WALKING ROUTE 66

It Happened on Day 13

I am not superstitious, but WTH?

Yesterday evening, as I was folding my laundry, someone called out my name, pronounced correctly.

What the what? Who knows me in this town I have never visited before?

AS it turns out, Dawn Heggie had read about me on Facebook. I had mentioned that I was doing laundry at the Normal Maytag Coin Laundry.

I didn’t know her from Eve. She is what is known as a Roadie — people who have dedicated themselves to the love of Route 66. Dawn is an exceptional Human Being. She turned out to be my Guardian Angel.

She said I was welcome to use the shower and pitch my tent in her back yard if I wanted to. She lives ON Route 66. I thanked her, I told her I was spending the night at Anytime Fitness; I had already made arrangements with the owners there.

I am an introvert by nature. I love people, but I am NOT a social animal. I love my privacy.

Dawn told me about the young man who had stayed with her a while back when he was walking cross-country on Route 66. We exchanged phone numbers.

I was up early the next morning and on the road by 6 AM. Dawn had told me about the hiking trail that ran parallel to Route 66. What a wonderful treat. I was walking under the canopy of trees, surrounded by nature. I was in heaven.

Two women went jogging past me. Then I heard, “Wait, you’re the guy who is walking 66.” I stopped. It turns out, Erin is a friend of Mary Duncan with whom I had lunch a couple of days earlier in Lexington. Small world!

I got a phone call at about 9 AM. Was I able to get an early start as planned? How far had I traveled? I told Dawn where I was. She told me that there was a turn off coming up and she will meet me there in 10 minutes. She has some snacks for me. Wow! How cool is that?

She brought me boiled eggs, fresh-cut watermelon, cantaloupe, cashews, and much more. From there, I went to the library, and everything went downhill from there.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that my feet were finding creative ways to let me know that they were not happy with all this walking. I had bought comfortable shoes made by Dr. for my trip. I used to wear them when I worked in restaurants. What I didn’t realize is that they were not designed for outdoors, especially for hot tarmac. I had developed blisters on the underside of my toes. The more I pressed on, the worse they got.

When your body speaks, you better listen. Instead, I was telling it to shut up. Your body is not something isolated; it is an integral part of your whole being.

I had stopped at the library to charge the phone because I forgot to charge it and the power bank the night before. I plugged the phone in, and the19% dropped to zero.

That’s all it took for me to come unglued. The robust and rigid armor of grit and determination crumbled like a termite-infested log. Self-hatred and the pity party started in full force. It’s impossible to be grateful when you hate yourself with a vengeance.

I was planning on getting to Shirley, Illinois, by noon. I was barely leaving downtown Bloomington, with almost nine miles to go. The blisters hadn’t got any better. I slowly limped out of the library and started moving, still cursing myself for my “stupidity.”

Dawn called about one o’clock. “Where are you? I got lunch.” Too much food. I am not used to eating so much at once, and I only ate half of what she brought. I needed a siesta, and there was a park nearby.

I couldn’t rest; I was too busy ripping myself apart.

“Look at you. It hasn’t even been two weeks. What makes you think you can last another six or seven months? Just face it, you’re too old and in no shape to go on.”

It was time to call my shrink to help me put things in proper perspective. I took out my pen and notebook and started journaling. The best shrink you can get for any price.

Pretty soon, I was feeling better. Well, let’s say I was feeling less worse. It wasn’t the end of the world or my adventure, for that matter. It was time to regroup and re-energize. I’ll rest up tonight and start over tomorrow.

Around 6 PM, I received a text from Dawn. She was in Shirley with dinner, where was I? Few blocks from where you left me.

She came over with dinner, but I had no room for it. I had eaten the rest of the leftover lunch and fruit from the morning. She listened to me mope for a while. Well, I could spend the night in the park, or she has a couch on which I can crash.

We somehow managed to stuff the stroller in the back of her crossover vehicle. We swung by Wal-Mart to get a USB cord so I can charge my phone using the solar panel on top of my buggy. I also picked up a pair of running shoes that fit me.

The angel wasn’t done being God-send. She brought me a tub of hot water with Epsom salt to soak my feet. I fell asleep sitting on the chair with my feet in the water. I stretched out the sofa when I woke up. I felt much better.

I invite you to tag along if you’re up to it. I am tagging a few friends who I think will be interested. If you are tagged but don’t want to read my stories daily, just let me know in the comments, and I will not tag you moving forward. If you are reading this and aren’t tagged but would like to come along, let me know, so I can tag you.

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As always, thank you for reading and responding.

Here are a couple of earlier stories:

Rasheed Hooda is a published author, and a regular contributor and editor for ILLUMINATION, a writers’ community on Medium, where writers support each other.

He is a self-proclaimed weirdo who lives a Freedom Lifestyle and writes about related topics — Travel (a top writer), Personal Growth, Freedom, and entrepreneurship. (Get the Newsletter)

More about me:

An interview by Dr. M Yildiz for ILLUMINATION

Testimonial by other writers.