Quest #1 Walk to Rivendell: Difficulties and Ferries

Alright, I admit it.  I screwed up this past week. I didn't make my goal of 90 miles.  I'm at 83.

I need to figure out how to keep going despite the craziness of the job. 

I've been thinking a lot about it in fact. (Yeah I know you smelled the smoke, right?)

So I botched this week and will have to make it up next week.  It's not going to be fun, but not everything on every journey is fun.  You know those movie montages?  Those things that make it look like people are transformed in one way or another in a minute or less to super fun music?  If they showed it to you in real time, you'd probably be bored out of your bloody mind!  Here's to hoping I can put a little adventure of my own in it.  

On the bright side, I DID manage to meet a mile marker this week, and in honor of crossing on Buckleberry Ferry, I managed to do my own ferry crossing on the Jamestown Ferry to and from Williamsburg!  

Woo hoo!  I love ferries.  I've ridden on them countless times since I was a kid.  While I've never felt the  terror of fleeing a Nazgul on a ferry, I do have a crazy ferry story:

I spent a summer in college interning at a Maritime Museum in Beaufort, NC.  On one of my days off, I thought it would be fun to go to the Grave Yard of the Atlantic Museum on Hatteras Island.  In order to get there from Beaufort, you have to drive to Cedar Island, take the 2 1/2 hour ferry ride to Ocracoke, and then take another 45 minute ferry to Hatteras.  The trip over was awesome!  I caught the first ferry and drove across Ocracoke, caught the second, and then drove to the Museum.  It took about 5 hours, all told, and I got to spend a whopping 15 minutes in there before it closed.

I made it to the Hatteras Ferry and as soon as it docked, drove like mad down to the other end of Ocracoke... just in time to see the Ferry pull away.  The problem was that there was only ONE ferry in the evening.  If you wanted off the Island you had to wait for the ferry to Get to the farther shore and then pick up another load and return.  That was 5 hours.  So there was nothing to do but wait until the ferry returned at 10:00 PM and took me back to Cedar Island so that I could drive back to Beaufort.

It was actually kind of cool.  I checked out the beach, looked for buried treasure in "Teach's Hole" (Ocracoke was of course a favorite haunt of Blackbeard).  Sorry, no treasure - unless you count the blue plastic sandcastle shovel and a piece of a flip-flop.  But I was in for a pleasant surprise as I finally boarded the 10:00 ferry for home.  I was in the middle of the water on a cloudless night with the most amazingly brilliant set of constellations I have ever seen.  I opened the skylight in my Chevy Blazer, and actually got to watch the stars and smell the ocean at the same time!  It was incredible!  I never would have seen it if I hadn't missed the 5:00 ferry.  My mother always told me "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."  She's right.  You may not see it at first, but let me tell you that if you think you know better than Him, you've got another think coming.  I would have missed it if I had been able to make that ferry.

I digressed.  Isn't the first and it won't be the last time.

But hopefully, I will find some more insight along the road to Rivendell and even more to Mordor.

Until then, I'll keep walking.  

Quest #1 Walk to Rivendell - Into the Woods . . . and Back Out Again

This is the completion of Week #2 for me!  I have officially walked 60.14 miles!  If I were in Middle Earth, I would have gone through the forest and have arrived at the edge of Farmer Maggot's fields by now.  There were several times this week that I didn't think I would make it, but I did!  And I took some photos of my journey through my own Middle Earth along the way!

Entering the woods like the hobbits on the way to Farmer Maggot's. (Reality: part of the Canal Trail)

In the awesome woods along the trail. (Again, part of the Canal Trail).  I hope that there aren't any Black Rider's about!

Hopefully next week won't see me falling down and quitting the quest.  I have a long way to go to get rid of that ring, even getting to Rivendell is a long quest, but I'm ready for the challenge.  So into the woods I go and at the end of the week out of them, ready to start a new adventure!

Quest #1 Walk to Rivendell - Every Step Matters

I had a work function that required me to be out of the office today.  Normally that's really good.  But being given the job of sitting in a chair and watching a hole on a golf course as a witness in case someone got a hole-in-one is not the active, running around job that I would have liked.  No, the job wasn't hard, and yes, I brought a book with me while I sat for some of it, but I took the opportunity to get up and walk as much as I could.  I didn't have the time this morning to walk as far as I wanted to, but I did walk.  I took every opportunity to get out of the chair and move around.

I thought about my workouts and thought about the walking that Frodo, Sam, and the fellowship did.  They took each opportunity to get as far as they could.  They tried to walk as far as they could, but there were a couple of days when they simply needed to rest.  For me, that was tonight.  I needed a break from going so long and hard the last few days.  No, I didn't walk like I should have, but I know that I can get in the necessary 8.19 miles that I need to finish out my goal for the week in the next two days.

I know me.  I don't want to quit, but I do need to pace myself.  I have reasonable goals, and a timeline, but I don't need to kill myself trying to complete them.  I will get there, and I will get there on time, but I want to make sure I get there in a good mental state.

Quest #1 Walk to Rivendell - Opportunity to Fail

So I have to say that I almost failed epically today.  Infact, if I hadn't known that I would have to report to you all that I failed my first out of town experience, then I absolutely would have!

I had a tire blow out yesterday and after getting back late to the hotel I was staying at, I was exhausted and crashed.  When my alarm went off this morning, I was still zonked.  I really didn't want to get up and get out of bed.  It wouldn't hurt to not walk today, right?

Then I thought of my goal.  I really want to reach it.  Not to mention that I really didn't want to worry about reporting failure.  So I got up.  I went outside, and I walked 1.65 miles.  Then I went to my meeting location and walked 0.91 miles.  When I got home, I walked an additional 2.44 miles with Percy.  The grand total?  A whopping 5 miles!  This puts me at 48.81 miles for the wee so far!  See what a fellowship can do for you?

I have to admit that it was tough on the road, and I need to make better food choices.  BUT one step at a time, and at least this first step was conquered: getting in miles despite the number of chances to fail!  Kinda felt like a Jedi in Middle Earth today!

Quest #1 Walking to Rivendell - Mixing Things Up

I don't know about you, but I get board easily while walking.  I have my headphones in (having a soundtrack always helps!) and I try as often as I can to walk one or both of my dogs.  But while North Carolina is a beautiful state, it's not Middle Earth.  So I've tried to find places along my walk that remind me of Middle Earth and take a picture.  Yesterday's was pretty freakin' awesome!

A little piece of The Shire at a little park on my route

You know what's also awesome?  I'm now at 40 miles in a little over two weeks!  I can't believe it, but I can believe the fact that I feel better in general and I'm going to keep on keeping on!

I also had a storm suddenly come up on me.  It was a crazy experience.  I had decided to walk during my lunch break at work and as I was on my return trip, I saw a sheet of rain coming towards me down the road.  It went from being no rain, to soaking downpour in seconds!  Not cool!  Fortunately, a friend driving by had pity on me and picked me up and took me back to the office.  God bless members of my fellowship - whether they know they are or not!

Believe it or not, the sky in the background is a dark grey/black and there's rain coming!

The more I thought about it later, I realized it might be fun to walk in the rain (when I don't have an afternoon meeting, or when I have to be at work at all.

Quest #1 Walk to Rivendell - The First Nazgul Sighting!!!

I knew they were out there. . .

I didn't want to believe it, but I knew!

                         And then it happened: we saw the first Nazgul, the Black Rider!  I wanted to run instantly, but I heard it scream for the One Ring!  I yanked off the ring, tossed it into the ditch and took off like mad.  Someone else can carry that bloody thing!

Just kidding . . .  Maybe . . .

While I still have the One Ring for now, I did take a second to snap this awesome picture of it.  I knew you all wouldn't believe me unless I had proof, and here it is!

While the iPhone may be new to Middle Earth, challenges aren't.  And they're not new here either. 

This week has just started and I'm feeling challenged already. When I got up and walked Monday I felt like my legs were going to fall off. I had the slowest time I've walked yet and I thought to myself that this was going to be a long tough journey.  It is. That's the point. But I also have this awesome support group! I went to see my awesome people last night and received such encouragement from them that when I woke up this morning, it was still slower, but my determination couldn't have been stronger.

That's why there's a fellowship. No one can go the whole way alone. We need each other to encourage, help, push and even drag each other towards the goals in front of us.  Some of you who thrive on checklists and personal goal-setting probably don't get it.  That little check box on the side of your first and last items are all the motivation you need to finish. Good for you. Now, go help some of us who think checkboxes are just adult  coloring pages. 

We all think differently and are motivated differently. I need the help and encouragement from others and even the occasional message that says "So, getting in your walk to Rivendell?" 

So while I'm tired after my first mile marker of 32 miles, I'm hopeful. Bilbo said it best:

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door.  You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

(Special thanks to the incomparable Alissa for being such an epic Nazgul!)