A Living Magazine - Day 292 - Homecoming - Ashland to Ruther Glen

During the night, I woke to heavy footsteps. I couldn't remember which way the tent was oriented at first. The nice thing about a rough area like this is that nothing can approach stealthily. Opening the tent flap, I remembered that the door of the tent faced the road. The sounds were in the other direction, back behind the fence in the woods beyond. 

As I poked my head out and around, grabbed the flashlight and illuminated the area around me, the footsteps stopped. Then I heard the characteristic bark of a large deer. Chaw, chaw! Chaw...chaw! There was loud rustling, and then I heard it run away, back into the darkness. How a deer can run in pitch black woods that I can barely even walk in without having a stick stab my eye out, always amazes me. Yes, they see better, but there must be some other sense going on...

I dropped back into the tent, crawled into the sleeping bag and fell asleep again. Waking to the first rays of the sun, tickling my feet with warmth, I got up and busied myself with packing. It is always the same routine. There are methods that I use for every aspect of this now. As you can imagine, I've come up with a fast system that works. It has been streamlined over hundreds of campsites, and works in any environment. With the new placement of the green tarp on top during rain, only the order of the last part of the pack up has changed.

I noticed way back in Memphis one night, that the order of operations and the mechanics of getting them done work best when I'm not thinking about what I'm doing, and just do it. I will write a short essay about this eventually. The hypothesis is this...

The human brain once lacked higher functions. When we were reptiles, for example, there was no "thinking about it." There was only doing. I believe that we get caught up sometimes interjecting our higher thoughts into our menial acts. At least I do. Along this line of thinking, I also believe, and propose, that as the human brain evolves in the next thousand years or so, the parts of the brain (for simplicity let's call them the lower--basal ganglia, and the higher--cerebral neocortex) will become more mutually exclusive in their actions. The contact between them will be so efficient that nearly all of the simple physical routines of life will be handled automatically and nearly error-free by the lower system of the brain. Tying your shoes, for example, would become autonomic, not just automatic. This will leave the higher system more conscious and aware--open for complex problem solving, creativity, communication and socialization. Anyway, my pack up has become a bit of a lower brain activity. Ha!

I hit the road, stopping by Starbucks for a few hours to write and get a better grip on routes of the next few walks. I left around 2:00 p.m. Stopping by the Food Lion for a salad bar purchase first, I began my walk to Ruther Glen under sunny but cooler skies, figuring on about 10 miles. But, I didn't realize until the 9 miles had passed that I had miscalculated. This hike also became a bit of a Civil War (and even Revolutionary War) history lesson...

Roadside memorial for a Hanover County Public Utility Worker

who lost his life here, near the South Anna River.

Byrd Mill Co, grain storage units, right on the South Anna River.

Another memorial right next to the South Anna River.

The South Anna River.

As I went wallking that ribbon of highway...

Bridge over the North Anna River.

I got to the town of Doswell and thought it would only be another few miles to Ruther Glen, yet as the road stretched on and on, I realized the mistake in my distance estimate. And, another nearly-two hours went by...

Finally I came up a hill and saw a sign for McDonald's. Then a series of signs showed the roads and highways at the Ruther Glen intersection. To get to McDonald's I had to take a right and follow Route 207 east for another mile and a half. I would find that this would be a pattern along this stretch of Route 1. It runs parallel to I-95, and usually the restaurants are nearer to the Interstate in the east and its associated exits and onramps. This is good for me, as my preference for sleep spots lately has been in highway cloverleafs.

I made it to McDonald's, sore and unexpectedly tired. My left heel was aching badly. That is the physical issue I experience most often. I'm beginning to think it might be a spur. But, again, I will have to get through these next two months, and then I'll have it looked at. My left knee was also hurting, and my right buttock--a new complaint from my body. Rest would help. And, after getting a couple posts up, I left at sundown and walked just about 500 feet down the road to a woods nearby...

The spot was so close to the nearby businesses that I actually got a Xfinity Wi-Fi signal, and watched Jurassic World for the second time. Logging off at about midnight, I went to sleep.

Ruther Glen Sleep Spot