Ch 03 – Around the Mountain … (04/10/11 – day 1, part 2)
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold …
I have put my Spirit upon him;
He will bring forth Kindness from the nations.”
~ Isaiah 42:1
Every long voyage needs a plan (or so we’ve been taught), and my plan was a simple one: walk for 5+ hours every morning (covering roughly 13 miles), rest during the middle of each day, walk another 5+ hours every evening (covering another 13+/- miles), find a bench upon which to sleep until the next morning, and then simply repeat this process for as many days as it took to reach Pompano Beach.
Of course, there is great Truth in the adage “Make plans, God laughs” … And, even though the Pilgrimage itself is now complete – and even though it was truly a complete & resounding success on so many levels, God is still chuckling.
You see, not one of my 27 days of walking even remotely resembled my original design. And yet, at least for the first few miles of that very first day, it did indeed look like everything was going to work as planned. Lookout Valley was decked out in her finest spring raiment – the sky was a brilliant cerulean, and the sun shone upon & through the trees’ spring foliage; making it seem as though Lookout Mountain was sprinkled with thousands of tiny emeralds. It was a glorious day – an “apple bright day” as my friend Fred Lansford would say, and I literally bounced down Creek Road with a big smile booming its silent gratitude to the Universe.
I made it smoothly the first 5 miles and took my very first water break at the local feed store, Sun & Shade, where I drank from their outside spigot (it was Sunday) and rested for a time.
At that point, things began to get interesting.
The first challenge of the Pilgrimage proved to be the road itself; an obstacle that would rear its head again & again over the course of the next 40 days. You see, in order to take the most direct route, I had decided to walk alongside Highway 41, which flows parallel to Interstate 75 all the way down the entire length of Georgia. While state highways are not nearly as “dangerous” as Interstates, they do pose their own difficulties. In this case, Highway 41 (which I had picked up at the feed store) winds up and around Lookout Mountain, and it does so with a series of tight curves that have absolutely no shoulder to speak of. On one side of the Highway there is a abrupt cliff that plummets down to the Tennessee River, and on the other is a sheer wall of boulders. I had maybe two feet of space on the right-hand side of the road on which to walk, and even less than that across the street – and this for several miles!
Needless to say, this was not a particularly pleasant stretch of walking. It basically necessitated me walking swiftly while partially in the road until I heard a car coming, whereupon I would press myself up against the rock wall until it passed by. It wouldn’t have been so scary had the cars been able to see me, but the blind curves made this a rarity.
At first it seemed like I was making almost no progress; that I was going to be “dodging traffic” forever. I did eventually relax and let my fears subside (which is the key to making any real “progress” in life), whereupon the walking became easier. It even seemed like there was less traffic with each deep breath, though I couldn’t be sure.
I eventually made it John C. Wilson Park – a tiny turn-off resting place with several shaded picnic tables. Here I pulled in, took off my socks & shoes, and sat in a sunbeam while giving immense thanks for having not been run over.
I remember thinking then how odd it was that I felt completely at Peace so soon after being so afraid, and that I was experiencing absolutely no hunger or fatigue despite having already walked roughly 9 miles without eating any food that day. Was I “feeding” off my gratitude? Was this even possible?
Either way, while I was reveling in being alive on that beautiful day, I decided to draw another “random” quote from my bag, and this is what I got:
“The path of the just is like the shining sun,
that shines ever brighter, unto the perfect day.”
~ Proverbs 4:18
And with this Wisdom reverberating through my being, I smiled, put on my shoes once more, and set forth once again on my long walk to everywhere – my smooth saunter towards appreciating this day and this day alone.
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