1589.3 to 1607.6 miles: Shoe Tree

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Animated Street View

Animated Street View

I'll be mentioning the weather for the scheduled route more often as it's getting to the time of the year when it is significant. I'm in the middle of Oregon on the virtual hike. The temperatures are in the low 50's. There are clouds and some rain in the area. The virtual weather will be interesting from a virtual aspect.

If on schedule, the reality walker would be in Southeastern Nebraska in the middle of a rainstorm. It looks like it will pass in a couple of hours. The temperature is in the low 70's. So far, leaving on March 15th has avoided any seriously nasty weather. 

I took a couple rest days as my schedule was busy. This morning, I thought I was taking it easy, but my tempo was between 127 and 133 steps per minute. It seems as if I've semi-permanently progressed to a faster tempo.

Since my last walk on this route, they started using a crane for constructing a new building at the university. 

As sunrise approaches I watch for the perfect picture. I like to take them from different locations than I've used before. 

Shoes -- they are everywhere. I saw the shoes below on the walk today. I've seen many others on previous walks. I could devote a blog to these mysterious shoes that appear everywhere. 

This morning, while I was sitting on the sidewalk outside of Loaf and Jug drinking coffee, a woman saw the map on my cart and asked if I was taking the hike. I explained the virtual hike to her. We talked for about 10 minutes about how expensive a real hike would be. We also talked about how difficult it is to relinquish all responsibilities for a year to take a real hike.

1580.1 to 1589.3: Record keeping

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This leg has something new. Hills, curves and a narrower shoulder. Fortunately, there isn't much traffic and the Google car didn't pass a single car coming the other way. At times, it may be prudent to cross the road and walk with traffic on the outside of a curve. It's a good leg to pay attention to traffic sounds and move to the gravel shoulder if needed.

I've read many books about long hikes and few of them clearly document enough information for a person to reproduce a hike. There are good reasons for this. First, it's boring to record the minutiae. Second, it's boring to read. 

A good minimum would be:

Date:

Day:

Start point:

End point:

Miles walked today:

Money spent:

Total Money spent:

Spent last night at:

Weather:

Total miles:

If a person writes a book, each day could start with this format. Then the walker could either write about something interesting that happened, or they can write about the subjects they pondered during the day. Personally, I would limit each day's writing to about 300 words. At the end of the year, the book would be about 438 pages long. 

I would make each segment a chapter and each leg a subheading in the chapter. 

In my opinion, each day should come one or two pictures. It is difficult to keep track of pictures and locations where they were taken. This is where the nav form can help. The walker could record the segment number, waypoint number, and picture number in the notes column. Or they could record it below the nav form. 

Also, record the names of any people you meet. If you plan to mention them in a blog or a book, be sure to ask permission. 

WP	Tot Miles	Est Elapsed time	Actual elapsed	ETA	ATA	Notes
1	0	0:00				Start at Loaf and Jug
2	1.8	0:31				Cross Troy Ave
3	2.8	0:48				Road turns South
4	4.0	1:09				Get on 50E
5	7.6	2:10				Pass 233 to south
6	9.7	2:46				Pass 31 to south
7	11.6	3:19				Pass 41st Lane to south
8	14.2	4:03				Pass exit to 96
9	16.2	4:38				Cross Avondale Blvd
10	17.9	5:07				Pass E US 50 Br to west
11	19.5	5:34				Pass Asbury Ln to South
12	21.2	6:05				Turn north on 209
13	22.7	6:29				Enter Boone. Turn right
14	22.9	6:33				Boone Park

Nav-02

I added Estimated Time of Arrival and Actual Time of Arrival to the nav form. Maybe someone would be interested. I doubt it, though, so I wouldn't put it in a book. 

Most people would not find such details interesting, so it may be best to present the data in a way that can be grasped in a few moments. For instance a chart with a line for the total miles and bars on the bottom for the miles walked each day would give most people all the information they want.

I'm brainstorming now, so these are ideas and not suggestions.

Maybe the weather could go on a calendar.

These charts could be an appendix at the end of the book.

See you down the road,

Gershon

8/24/14: 1564.5 to 1580.1: Navigation. Starting Segment 25

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Segment 25 Map

Animated Street View

Animated Street View

The route schedule is in the middle of Nebraska now. It would be the first rain since the start of the walk. It looks like it will last for a couple hours. I'm in the middle of Oregon on the virtual walk.

The map below is for my planned trip from Pueblo to Boone.

I've decided the best way to estimate distance is starting a stopwatch when walking and stopping it when stopping. This will be true at least until I find an odometer for Wilson. An odometer isn't a perfect solution either as there will be bonus miles when a person exits the road for services.

When making the route, it is best to choose road intersections for waypoints as often as practical. 

Estimated Speed: 3.5 mph.

Waypoint	Tot Miles		ETA	ATA	Notes
1	0	0:00			Start at Loaf and Jug
2	1.8	0:31			Cross Troy Ave
3	2.8	0:48			Road turns South
4	4.0	1: 09			Get on 50E
5	7.6	2:10			Pass 233 to south
6	9.7	2:46			Pass 231 to south
7	11.6	3:19			Pass 41st Lane to south
8	14.2	4:03			Pass exit to 96
9	16.2	4:38			Cross Avondale Blvd
10	17.9	5:07			Pass E US 50 Br to west
11	19.5	5:34			Pass Asbury Ln to South
12	21.2	6:05			Turn north on 209
13	22.7	6:29			Enter Boone. Turn right
14	22.9	6:33			Boone Park

Virtual Hiking Form N-02

Since I was in the Air Force, I decided to name this form. :)

This table is overkill and I wouldn't plan the whole route this way at the start. A change in the beginning could negate the value of all the work. It would be useful to fill in a form the evening before each day's hike. I would start each day at zero miles instead of the total miles along the route. The total route miles could be another column.

Before the age of GPS, I used to make tables like this for driving long distances where there were a lot of turns. I also made them for riding the motorcycle. I wrote them on an index card I could reference while driving/riding. It would be easier to tape an index card to Wilson than to tape a map.

One advantage to completing a form like this is a person could reference the waypoints when journaling or keeping a record of pictures taken.