Westward progress...

Day 157
8-11-2006
Started: Herington, KS
Finished: Tampa, KS
Today's Miles: 19.8
Total Miles:2081.8

Yeah................Westward Progress!!! We waved a bitter sweet goodbye to the little town of Herington as we slowly took our first steps out of town this morning. Randy is still experiencing discomfort in his lower leg, so our plan is to take it very slow, one step at a time. Although our muscles and joints seemed a little dazed and confused from our time off, our minds were definitely happy to be moving again. It took us all of about two miles of walking to realize that there was plenty of room in our new "jogger" for both of our packs, so we are thoroughly enjoying pushing our gear versus lugging it on our backs. We also are pushing an extra two gallons of water, so staying hydrated in this Kansas heat will be a little easier to do. Our route today followed mostly gravel backroads through the very flat Kansas prairie and farmland. The temperatures heated up early in the day and shade trees were nonexistent, so we kept a slow and steady pace taking short breaks to rehydrate and refuel. There is no doubt that we will be receiving even stranger looks than we already have on this trip, thanks to our new piece of gear. One woman and her daughter pulled their car over to make sure we were ok and to see if we needed a ride. When we told her what we were doing she unloaded all the extra water bottles she had in her car on us and wished us luck on the rest of our journey. A short time later another woman pulled her car over to ask us where we were walking from. We chatted for a few minutes and before she drove away she told us she only lived a couple of miles away and asked us if we needed anything. It seems that even though we took a small break from the trail, the "trail angels" are still out in full force. It couldn't have been a mile or two later when we saw a green Gator, an all terrain farm vehicle, with a gentleman and young boy driving down the road behind us. Allen and his grandson Tyler said they had to come and see for themselves if we were the same people they had seen in Herington earlier this morning. It turns out that the last woman who stopped to talk to us, Virginia, was Allen's wife and had told him about us when she had returned home. Allen then remembered seeing two hikers in town earlier and had to see for himself if we were those people. We ended up meeting Allen's grandson, Tyler, and daughter, Cheri. They were all so kind and offered us a place to camp in their yard, allowed us to refill our water bottles and even tried to persuade Randy into meeting one of their neighbors who was the local EMT in the area to take a look at his leg. However, we still had a couple hours of daylight left and after realizing we were only about two miles outside of the town of Tampa, we decided to push on a little further. It wasn't long after leaving Allen's house that the whole family drove up next to us and told us they were good friends with the Mayor of Tampa and they would be more than happy to drive ahead and make arrangements for us to sleep in the park in town. We told them that would be wonderful and we would meet them at the Mayor's house shortly. Sure enough, when we turned the corner into the small town of Tampa, we were greeted with open arms by Mayor Jim Clemmers and his wife, Mary. Tampa, Kansas has a population of 144 people and is the only other Tampa in the country next to Tampa, Florida. Mayor Jim was happy to have us and pointed us in the direction of the town's park for the night. After taking a few pictures with Jim and Mary and Allen's family, we drug our tired bodies around the corner to the park. We felt so spoiled when we arrived, the park had a flush toilet with a sink and running water with a soap dispenser! It doesn't take much to excite us, especially when it involves cleaning up after hiking twenty miles on gravel roads in hundred degree weather. We were even offered hot showers by a local family and were planning to take them up on their offer until we met Janet. Janet writes for the newspaper in Tampa and after receiving a phone call from the mayor had made her way to the park to interview us. We enjoyed sharing our stories with Janet and hearing of her recent travels as well. It is much past our bedtime, so we are off to sleep for the night. It feels great to be hiking again, and we look forward to another day in the Kansas sunshine tomorrow.

Your Friends on the ADT,
Randy and Sheri
Follow our Journey at www.treckusa.com