Week 43: Neligh, Nebraska

The Neligh historic mill

This week finds me near Neligh, Nebraska, a thriving town of 1,586 that is 20 miles past the midway point between the South Dakota border where I walked into Nebraska and the Iowa border where I will walk out. By the end of August, I should be in Iowa.

I walked farther in July than any other month, thanks to Las Vegas, over 390,000 steps, or 195 miles. I took over 10,000 steps every day, and my streak is up to 118 days.

This week was hot, over ninety degrees most days, but we are going out earlier and carrying water for Arlo, learning to deal with the heat. By now we have encountered every weather condition we are likely to see, and it all looks manageable.

In the last six months, I have missed my 10,000-step goal only once. My average steps per day for the six months is just over 12,000. I am now on pace to land in Miami a couple of days ahead of my revised goal of June 28 next year, even though I was 15 days behind at the end of January. 

Ten months in, I am not quite halfway to Miami, although I expect to hit that point by August 12. This half of the walk has gone about as well as I could have hoped - no injuries or illnesses, and the biggest misstep, so to speak, was forgetting my pills on a trip. I am having no trouble hitting my 10,000 steps every day and averaging 11,000 and more.

Everything is going according to plan, for now.

Leaving Las Vegas

Taking in the view from the 39th floor

Las Vegas deserves a second post, even though the boys and I were only there about 48 hours, because the amount of walking we did was epic.

On Sunday, we arrived, ate lunch while we waited for our room to get ready, then napped a little and started out at 4:00, headed for Caesar's Palace and a Gordon Ramsay restaurant. By the time we walked there and walked back, I logged over 19,000 steps. Just getting started.

On Monday, we ate breakfast and had a late start due to having only one phone charger between us, then took off at 10:00 to see the whole Strip and get to a show at New York - New York. 33,000 steps in one day, a record I have no intention of ever breaking or getting near again. But I managed it and did not even feel too beaten up the next day.

The trip went great, mainly thanks to Jackie, who had the idea for the trip and arranged everything. We had a big room on the 39th floor of the Palazzo with a tremendous view, and we had the show and the dinner reserved. I think the boys were impressed.

The two days in Vegas changed how the month of July is shaping up. I wrote a couple of weeks ago that my pace had slowed a bit in July, and that was true until this week. Now I am on pace for my biggest month ever, probably by at least 15,000 steps. Also, until Sunday I had still averaged slightly under 11,000 steps per day for the whole trek and was slowly catching up, but Sunday I passed 11,000 steps average since all the way back to October 1 last year, and Monday I added a cushion of 22,000 steps to put me safely ahead of the pace.

My progress puts me almost 3.3 million steps from Cape Flattery, near Emmet, Nebraska. That is less than halfway across the state, but I should reach halfway next week, and I will reach halfway to Miami in about three weeks.

And I suppose I should mention, I turned 65 on Thursday. I'm doing OK for an old guy.
 

Week 41: Vegas!

We will be in that one on the left

The way it usually works, I tell you that I have arrived at some place like Ainsworth, Nebraska, population 1,656, but in reality I have been walking around my neighborhood here in Lacey, with Arlo. This weekend will be a little different though, as the real me will be flying to Las Vegas on Sunday, then back home Tuesday.

My 65th birthday is coming up soon, and Jackie decided I should take a vacation with the boys, so Lucas and Jarrod will be flying in as well. The boys have never been to Las Vegas, so they are in for a treat. Jackie is looking forward to a few quiet days at home. And we are staying at the Palazzo, which is a hotel tower associated with the Venetian Hotel.

From a walking perspective, I want to show the boys as many of the big hotels on The Strip as possible, and The Strip is a few miles long, so we should get plenty of walking in. It will be over 100 degrees every day, maybe up to 110, so the walking will either be indoors, or outdoors with lots of stops for air conditioning. I am now at 103 days in a row over 10,000 steps, so don't want to stop now.

In addition to walking and hotel/casino browsing, there will be gambling, eating, drinking, and a show at the least. Should be fun.
 

Week 40: Valentine, Nebraska

She seems to be having fun

 I suspect that Valentine, Nebraska is a popular place to send love letters from.

If that isn't enough reason to go, I found a web site with this address: https://roxieontheroad.com/the-top-10-reasons-you-should-visit-valentine-nebraska/. The tab that opens at that site says "The top 11 reasons to visit Valentine Nebraska." There is a picture on the top of the page with a banner across it saying "Top 10 reasons to visit Valentine Nebraska," with text laid over that saying "The top 11 reasons to visit Valentine Nebraska." Underneath is an article titled "Top 10 reasons to take your Valentine to Valentine Nebraska," which lists eleven reasons. So you might want to go there yourself just to find out, are there ten reasons, or is it eleven?

My pace has slowed a little bit in July for whatever reason, at least so far, but I am still averaging over 11,000 steps per day, and my streak of 10,000-step days is at 97. 100 days in a row would be a nice milestone. Next Sunday, I am taking a trip to Las Vegas, so that may create a challenge to the streak, especially on the Tuesday when I come back, but most likely I will find a way.

Our days have not been very hot so far, but Arlo and I are learning to deal with somewhat warmer mornings, mostly by getting out early and by my carrying water for him. I may have to go back to three shorter walks if the heat gets to be too much; he has plenty of energy, but he gets hot easily. (So far I am fine.) However we do it, Washington has ridiculously short summers, so we'll work through it and be back to normal by September.

No More Second Breakfast

 

My plan for eating is this: three meals a day, each about 500-600 calories (not measuring too closely), and three snacks in between. I have things in mind for the snacks: string cheese, fruit, keto ice cream, oatmeal. Meals are whatever, but usually a main item and a side.

Seems pretty straightforward, but for me, still a challenge and a big change. The first thing I noticed is that I have to resist an impulse to eat way more often than six times a day. Things that trigger an inclination to want to grab a snack include every time I go to the kitchen to get something to drink, every time I go to the kitchen for any reason, cooking dinner (yes, I tend to snack as I'm fixing dinner), and getting ready for bed. I bet that I have been eating more than ten times a day average. And some of those times I eat can be an extra meal. Second breakfast, brunch, second lunch, whatever. My "snacks" can look a lot like my meals. So no more of that.

My portion sizes are mostly fine, but today I noticed that the burger I was preparing was 440 calories. That's just the patty, before bread, mayonnaise, honey mustard, cheese, and bacon. Until this week, I would chow that down without thinking about it, as one of my dozen or so times eating in a day. Today, I only ate half of the burger.

I am trying not to pay much attention to how much protein, how many vegetable servings I eat, any of that. I always eat a low carb diet because of diabetes, so that won't change, but I don't want to get complicated or too restrictive about exactly what I eat. Still, I made some split pea soup partly because I wanted to make sure I get some vegetables. I really like pea soup. I need to do that more often.

Results after three days are inconclusive, obviously, but my morning blood sugar has not been over 122, which is really good. If all I achieve is staying in that range, that will be a worthy accomplishment.

The Next Projects

 

Nine months into my walking, I feel the need to add something more. The walking thing is going well. but each day I have about eight hours between walks to work on another project or two. It feels too easy to just let my walking play out for another year. So I have a couple of things in mind.

The Backyard

The picture posted here I creatively titled "Backyard southeast corner." This photo is a good illustration of typical issues around the yard:

• Some of the elements in place will almost certainly stay. We will keep the hydrangea on the left and the rose bush on the right, and the plan is to reuse the big concrete container, though it is empty now.
• Every part of the yard needs some work. We need to find something to put in the pot, there are weeds to pull, part of the fence is unpainted. We need at least one more plant in the area.
• We need a good way to cover the ground between plants - we had groundcover, but we pulled that out and put down bark, and now we don't really like that either.
• We have already done some work. For example, the big dirt ball in the middle of the picture, the branches next to it, and the tools laying around are there because Lucas and I dug out the dead bush that was in the pot - more work than you might think.

I have seven photos of the yard. The project is not something that I can blog about on a regular basis, because getting an area complete may take a long time, but I will try to post before and after photos if we finish an area, and maybe even a "during" photo on occasion.

Eating Better

This idea comes from my thought that losing 75 pounds is probably a lot like walking across the Untied States - if you look at it over too short of a time frame, it seems like you are not getting anywhere. You just have to stick with it, every day, for a long time.

However, I am not willing to pursue a project with a weight-loss goal, for a couple of reasons. First, weight loss is really complicated, so setting that as a goal incorporates too many factors. Second, I have needed to lose weight for at least 30 years, so there is no great reason to imagine I can succeed at it now. However, I can possibly improve my eating, and that should at least improve my blood sugar, and who knows, maybe I will lose some weight.

This idea is still not completely fleshed out, but I have some idea how it will work. In any case, the first step in any diet is to get rid of foods in the house that do not fit into your diet plans or are too tempting. To that end, I ate the last of the fried chicken this morning, so mission accomplished. I will work on the rest starting tomorrow.

Week 39 - Nebraska

Niobara State Park

I have only ever visited one place in Nebraska that I can remember: Niobara State Park, on our Lewis and Clark trip years ago. That was a great long driving trip, and it was also the only time I remember visiting North Dakota or Iowa.

Niobara State Park is at the place where the Niobara River feeds into the Missouri River, and since Lewis and Clark followed the Missouri River as far as they could, they came past this place. I chose the picture because this is how I remember the place, very pretty, a wide view with lots of water, and we could see where the two rivers meet.

I will not walk through the park, but rather will pass forty miles south of it.

In the first three days of July, I crossed the Nebraska border on day one, passed three million steps on day two, and walked through Cody, Nebraska on day three. The Internet calls Cody a village - I do not think that I have encountered that one before - so it is the first village in Nebraska on my walking route. Population is 154.

The distance across Nebraska is about 350 miles, mostly west to east, as we head to Omaha at the Iowa border. At the end of August, I should either be in Iowa or very close.

Nine months in, I have one year to go. My projected arrival in Miami is June 28 of next year, although the way things look I may arrive a little earlier. One and a half months until the halfway point, then ten and a half months to complete the second half of the walk. The math works, which is reassuring.