May

May

May was a tough month. On May first, I walked over 10,000 steps as usual. On the second, I was hit by a van in a crosswalk, hit pretty hard in the face, and knocked to the ground in the street. My most significant injury, the one that affected my walking most, was a huge bruise/hematoma on my right hip, where I must have landed when I fell (I do not remember that moment at all.)

So, from the second to the 14th, I only walked more than 10,000 steps one day, and in fact walked 8,100 steps or fewer -sometimes a lot fewer - every day other than that one. I kept walking, taking the dog out twice a day as usual, but I walked short distances until I got more comfortable with my hip. During those first two weeks, I lost about 55,000 steps, or five days, off my pace.

Nevertheless, my average steps in May were not the worst of any month so far, which is an indicator of how far I have come, so to speak. I walked over 9,000 steps per day average, slightly better than the first two months of my journey, which were way back in October and November of 2021, before I convinced Arlo to go walking with me.

I am currently in between towns in Florida, past the city of Belle Glade near the south end of Lake Okeechobee, traveling along Brown's Farm Road. I am on my way to Parkland, a suburb of Boca Raton, which is on the Atlantic Coast and straight north of Miami. This is an extremely flat and low-lying area: the elevation of Belle Glade is 16 feet, and Parkland is at 9 feet. In between, I will be walking through an area of everglades, which means close to sea level.

My counter says that I have just over 14 days to go, but unless things change dramatically, I will make it within fourteen days, and likely in thirteen. In either case, two more Sunday posts, then a last post to celebrate.

Week 86: Lake Okeechobee

Lake Okeechobee

I am finally moving from the middle of the Florida peninsula toward the East Coast, and this week that takes me close to the south shore of Lake Okeechobee, the biggest lake in Florida by surface area, and the 10th largest in the United States, meaning fifth after the five Great Lakes. It is not as big as the Great Salt Lake, but it has about 3.5 times the surface area of Lake Tahoe. So pretty big.

The theme nowadays is that I am closing in on the finish line. Eighteen days left. That isn't many. It looks like I will arrive on June 15th, six days later than I once expected, but still ahead of my June 28th goal. That assumes that I will not get run down again - I am trying to stay positive.

I hit a couple of milestones this week: I passed the 600th day of my trip on Tuesday, and I passed 3,400 miles yesterday, meaning I have less than 100 miles left to go. Since May 17, my pace has been back up to over 10,000 steps each day, so there is no reason to think these last few weeks will not go according to schedule.

Week 85: Hall City, Florida

Today is day 598 of my trip, so Tuesday will be 600 days. It looks like I will finish in more or less 625 total days, so 600 days is one of the last milestones.

I have dialed back my expectations for the rest of the trip to 10,000 steps per day - not a goal really, because my goal is for my right hip to get back to normal, but more an estimate. My current regimen is allowing me to walk about 10,000 steps most days, and I think that I can keep that up. If my hip improves, so much the better.

I should note that the hip is not really all that bad now, but it's not completely recovered either, and it won't be tomorrow or the next day. This is a slow process; weeks, not days.

The end of my trek is starting to feel very near. I am west of the middle of Lake Okeechobee now, well into southern Florida. It is only 260,000 steps from here to Miami, and 10,000 or so fewer every day. I only have four more of these posts remaining if all goes well.

Then, I think, it will be time for a vacation, and then the next thing, which I already have in mind. First though, gotta finish this trip, stay on task just a little longer.

Week 84: Sylvan Shores, Florida

Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, FL

St. Augustine, Florida is the "oldest continuously-inhabited European-established settlement in what is now the contiguous United States," which makes me think that there are other settlements that are not European-established, have not been continuously inhabited, or maybe are in some part of the non-contiguous Untied States, although that one seems unlikely.

In a similar vein, the Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental US, so maybe there are older wooden ones.

Despite all the qualifiers though, St. Augustine is very old, established in 1565, and the Castillo is quite old as well, built in the late 1600s.

To be clear, my walking has never taken me near St. Augustine, although I have actually been there with Jackie long ago.

I averaged about 8,000 steps per day this week, three quarters of my goal before I was injured. I do not have any distance goals for now, but I still walk Arlo twice a day, just not so far as I used to. When my hip feels normal, I will increase my steps.

Despite the slow progress, I am in the home stretch. My countdown says I have 30 days left, although it will probably take more like 35. I am a couple of weeks from the south shore of Lake Okeechobee. From there, it's less than two more weeks to Boca Raton, then another 50 miles to Miami.

Week 83: Convalescing in Frostproof, Florida

Epcot Center

This week I struggled to cover 20 miles, about half of what I usually walk in a week. However, I am back to walking Arlo twice a day, just much shorter distances, and I managed over 5,000 steps the last few days, which is good for now.

The bruise on my hip is quite impressive, dark and large, and it is very swollen. So far, it is looking worse each day, turning black and getting larger. Mostly though, it only hurts when I put pressure on it or have to stretch it to put my socks on. I have only taken a few Tylenol for pain; it's really not too bad. I still feel tired, but other than that and the hip, my injuries do not bother me much.

Despite my slow progress, I managed to get past 3,300 miles this week, so less than 200 to go. Even at 20 miles a week, I would get there in July, although I expect that I will be closer to normal distances in a few weeks. I won't push it, but walking feels better every day.

A Setback

It happened here

Well. I have said many times that an injury or illness could happen and could set back my timeframe for getting to Miami.

I got hit by a van as I was walking across the street Tuesday evening. I believe that I will be all right given some time, but my right hip is hurt, and I will be taking it easy for at least several days, maybe more, not trying to walk very far.

Jackie and I were staying in a motel for a couple of nights starting Tuesday evening. We got to the motel after 5:00, and I started to walk across the street to the Chick-Fil-A. I have never been to one, but it was the only place close.

I got the signal to walk and made it almost to the middle of the road. A van was coming from the road you can see on the left in the picture, turning left through the crosswalk. I saw him coming but thought he would slow down, until he was about two feet away and I realized he was going to hit me. He never slowed down. I got hit hard and was suddenly face down next to that yellow barrier, several feet away from where I had been walking.

I do not think that I lost consciousness, but I do not remember what happened between when I got hit and when I was lying on the ground. I don't remember falling. Based on my injuries and damage to the van, this is what I think happened:

I almost made it past the van, but I got hit by his driver-side mirror. I know this because the mirror broke completely off the van. I got hit hard in my face, but my torso does not have a bruise on it anywhere, so I am pretty sure that I broke the mirror off with my face. My right hip is bruised and swollen and sore, so I must have turned as I fell and landed on my right hip. On my butt really - I literally got knocked on my ass. Then I rolled on my stomach.

From there I remember. I yelled "Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." My glasses were a couple of feet away from me, miraculously not broken, and I think I reached for them. Then I tried to curl up next to the divider and just lie there. My nose was bleeding. I remember thinking fairly soon, though, that I did not feel too badly injured given what had just happened.

That all happened within a few seconds. Then people came to help me. Two guys got me up and took me back to the side of the road. Someone gave me toilet paper to absorb the blood coming out my nose and from a cut on the bridge of my nose where my glasses got smashed into my face, and a cold pack. A woman told me to sit on the grass. I was wondering what we should do next when another woman said that 911 had been called and responders were on the way, and I realized that I was just going to stay there and let the professionals take over. Sometime in there I called Jackie, and she came down from the motel room.

The firemen/EMTs were right up the road and got there quick. Two firetrucks blocked one lane for at least twenty minutes while they examined me. They asked me questions (Who is the President?), checked my vital signs, got me to stand up, asked about my neck, lots of stuff. They decide that I was in decent shape, but they suggested that I should go the hospital to get checked out, and offered me an ambulance ride. We decided Jackie could drive me.

Two cop cars showed up too. They talked to me and to the van driver, then wrote a report. Some people who saw it happen made statements. Then Jackie drove me across to the Chick-Fil-A before we went to the hospital.

The sandwich was fine. I don't know why people make such a fuss about Chick-Fil-A though.

At the hospital, they took an x-ray of my hip and CT scans of my face and head. They did not see any bleeding in my brain or any broken bones either in my face or hip. It all took about three hours.

These are my injuries, if I can remember them all:

• My right hip is sore over an area about a foot long top to bottom. My butt is very swollen and bruised. I feel some pain, not real bad, when I walk, put pressure on it, bend it too far.
• My nose got hit hard. It has a cut across it and a bruise.
• My left wrist has big bruise on it. I think the van hit it. Maybe I tried to put it up to protect myself (didn't work.)
• Various smaller injuries, top to bottom:
• A sore spot on my forehead.
• A little bit of a split lip. I could feel that my mouth got hit, but my teeth are not broken or loosened.
• A bruise on my right bicep.
• My right elbow must have hit the ground when I fell and got skinned in a small spot.
• The back of my left hand has a scrape on it.
• The outside of my left knee is sore. I bet the van hit it.

I have not walked very far for the last three days; I lost two days off my pace. My hip feels like it will take some time to heal, and I won't push it, so I expect to fall back farther. The important thing is to let my hip get better, not to rush back to 10,000 steps every day. But I walked the dog tonight, and I will still move forward, just at a slower pace for now.