids will be communicating when they’re in college. We were done by dusk – and had tallied up 13 1/2 miles for the day! My feet were tired, and I was looking forward to a few hours of quiet driving.

So Mississippi is complete – 7 donations (Vicksburg National Military Park, Storehouse, Stewpot, St. Andrews Ministries, Mississippi Animal Rescue League, Our Daily Bread Ministries, and WTVA Food Drive), and 56 miles walked – in Greenville, Vicksburg, Natchez, Hattiesburg, Jackson, Tupelo and Oxford, and a state park, national parks, river trails and rail trails. And I met a lot of good people!

Mississippi – Thursday, December 6

The first thing I did today was head to the store to shop for the animal rescue league. They can always use cat and dog food, and prefer Purina and Pedigree brands. So I got dog chow, puppy chow and cat food. They also had things like paper towels and Lysol wipes and that sort of thing on the wish list, so I got some of that too. MARL was relatively close to the store I shopped at, and it was a really nice facility. One of the ladies there told me they will take in any animal – not just dogs and cats. They have a barn on their property for bigger animals and currently have about 17 horses there. They handle about 1500 pet adoptions a year, which sounds like an impressive number to me, especially when it’s year after year, and they have a vet on staff to keep all critters healthy. It’s nice to know they can find so many homes for unwanted pets.

Then I wasted some time on a wild goose chase to find a Kohl’s store to return a different pair of walking shoes that I wouldn’t need any more and had been carrying in the van all this time. I never did find it – they didn’t answer their phone, and the GPS led me to the road I asked for, but it certainly wasn’t a Kohl’s. I knew they were there somewhere, but I finally abandoned the search.

I decided to stop in downtown Jackson while I was close to walk around the state capitol area, which looked good for some walking. But a couple miles into our walk, Tula had a seizure. She seems to have 1-2 a year, and hadn’t had one for quite a long time, so I keep hoping she’s outgrown it. We were right on the sidewalk in front of the old capitol building, and there was nothing I could do except kneel down next to her and just wait it out. It wasn’t a bad one, but to me they always seem to last longer than they actually do. I don’t know what triggered it. I was ready to give her all the time she needed to get back on her feet and she became alert again and probably wondered why she was lying on the sidewalk (I’m sure the people who drove past us wondered the same thing.) She was a little wobbly when she first stood up, and needless to say, our walk in Jackson was over. Fortunately the car wasn’t too far away – we had been walking up and down different streets and the van was only about 4 blocks away. Tula quickly returned to normal, and by the time we were back to the car she was her usual happy, energetic self. But I still wanted her to rest.

I drove north a little to Canton, and tried calling one of the food pantries there for today’s donation (MARL was from yesterday). But the number I had wasn’t accurate, so I called a different food pantry – Our Daily Bread Ministries – and they told me they would appreciate anything I could bring. The local store was a Piggly Wiggly, so I shopped and got a variety of non-perishable goods. I found the church (after having to call them again – they had moved to a new location) and met the director and another volunteer. Our Daily Bread Ministries runs a soup kitchen every day at lunchtime for those who need it, and also do home delivery for about 100 families. People who need food from the food pantry fill out a request list on Thursdays, and the volunteers package up the orders for pick-up on Fridays. And they also team up with another organization once a month to provide some medical care. So it’s another group of people doing a lot of good for those who need it!

Tula had had a good rest by this time and seemed eager to get out, so we did a short mile and a half walk around Canton, and she was fine. Even though I’d only walked 4 miles so far today, I wanted to get on the Natchez Trace Parkway while it was still light out – the National Park Service owns a whole stretch of road that bisects Mississippi and goes from the southwest corner all the way to Memphis – it’s an old historical trade route that’s been used by Native Americans, then wagons shipping goods from the Ohio Valley area to the southwest. It’s seen a lot of activity over centuries. Now it’s a beautiful peaceful parkway – trucks are not allowed on it and there’s no signs and no need for traffic signals, and no billboards, wires or lights. It’s wonderful and beautiful and stretches for hundreds of miles. I traveled on about 140 miles of it. It got dark while I was driving, and that was a very different experience too. I can’t think of many other places where one can drive for an extended time at night in the woods with no lampposts or other lights or signs – it seems almost primitive in a good way. But, there were also a lot of deer by the sides of the woods, and I must say I was relieved to not have any encounters with them!

It was only about 7:00 when I got off the parkway at Tupelo (Elvis Presley’s hometown) and I was going to camp at Trace State Park since it wasn’t raining anymore. Along the way to the park I passed a huge shopping mall, and decided to stop and do a little more walking inside since I hadn’t finished my 8 miles. And it was a good excuse to let Tula rest a little more in the van while I walked in the mall. I covered 2 1/2 miles in the mall and even did a little Christmas shopping afterwards before they closed. Then I drove to the state park, and there were lots of sites by a lake, and not lots of people. I’m good at getting set up after dark now, and it was a cozy night.

Mississippi – Wednesday, December 5

One of the things I had read about in Hattiesburg was the Longleaf Trace Rail Trail – a 41 mile rail trail that started on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. The morning was rainy, so I got a hot breakfast, then Tula and I headed out to the rail trail anyway because it wasn’t raining too hard, and was supposed to let up soon. This trail went through a short tunnel and over a bridge just like the trains used to. There weren’t many people out because of the weather so I felt like I had the whole trail to myself! It passed a bunch of college apartment buildings, then we were pretty much just walking through the woods with a lot of pine trees. (I’m seeing quite a few trucks again in this part of the state

hauling trees – presumably to paper mills). The rain did indeed let up and I was able to let Tula off her leash for a while, and we enjoyed walking 4 miles out and 4 miles back. It took nearly 3 hours, but was kind of nice to get all 8 miles done in one walk! The trail got busier as it dried up outside – I began to see more people out walking, jogging and biking. The rail trail makes a convenient bike path from a lot of the apartment buildings to the campus. I had to mail a package and some other stuff, so decided to take care of that, and I don’t know how I lose so much time taking care of some of those errands!

For my donation, I talked to a lady at MARL, which stands for Mississippi Animal Rescue League, which was going to be my animal-related donation for the week. But they’re up in Jackson, and I knew I wouldn’t quite get there in time, so decided to drop off the donation first thing in the morning. The lady jokingly said she didn’t want me to rush my shopping for them anyway! Their website had a wish list, so I knew I’d be able to take care of that in the morning.

After the errands and phone calls, I got a second wind, and thought it would be pretty to walk around the campus of U of Southern Miss. Tula was rested up too, so I got a parking pass, and then we walked all around the campus which was big and pretty. That gave me a couple extra miles for the day. We finished right at dark, and the rain started to fall again.

I took time for a pedicure right across the street from the campus (gotta take care of these hard-working feet!) and at least there weren’t any blisters to contend with this time. Then I got a Jimmy Johns sub and was happy to sit in the car for the drive up to Jackson.