I have just got back from finishing the 8 kms I missed out on yesterday. I left my pack with John at the restaurant, was real real good to walk without the pack for a little. At the moment I am in the Palisade bar with three other fellas and the local barmaid Kelly who has kindly allowed me to use her wi fi. I am about to head out towards the town of Aitkin which is around 35kms away. I will not make it today so will get as far as I can and come back to the town of Palisade as I like the little town and the people in it. I will use the same camp site as last night which was right on the MR so was a nice sight to wake up to as the sun was coming up over the river. Best get cracking...
5th October
After a mug of hot coffee, a bowl of cereal, a couple pieces of toast and a glass of orange juice I was set to take on a long day. The next town, Palisade, was around 45kms away which after walking 30km plus everyday for the last 10 days was going to be tough. So sadly bidding Kathy Farewell I set off at around 7:30.
The day quickly warmed up to 26c. It was a beautiful morning with 3 or 4 chipmunks running around and not a cloud in the sky. I passed a town hall which I went in to just to use the bathroom. There were two nice ladies there I chatted with for a brief moment before pushing on. An hour or so later one of the ladies pulled up in her car and explained to me that she was a writer for one of the local papers and wanted to do a story. So after another brief interview and a few photos I was off again.
After a long haul I pulled up around 8 kms short of the town, I had nothing left, I was spent. I waited for a ride on the bend of the Great River Road in the company of a small potbellied pig and his mate, which was a small dog, interesting duo; I must say I enjoyed the company of the dog better as the pig was adamant about trying to eat my backpack! I was in luck after about 45mins a car came past and took me to Palisades. Palisades has a population of 118 people, a restaurant and a pub. Again I was in luck. Larry (the Sherrif) drove past me today to check in on me and informed me of some great news. The owner of the restaurant in Palisades, John, was talking to Larry earlier that day about my trek and was good enough to invite me to his restaurant for dinner, his shout. I arrived at the restaurant with nothing left in the tank at around 6pm and was greeted by John and the waitress.. what a sight they were to my eyes. Within minutes I had the biggest plate of hash browns, mushrooms, bacon, sausage, peppers, toast and a tall glass of orange juice I had ever seen. I was famished but only managed to get through two thirds of the meal which leaves me with a good breakfast for the morning. A big thanks to John for buying me dinner, after a tough, long day I could not have asked to meet a better bloke!
So I will be up early tomorrow morning to head back out to the point where I finished tomorrow. Then I will be heading to Aitkin which is another 30 plus km day. Better get some sleep now. Thanks again Larry and John….
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