Day 32

Greetings ya'll. We made it to our third day off. Everyone here could use a break from the road and try to get some much needed rest. Durkin has not been feeling his usual self as of late and has been sleeping the entire afternoon. I have also picked up a small head cold, probably thanks to Matt, and Ken...well, Ken's on top of the world. It's funny how quickly things can change in a matter of a few days.

We started the morning with a 7am wake up call and headed over to the continental breakfast. Unfortunately, it only consisted of donuts and coffee so we headed over to McDonald's for a couple of delicious McSkillet's to go. There was a strong chance of thunderstorms in the early afternoon and we wanted to get on the road as soon as possible. Mr. and Mrs. Durkin dropped us off for the last time at 8:30 and drove the three hours back to Jackson, MS to catch their flight. It was sad to see them leave but at the same time I was glad to get back on the road on our own again. As much as I appreciate everything they have done for us over the past week, it was a totally different feeling of running each day. The adventure of the trip just wasn't the same knowing that we would be ending in a hotel every night.

We ran on Route 8 towards Crossett for about 5 miles before we turned onto a number of smaller dirt roads. I absolutely loved running on these type of roads for the last few days because the traffic was minimal and the softer surface was great for my sore shins (which are feeling a lot better as of late). Route 8 was also a nice change of pace because for the first time in days it consisted of small rolling hills. They weren't much but they definitely had an elevation gain to them.

The sky remained cloudy all day and by noon we had a little more than 6 miles left in our day. We were all looking forward to getting inside before the storm hit and be able to rest for the day. Ken's calf was starting to tighten up but with the clouds becoming darker and the wind picking up he decided to fight through the pain and finish the day off as quickly as possible. We arrived on the edge of town just before 1pm and Ken and I headed over to Wal-Mart to pick up something to eat while Matt continued on to the hotel.

Within minutes of Ken and I arriving at the hotel, the sky opened up and the rain started to fall. It was a hard rain that continued for the rest of the night and we hear tomorrow's forecast is more of the same.

I apologize for both the quality of this blog and its length. Nothing exciting really happened today and I am having a hard time writing tonight. Tomorrow we don't have much on our plate besides eating as much as possible and sleeping twice as long. Give us a call anytime after 11 if you want to catch up and chat. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading and for your continuous support. Enjoy the night.

-Andy