Imaginary Walking Trip: Miles 64 and 65

I finally got back to walking a bit this week.  If I’m good at one thing, it’s making excuses for not working out! Granted, we’ve had a few crazy weeks, but I know that other people manage to work out, even under extremely stressful circumstances.

The gap in my routine stems from a couple of things: the birth of my granddaughter, Noel, and the hospitalization of my son-in-law, Matt. Poor Matt was terribly ill, to the point where he thought he might be dying. We all thought he might by dying.

His O2 saturation was dropping into the 50th percentile, so he finally went to an ER. They sent him on to Swedish Hospital where he spent 19 days. It turns out he had an access in his lung, along with pneumonia. One night, his plural sack began filling with fluid and he had to have a tube inserted. He was a very sick young man.

But he’s home now and slowly recovering. I don’t do well under stress, so I just couldn’t muster the ambition to do my walks. Now that things with Matt have settled down, I hope I can get back to my trip. I’ve walked two more miles this week, so I thought I’d better update my trip information.

Route for Mile 64

 

Route for Mile 65

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Endpoint Mile 64 309 CA-78

Endpoint Mile 65 321 CA-78

Nothing too startling or interesting to share, here. Just more of the same, desolate landscape. Although I did find the location noted on Mile 64 to be amusing. It’s labeled as “Scissors Crossing.” Very creative!

 

Imaginary Walking Trip: Miles 62 and 63

I hate having to compact two days of walking into one post, but sometimes that’s just the way it has to be. The past two weeks have been both joyous and torturous. It doesn’t seem possible, but I walked Mile 62 about a week ago. I don’t even remember which day it was! The last two weeks went something like this:

MAR 26th: Clementine dropped off at 5:00AM. Throws up in my bed. Noel is born without incident, but I can’t be there because poor little Clementine is so ill. We are really beginning to worry about dehydration. I finally get to go the hospital to see Cassandra and Noel at about 8:00PM, but I can’t help but to worry about Clementine the whole time I’m there. Even though I’m sick with worry, I can’t help but to fall in love with little Noel. She is a tiny little bundle of joy with beautiful dark hair.

Precious Noel

MAR 27th: Clementine’s sickness has caused her to become frighteningly listless. We force fluids into her all day long. On doing some research, we are pretty sure this is Rotavirus. Cassandra and Chris get to leave the hospital and they come to pick her up. We are all terribly worried, but we still have hope she won’t need to be hospitalized.

MAR 28th – 29th: Clementine is still very ill and has been sleeping all day. We go to visit her late on Sunday night and she is starting to show some signs of improvement. She even ran to me and hugged me, which really caught me off guard.

MAR 30th:  I get a text from Natalie at 8:39AM telling me that Addison has just started throwing up. Later that day, Clementine has really improved and we are all relieved! She’s beginning to eat a little and she’s getting up to play once in awhile. Addison continues to get sicker by the minute.

MAR 31st – APR 4th: Addison is so sick that we almost take him to the emergency room. Natalie calls Children’s Hospital and talks to a nurse who helps us to calm down. She tells us that this virus can last anywhere from 4 – 14 days to resolve. We watch him writhe in pain, but there’s really nothing we can do to help him. He is weak and listless, but not sick enough to go to the hospital. Finally, on the night of the 6th, he begins to do a little better and even dyes Easter eggs with Clementine.

APR 5th, Easter: I am awakened by the wireless doorbell we gave my mom to use as a “call button.” Gordon goes to check on her and discovers that she is now vomiting. We had planned a big family dinner to celebrate both Easter and her birthday, but it’s clear she won’t be joining us. Addison is well enough to hunt for Easter eggs with Clementine and we are all extremely relieved. Everyone comes over for a big Italian dinner and things are starting to get back to normal.

So, here it is, April 7th and I’m finally getting back to my trip. It was a tough workout tonight! My heart rate took way longer to recover, so I was only able to fit three, high intensity phases into Mile 63 instead of my usual four. But at least I did it! So, time to take a look at my routes and Endpoints.

Route for Mile 62

Route for Mile 63

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As you can see, not a lot of difference between these two routes. Getting a little boring, California! Not that Colorado can talk. I’ve driven through some boring scenery in Colorado that looked a lot like this. I have a feeling its going to get a lot worse over the next several weeks. So here are the Endpoints for Mile 62 and 63:

38515 Banner-Grade, CA

CA-78 Or as I like to call it, Three Fence Posts

Imaginary Walking Trip: Mile 61

Tomorrow is the big day! My 2nd granddaughter is going to be born. I’m so excited to meet this little one. We’ve had so many ups and downs concerning this pregnancy, that I’m just anxious to hold her in my arms and know that she is healthy. First it was a scare about Down’s Syndrome, then it was low blood flow and slow growth, then it was Strep B. I feel like we’ve been tugged back and forth to the point of exhaustion. And then, when we lost little Noah at 25 weeks, and all confidence was shaken.

Cassandra checks into the hospital tomorrow at 6:00AM and hopefully all will go smoothly. I can’t help but be a nervous wreck after everything we’ve been through. Two miscarriages and a still birth are difficult tragedies to recover from and they will always come to mind when we are waiting for the birth of a new grandchild. I pray that the doctors and nurses will rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit as they bring Noel into the world.

I had a lot to reflect on while taking my walk today. It was good to just walk and run and try to keep everything in perspective. I have to say, the mile just flew by because I was so deep in other thoughts. So now, Mile 61 is behind me. Here is the route:

Route for Mile 61

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I’m now on a VERY straight strip of road. It’s also barren and lonely out here. Although I did happen to pass this one car:

Hello!

Other than that, today looks almost the same as yesterday:

37729 Banner-Grade,

I have a feeling it’s probably pretty dry and hot around here. Makes me glad I’m really walking in a nice, cool basement on a treadmill.

Imaginary Walking Trip: Mile 60

Today was little Clementine’s 3rd birthday. She was so excited! All day she kept saying, “It my birfday!” We didn’t actually celebrate yet, because Cassandra is only two days away from delivering Clementine’s little sister, Noel. We will be giving her the full birthday celebration on April 11th. Athena, Cassandra and Chris gave her a couple of little gifts and she got to blow out some candles on a cupcake, so it still seemed like a special day to her, but it certainly wasn’t the big birthday bash we usually have around here.

Despite having an impromptu birthday celebration and despite watching the little ones while Athena and Cassandra went to work, I managed to sneak in a walk. Last week was so busy that I only walked one mile, which was a big disappointment. Hopefully this week will be more productive (however, I know better than to make promises to myself).

So, without further adieu, let’s take a look at Mile 60! Whoo hoo! MILE 60!

Route for Mile 60

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There isn’t anything especially interesting at my Endpoint today. I did end up near a call box, but that was about it. I suppose the most stunning part of today’s trip is the vast “emptiness” that surrounds me. The road seems to stretch into the distance like a silver ribbon. I get the feeling that if I were really walking this road, I would feel a little nervous leaving that call box behind me.

37000 Banner-Grade, CA

Imaginary Walking Trip: Mile 59

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone! I have no fear of being pinched, because sweet little Clementine made sure that I was wearing some green today:

Thanks, Clem!

But, even though my leg became a place for Clementine’s artwork and even though we were making Irish soda bread and corned beef and cabbage, I managed to get my walk/run in. Here is today’s route:

Route for Mile 59

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This leg of my journey brought me very close to that big letter “B” from my last walk. My cousin, Julie, informed me that it stands for the town of Banner (which makes sense, of course). This bit of information was posted on the link she sent me:

“Founded in August 1870 by Julian’s Louis B. Redman, this town was a competing site to Julian. It had a hotel, two stores, three saloons, and more. The town was washed out by floods in 1874, 1916, and 1926 and then was struck by fire in the 1930s. There are many mines in the hills around Banner that were probably associated with the town.”

I was really hoping I could find evidence of a ghost town somewhere near my route, but so far I’ve come up empty. There is, however, a blurry spot on my screenshot which could be a ghost. 😉 Sorry to disappoint, but my guess is that it’s just a Google anomaly. In any case, here is my Endpoint for Mile 59:

36721 Banner-Grade, Julian, CA

As you can see, that “B” is pretty well defined. I’m not sure how it was made or if anyone maintains it, but it looks sharp from this ariel view.

“B” for Banner

Imaginary Walking Trip: Mile 58

Whew! That was one great workout! No equipment failures. No text message interruptions. No kids trying to get my attention (although if something is going to get in my way, this is the most preferable). I even shaved a couple of minutes off of my mile, coming in at just over twenty-four. I’m feeling stronger every day!

I don’t have much more to add, so I’ll get right to my route and endpoint screenshots.

Route for Mile 58

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Endpoint 35890 Banner-Grade, Julian CA

As I said once before, things are looking a little desolate out here, however, if you look to the upper left corner, you will see a mysterious “B” on the hillside. Anyone know what it stands for? Here’s a close-up:

“B”

Equal Opportunity

Corridor, a life unlived

door-lined and endless

closed 

opened 

locked

broken

Keys, dangling 

hand-clasped and ready

skeleton key

private key

control key

master key

We, an anyone

step-driven and searching

who

what

when

where

Step forward

Choose a door

Turn a key

[originally published on Helium.com]

Imaginary Walking Trip: Mile 57

It seems like I never have a straight-forward HIIT session! Today, the heart rate monitor and Pandora worked just fine, but I had other interruptions. First, I got a text from Cassandra asking if I’d heard about Clementine’s fall. I was still trying to get my heart rate up to where I could kick things into gear when the text came in. Since I wasn’t to the running phase yet, I was able to pull my phone out of my pocket to see what was up. She sent me this picture:

Poor baby girl!

It was hard to see such a big bump and a scrape on my pretty girl! I’m sure seeing this picture got my heart pumping a few beats faster. Then, as I was texting back and forth to make sure Clementine was alright, I got another text. This time it was from Eric. I had failed to send an invoice to him that he desperately needed. Aaaa! I didn’t want to interrupt my progress, so I told him I’d get it to him as soon as possible. Fortunately, I was able to finish my workout, even though my mind was on other things.

Here is the route:

Route for Mile 57

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As I charted this route, I noticed that little side road you can see just off the main road. After taking my screenshots, I tried to see if I could “walk” down and see where it led, but apparently there is not a street view available.

Little road off of Banner-Grade

Looks like a ranch or a farm, maybe?

It would have been kind of interesting if I could have gotten closer, but this is the best I could do. In any case, my endpoint is about a half a mile further down Banner-Grade. It looks a little more bleak than Mile 56’s Endpoint. What happened to all the trees?

Endpoint for Mile 57

I have a feeling that things are going to be a little boring for a while. But then, you never know till you get there.

Imaginary Walking Trip: Mile 56

Not a lot to report concerning today’s walk/run. I got my heart rate monitor to work more efficiently by using some children’s nasal saline spray on my skin to better conduct the signal. Unfortunately, my phone was acting up and I had a hard time getting my music to play. That threw me off a bit, but after messing around with it (while trying not to fall off the treadmill), I finally got some tunes going.

I can tell that my heart is already becoming more conditioned by using HIIT for my workout. It takes longer to get my heart rate up to 127 to start with, I have to work harder to get up to my top rate of 155, and it recovers more quickly than when I first started training. My knees were hurting a bit at first, but I soon forgot about the pain. All in all, it was a great workout!

Here is my route for Mile 56:

Route for Mile 56

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It looks like there might be an interesting village just over the hills, but I can’t see it from where I am. All I see at my endpoint is this:

35745 Banner-Grade, Julian, CA

Not very interesting, but it does look warm and sunny!

Imaginary Walking Trip: Mile 55

I actually took this walk on Friday, but I haven’t had a chance to post this until now. Friday was busy, busy, busy! I don’t even know how I managed to fit a walk in, but I did. My HIIT went very well, but I’m stilling having problems with my heart rate monitor. I watched a video on how to make it work better, so I’ll give that a try next time.

After my workout, I went to Target to get some groceries. I had a nice, lesieruly afternoon, strolling up and down the aisles, but after checking out, things got a little weird. As I was leaving the store, I saw a man standing near the carts by the front door. For some reason, he made me feel very uneasy. As I exited the store, he followed close behind me. I stopped near the doors and pretended to look at my receipt. He walked a few feet away and stood near a trashcan. I could see my car from where I was standing, but I was too afraid to cross over to it in the dark.

He wouldn’t leave, so after a few moments, I went back into the store as though I had forgotten something. At this point, I thought I’d better text Natalie and let her know why I was taking so long.

“About to leave. Creepy guy followed me out, so pretending to wait for someone.”

Just as I was hitting the “send” button, the man came back into the store behind me. My phone rang and it was Gordon, asking me what was going on. I explained what had happened, so he told me to stay where I was and he’d come right over.

I felt a little silly, but I decided it would be best to let him come help me load the groceries into the car. The man hesitated for a moment and then walked past the checkouts toward the doors at the other end of the store. I went back outside, but stayed near the front doors, just in case. I kept glancing toward the other exit to make sure the guy wasn’t creeping back toward me along the dark, brick wall. I was very relieved when Gordon pulled up in his police car and I could safely go to my car.

After it was all over and I was explaining the incedent, I felt like I had overreacted. Everyone assured me that I had done the right thing. As Natalie put it, “I’d rather you overreacted now than to know something bad had happened to you later!” I guess I would want my girls to do the same thing if they were in my situation, so I’m trying not to be too hard on myself. I’ll never know if the guy had any ill intentions, but that’s a good thing.

So, back to the real purpose of this post, my Imaginary Walking Trip! I walked/ran another mile along this imaginary route:

Route for Mile 55

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And this is where I ended up on a road called “Banner-Grade”