Back on Track

I must admit, I did hit a little wall in St Louis, I was stuffed, physically and a little mentally also. After walking every single day, alone, in cold, wet conditions, missing my fiance and having too many hours for thinking on hand, a little dummy spit, tantram or whatever you would like to call it, was bound to come. But I can happily report, I am back on track and feeling up beat, keen and motivated!

Last night, after a good 28km day of walking, I found myself in the middle of some ordinary suburbs on the outskirts of St Louis. I had been strolling along through the dark for some hours when I noticed a motel sign a little further up. Seeing as though I was in the suburbs with not much of an option for camping, I decided to call it a night. Seeing the first people I came across were two police officers questioning two people was a sure enough sign that I was not staying at the Ritz. Literally 5 mins after getting into my room and locking the door, I jumped as I heard a woman screaming and a man yelling. I ran to the door to find a couple screaming at each other and then the woman taking off up the street. With that introduction I was happy to resign myself to the room for the night instead of the tour of the area I had considered before!

With having had a very quiet night of movies and nothing, I was feeling tons better than the previous days. I made it to a small town around 33kms out of the city by the name of Imperial. I found a church to camp at for the night and began to set up. I was setting up in the dark and was being too lazy to get my headtorch out to make things a little easier, SNAP...CRAP... while trying to fit the smaller poles into the tent sleeve, some part of it got snagged and when I tried to eaze it in a little bit more, bang, it snapped into 5 little pieces, leaving me with an almost useless tent on a cold, windy, dark night! Now what was I going to do?

Earlier that night I had met a couple of young blokes from next door to the church. I went over to ask if they minded if I could put my tent up in between their house and the church. As I was pondering what to do with my tent situation, Jack, Jake and Aaron turned up to say gday again. They are three fellas at 20 years of age and I immedietly liked them, good country boys. They invited me to spend the night on their sofa bed and also the use of their washing machine and shower - that invitation is becoming very common - could not be the way I look and smell ya reckon? Thanking God again for his perfect timing, I greatfully accepted and we set off for the house. After meeting the rest of the house (Aaron and jakes girlfriends) me and the boys went out to the local hamburger joint for dinner - good tucker, did not dissapoint. We then headed back to the house to find it ful with another 6 or 7 people who were on their way out to party and had stopped in to say gday. So after a long night of meeting people and having a laugh we eventually went to bed late into the night. I can tell you as I fell asleep listening to the wind growing stronger and stronger outside, I was happy as a pig in mud, curling up and falling asleep in 2 mins flat!

This morning Jack and I have been trying to find a substitute for the tent poles. Jack found some fiber glass poles in the garage maybe we can rustle up something with these and the left overs of the tent poles I still have. Today I will be making my way to the town of St Genevive which is around a two day walk. I have heard good things about this place, with many people saying it is a beautiful place that thrives through its tourism and many wineries.

I want to give a huge thanks to the boys - Jack, Jake and Aaron. After a pretty crappy last few days and then when my tent poles broke as I was trying to set my tent up in the darkness and wind, they turned up in my life with the timing of a perfect set out movie. The lads are all young in age, but with good, mature heads on their shoulders, and it was a real pleasure to have crossed paths with them.

Now with a rejuvinated soul and mind set, I again feel motivated and ready to continue on my journey south to see what stories, people and adventures lie ahead.

 Thanks also to Cami for her last email. She had read my last post and as always knows just what to say and how to make me feel better and get my butt back into gear... Lets hope, no more dummy spits...