I am just going to tell you about today. My post for yesterday is saved on my computer which I can not use at the moment, so I will put up yesterdays events on my next post.
I camped around 35kms out of Davenport last night next to a tiny lake. This morning I woke up feeling good. The morning greeted me pretty chilly, but with no wind and the sun shining bright it was a good start again. I slept well with the exception of some little critter that kept creeping around the front of my tent door. I ate a good breakfast and set off. I was sure I was going to reach Davenport this afternoon.
After walking solidly for 4 hours I took a break and had the last of my food and water. This was around 11:30, and I tell you, finding motivation again to get up and back into it had never been so hard. I sat and stared at the road from the bridge I had set myself for around 20 mins, waiting for that now familiar, sudden surge of "Righto, lets get back into it". But it never came. Never the less, I got back up slowly like an old man from his armchair and started back on the track, still waiting for that motivation to magically appear. I made it another 2 hours down the road and had had enough. I planned to hitch a ride to the town (Maquoketa) I had spent the night in two days ago as I had left my cart there for reasons you will read about in the post from yesterday. At this stage I was about 18kms out of Davenport. Turns out my day was in for a change for the better.
This is when I met Amber. Amber picked me up and was a person you immediately like. After chatting for a while about life and what I was doing over here, Amber offered to take me all the way back to Maquoketa to get my cart, then drive me back to Davenport to where she lives. She has house there and offered me the place to stay. She is heading back to her families in Wisconsin. What a girl! Now I am sitting in her lounge room typing this up, waiting for my clothes to dry in the dryer. This works out perfectly as tomorrow, one of Ambers friends is going to drive me back to the point where I left off today so I can make my way back here tomorrow and again, spend the night at Ambers. I really can not believe my luck!
I must admit I am looking forward to leaving the bigger freeway that I have been following for the last few days. I may have cut off 50 or so kms taking it, but after following a beautiful river that winds its way through tiny, little villages, meeting the towns people and having all sorts of wildlife living around you, the freeway with nothing but cars and wind has taken its toll on me, more so mentally than anything else, after a while it numbs you. A big thanks to Amber for whisking me away from all that today. Her house is in a great little village to the side of Davenport and right on the river. It really is a blessing to be here tonight and to have met her today!
When we arrived at Ambers home today, I moved my gear to the house and then we went over to Ambers work, which is a hair salon just across from her house, to meet her co workers and say gday. Little did we know, back at the house, Ambers dog (I forget her name) was enjoying herself by happily ripping into my subway sandwich I had just bought. We arrived home to find her looking more than happy with a piece of Subway wrapper hanging out of mer mouth, caught in the act or what?? After we laughed off the situation Amber was kind enough to buy me another, and far better substitute from the local deli.. best sanga of the trip I gotta say...
Now I am off to grab a meal at the local pub and then sit back and enjoy the comforts of the house.
Amber thank you so much for all you did today. It seems that God always knows when and who to put in my path when I need them most...
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