4-Day Walk - Day 2

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After a restless night’s sleep of maybe 4 to 5 hours, I climbed out of my Jeep, took care of the morning rituals, then packed everything up in my backpack. I grabbed a small cappuccino at Dunkin Donuts at the airport and hit the road around 8:30am. My backpack was obviously heavier than the fanny pack with 2 bottles that I’d used the day before. Just like yesterday, I had a printout of the route to walk, with verbal directions when to turn along with possible places to stop for lunch, water, or just a rest. My first stop was at QT at the end of GSP Drive to get a cold bottle of water to which I added my Emergen-C powder for flavor. I guess I hadn’t mentioned yet that I strongly dislike the taste of water. My solution is to use the packets of Emergen-C for vitamins, minerals, and flavor.



The next stage started with a long walk around the airfield, where of course was were no stores or any other buildings, so a bit desolate. About 3 miles later I reached my listed stop of McDonald’s on Hammett Bridge Road, so I stopped to take off my shoes (and backpack) while I enjoyed a mango smoothie and a bit of brain freeze. LOL From there it was about 2.3 miles to the QT on Wade Hampton Blvd where I stopped for lunch. The chicken wrap wasn’t all that good, mostly due to the large amount of wrap. The banana pudding was okay, but the iced coffee was very refreshing. I forgot to get a new bottle of water before putting my backpack on, so I had to find one person to get my bottle out of my backpack pocket so I could pour the water drink in it and use the new cold water in its place. I then of course had to find someone to put the keeper bottle of warmer drink back in my backpack pocket Oh well, live and learn.



After Wade Hampton, the route got more rural quite quickly. I have to admit that walking through the countryside was much more pleasant than my usual practice walks in the city. I took photos of some of the interesting sights I saw during the 4.7 mile walk from Wade Hampton Blvd to the O’Neal Hot Dog Shop on N Hwy 101. That place was such a welcome sight after such a long walk in 90 plus degrees! I bought a Gatoraid Frost, took off my backpack and shoes, while I drank about half of it. About 2.9 miles later I was ready for another rest stop at the Corner Mart #53, but couldn’t resist stopping at a Dollar General store a bit earlier. Unfortunately, all their water was warm, so I had to settle for a Starbuck’s Iced Frappe which I drank along the way. When I finally reached to Corner Mart, I let Richard and my wife know where I was and that I should be reaching Richard’s house for the night around 5pm. The last 3.9 miles should have taken me only an hour and a half, but since almost the entire route was uphill, it took more two hours.



Soon after 5:30pm, I reached Richard’s house near Tygerville, tired, sweaty and starting to ache here and there. After relaxing a bit, I took a welcome warm shower and we went out to get something to eat. No place in the tiny town of Tygerville was open except a Tai restaurant and a bagel shop, so Richard suggest we go to the Whistle Stop Café in nearby Traveler’s Rest. I’d been there before, but didn’t realized or remember how expensive it was. They wanted $16 for veggie pasta alfredo… the cheapest dish! Since Richard had gone to the trouble to take me there and was assuring me the food was probably excellent with all the people there, I ended up ordering it. Unfortunately, they lost or skipped our order. After waiting something like 30 minutes, I figured I’d check on it, and sure enough, it had fallen through the cracks. They finally brought it out 10 minutes later. I was delicious, but I don’t think it was worth the money. Oh well.



After what I hope will be a good night’s sleep, I plan on being up and out the door by 8:30am. Since I couldn’t find anyplace reasonable near Hendersonville or Flat Rock to split up the last two days of my walk to Chimney Rock State Park, my wife will stop to pick me up at an overpass on I28, hopefully by around 3pm. I’ll go to the cabin we’ve reserved for Saturday and Sunday, then have her take me back to that same place so I can finish the walk. I’m still having issues with photos, so again none tonight.

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