Walk This Way
My PCP and dietician have been urging me to continue with my walking regime. Occasionally I slack off. It depends on the weather. I don’t walk in the rain and it depends on the pain in my knees. The weather affects both my desire to walk and the rain stirs the pain in my knees making walking miserable. The one thing that spurs me into walking is that I photograph scenes along the way and captures my attention. Then there is my desire to share those photos with my friends on Facebook.
I do have several paths that I can take; those trails are all fairly close to my front door. Two roads that I walk on are rural routes that are paved. One direction is south and the other is north, opposite directions. There are two other roads run east and west and both are for the most part unpaved. I try to walk at different times of the day. The varying sunlight often reveals something different for me to see. The roadway that runs to the west has an unpaved lane that branches off through the woods or I can continue straight ahead, giving me two options.
But if I am really brave and decide that I want to travel more than the one mile walk, I can do the loop. The loop is nearly two miles long and there are several hills to climb along the route. I’ve only met that challenge twice. My body was asking at the end, “What were you thinking?” I believe if the two miles were on level ground, I’d be okay, but the couch potato that dwells within often complains. One path I walk is a private drive that leads back past several homes through fields and a wooded area to an old farm. Birds often serenade as I amble along.
The road I walk to the north has several partially overgrown abandoned logging roads leading off from it. Sometimes I meander through this wooded area through huge rocks, fallen trees, and moss. I’m away from the auto traffic on the nearby roadway. Away from the paved roadway my walk isn’t interrupted by having to watch for oncoming traffic.
No matter which route I take, there are small hills in my path. Some are steeper, while others are barely noticeable. With the heat and humidity, my walks are most often done in the morning while the dew is still sparkling on the grass and the breeze is cooling.