Waking up after a late night, we loaded up on McDonald's breakfast and doughnuts brought to us by JD, who also left me with a feast's worth of Gatorade and Pop-Tarts. I got the cart all loaded up and put it into the back of Matt's pickup to be driven to the Hard Rock Hotel just on the other side of the bridge from Nebraska. I had run about 7 miles extra when I ventured to South Dakota two days ago, but the Hard Rock was on my path and it was the closest point to where I was headed. After a tour of the casino, which has only been open for a month, I had to say some of the hardest goodbyes of this entire trip to Matt, Lindy, Cash, Casen and their friend Jenni. They showed me amazing hospitality and generosity and it was going to be difficult to leave the good times I had with them to go camp in a city park by myself.
The run started off terrifyingly as I crossed the highway bridge over the Floyd River. There was a sidewalk, but it was out at the start of the bridge meaning I would have to run in a lane of traffic. I don't think there have been a faster 400 meters in this trip as I needed to get off soon. I was able to work around side roads for awhile, but they included monstrous hills that were so steep I couldn't run all of the way up them with my cart. I didn't expect many hills here in Iowa, but here they stood as giants. I hadn't seen much bigger ones since Western Wyoming.
It soon became clear that I wasn't in Nebraska anymore as I got back to Highway 20. Instead of this cute little two lane highway with a very wide shoulder, I was on a four-lane divided highway with a gravel shoulder that was pretty badly eroded from rain. Where in the rest of the country, so far, about 90 percent of cars change lanes when they have the chance to do so to give me room, about 90 percent of Iowans stay the course.
I hadn't prepared myself nearly enough mentally to take on the task the day required of me. I was bummed out about leaving the Marcheses, was running on a crappy road and by the time I got to Moville, just didn't have anything left in the tank. I didn't have near enough energy to continue to Correctionville and I really didn't have enough energy to set up camp. I decided to seek a motel.
I checked into the Motel 20 that sold sleep according to the sign. I was greeted by Yolanda who very generously gave me seven dollars to go get dinner at the Pavillion in the main part of town. I left to eat after a shower, but couldn't find any restaurant downtown. I ended up eating at the Subway right next to the motel.
I returned to Yolanda to give her the seven dollars back since she gave it to me to eat at a certain place and I failed her because I didn't listen to her directions well enough. She told me I could keep the money and use it for a meal down the road. We got to talking a lot about her life and moving to Moville from Norway, where she worked in a lab for oil drilling, just a few years ago. It was amazing to hear the spiritual enlightenment she has had over the years. Most inspiring, however, was listening to her talk about her battle with cancer and her current treatments of chemotherapy, which she had a session of tomorrow morning. The bravery and courage she demonstrated and the way she is mentally and spiritually handling a terminal illness that is giving her a 50 percent chance of living is something that will give me great strength during this run. We left after a long conversation, and she left me with a book she had recently written and had published called "Embracing Forgiveness"
I returned to my room after the wonderful conversation, did my normal nighttime hotel room tradition of turning up the fan, and promptly fell asleep. I was glad I was too tired to continue to Correctionville so that I could meet such a great person.
The run started off terrifyingly as I crossed the highway bridge over the Floyd River. There was a sidewalk, but it was out at the start of the bridge meaning I would have to run in a lane of traffic. I don't think there have been a faster 400 meters in this trip as I needed to get off soon. I was able to work around side roads for awhile, but they included monstrous hills that were so steep I couldn't run all of the way up them with my cart. I didn't expect many hills here in Iowa, but here they stood as giants. I hadn't seen much bigger ones since Western Wyoming.
It soon became clear that I wasn't in Nebraska anymore as I got back to Highway 20. Instead of this cute little two lane highway with a very wide shoulder, I was on a four-lane divided highway with a gravel shoulder that was pretty badly eroded from rain. Where in the rest of the country, so far, about 90 percent of cars change lanes when they have the chance to do so to give me room, about 90 percent of Iowans stay the course.
I hadn't prepared myself nearly enough mentally to take on the task the day required of me. I was bummed out about leaving the Marcheses, was running on a crappy road and by the time I got to Moville, just didn't have anything left in the tank. I didn't have near enough energy to continue to Correctionville and I really didn't have enough energy to set up camp. I decided to seek a motel.
I checked into the Motel 20 that sold sleep according to the sign. I was greeted by Yolanda who very generously gave me seven dollars to go get dinner at the Pavillion in the main part of town. I left to eat after a shower, but couldn't find any restaurant downtown. I ended up eating at the Subway right next to the motel.
I returned to Yolanda to give her the seven dollars back since she gave it to me to eat at a certain place and I failed her because I didn't listen to her directions well enough. She told me I could keep the money and use it for a meal down the road. We got to talking a lot about her life and moving to Moville from Norway, where she worked in a lab for oil drilling, just a few years ago. It was amazing to hear the spiritual enlightenment she has had over the years. Most inspiring, however, was listening to her talk about her battle with cancer and her current treatments of chemotherapy, which she had a session of tomorrow morning. The bravery and courage she demonstrated and the way she is mentally and spiritually handling a terminal illness that is giving her a 50 percent chance of living is something that will give me great strength during this run. We left after a long conversation, and she left me with a book she had recently written and had published called "Embracing Forgiveness"
I returned to my room after the wonderful conversation, did my normal nighttime hotel room tradition of turning up the fan, and promptly fell asleep. I was glad I was too tired to continue to Correctionville so that I could meet such a great person.
The Marcheses with a creepy homeless guy
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