Sunday, May 14, 2017

Walk Thoughts #217: Day 23, Leg 19 assessment

Some pedometer stats:

568 minutes walked
53,214 steps
24.78 miles
4119 calories burned (3100 net)

Today felt like a day to walk, and I walked more energetically and enthusiastically than I have on any other day. Weather makes all the difference, I suppose. The miles rolled by quickly; there were no challenging hills. When I stopped at the dam, I went up to the admin building's rooftop observation level and just chilled for a bit. This was one of the most relaxing dams I had been to.

Nothing to report but lots of sun and wind. It's still windy as I'm typing this, but not as blustery as it had been earlier today.

I remembered to withdraw cash while I was in Namji-eup; this allowed me to buy drinks and snacks at a local cash-only store today. The store owner wished me luck on my trip, reminding me that I had only 70 kilometers to go to the end. I had guessed that the campground would be at the 65-km mark; as you could see from the photos, I was off by 2 km.

When I got to the campground, I tromped over to what I thought was the empty admin office and waited for someone to come by so I could pay for a space. No one came. An old man floated close, collecting litter from the ground. I walked around the campground, wondering whether this was the right office. When I wandered back to the office, someone was there: the garbage-collecting old man. He closed up the office and waddled over to his flatbed truck; I waved him down before he could get away, and I asked him about paying for a spot for the night.

"You can't," he said flatly. "It's past time. But there are two more campgrounds up the hill, that way," he gestured. He drove off, and I sighed and started up the hill. I saw an office, and the ajeossi there smiled and greeted me. I explained my situation, and he got furtive.

"What time would you be leaving in the morning?" he asked slyly.

"About five or six if I wake up very early," I said.

"In that case, just take spot 163."

"How much do I owe you?"

"Normally, it's W20,000 by wire transfer, but you just go to the spot and don't say anything."

I thanked the man after ascertaining that "spot 163" was a spot on the Mirpia Campground, which meant that the second office I had found had in fact been the main office I should have found to begin with. (In other words, I never made it to the other campgrounds indicated by the old man.)

I'm feeling good. I'm ready for tomorrow, which is my fourth and final dragon: the longest walk of this entire project. I plan to take my sweet time, given that I'll be spending two nights in a motel once I reach town. That leaves only one more day of walking, and that's going to be a relatively easy day. Unless something horrific happens between now and Wednesday, this adventure ought to end fairly smoothly.

1 comment:

  1. I love how there is always a way, even if something is "impossible."

    ReplyDelete

READ THIS BEFORE COMMENTING!

All comments are subject to approval before they are published, so they will not appear immediately. Comments should be civil, relevant, and substantive. Anonymous comments are not allowed and will be unceremoniously deleted. For more on my comments policy, please see this entry on my other blog.

AND A NEW RULE (per this post): comments critical of Trump's lying must include criticism of Biden's lying on a one-for-one basis! Failure to be balanced means your comment will not be published.