A Living Magazine - Day 310 - Homecoming - Elkton to Bear

I woke up, packed up, and checked out of Room 118...

On my way out of the parking lot, I peered over at the kitty colony...

Litter of the nicest kind.

The plan was to walk northeast on Route 279 and take a right onto Route 4, east for the whole way to Wilmington. I turned onto what I thought was the correct road--though there were no signs. Having no road signs sucks for long distance walking. Drivers can just go the wrong way and turn around after five minutes. When I go the wrong way and realize it, I pretty much have to continue until I reach the next major intersection.

And, that's what happened on this day when I took Ottis Chapel Road/Pleasant Valley Road. It led east for a while, so I thought I was all set and didn't pay much attention, until about three miles had gone by and I realized I was walking south instead of east. My shadow was behind me, instead of to my left...

A Coptic Church with a neat design.

Finally, way up ahead I saw cars going by quickly in an intersection. I would finally learn where I was. When I got to the intersection I saw that I'd reached Route 40. That wasn't so bad. It is a major road and also leads to Wilmington. There would be more stores along the way if I needed them than Route 4 would have had...

I loved this. Looked like Wall-E's girlfriend Eve had gotten a new job.

I've commented enough on this place here, but there's always one nearby.

Just passed the area called Glasgow, ominous clouds began to form and rise.

Someone missed a Christmas display.

A thunderhead was forming by the time I got to McDonald's in Bear. It was good timing. I had seen that there was a potential sleep spot right down the street. So, I weathered the storm in the restaurant...

After it had passed over and before a smaller one arrived, I headed out...

There was a K-Mart across the parking lot, and I decided to check it out for new underwear. I hadn't been to a K-Mart in maybe 20 years, but it would allow me to wait out the smaller storm before heading to the sleep spot.

Unfortunately, the Big K was not what I was looking for. They had very little selection and the prices were way higher than Walmart. By the time I left, the second storm had passed over, and the rain had stopped. It was time to set up camp. I continued down Route 40 for a half mile, and walked into the spot (a cloverleaf-like area). It wasn't too bad; private, but mostly tall grass and bumpy ground. Having been used to leaves or pine needles, I wasn't looking forward to sleeping on - essentially - clay.

I found the best spot I could, after walking all around the area, and small drops of rain started to fall again. So, I set up the tent without the green tarp on top, because the forecast indicated mostly patches of drizzle, and the fly can take that on its own--the green tarp helping to moderate the rough ground...  

I worked my shoulders and hips into the grooves of the ground until I was relatively comfortable (relatively being the key word). I decided to listen to a Terence McKenna talk to wind down, but fell asleep right away, lulled into it by his very interesting voice. I wasn't expecting the night of Lucid Awareness that was about to overtake me. It would be a profound psychic step forward in the inner-training regiment of the Spark. It was fantastically significant to me personally. I'm not sure how much the reader will get from my description, but I'll give it a try in the next post.

Bear Sleep Spot.