Post # 25 After The Walk- My Initial Thoughts

I’m home

6 days

81.8 miles

172,763 steps later.

Here are 5 photos of my last 6 days walking in the footsteps of Lyman Dillon and Old Military Road from Iowa City to Dubuque….

 

Sunrise North of Solon on day 2

Picture of my footsteps looking back near Langworthy

Looking back at our house as I leave for Cascade.

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Walking in the drizzle on day 6

Mrs DM and I at the end of the road

      Here are just a few  highlights of the trip.

       While I am on my feet all day at work, I am not a “walker”, and yet, I did not get any blisters, my feet never hurt,  only  felt  stiff at the end of day 3 as I was coming down a long hill into Anamosa.

     I woke up refreshed every morning , 4 of the nights I stayed  in homes of people I didn’t (or barely) knew.

     It rained 2 of the 6 days, which only added to my sense of being on an  adventure.

     A couple of  you mused there  would be a spiritual component to this adventure and there definitely was.  I’ll probably write more about that later.

      My next goal (after writing thank you’s) is to contact the people I met in each town and work on my book “On The Trail Of Lyman Dillon“ 

      When I’ve mentioned writing a book,  I’ve  encountered a few  “Oh sure you are”  looks.    What the nay sayers don’t know is I already have 2 books in print.  I realize I probably sound a little testy  as I write this, but I have very little time for negative, pessimistic, people.   

  Here’s  a quote by Theodore Roosevelt which  comes to mind when I meet a nay sayer :

 

        “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

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 As a side note, this adventure made it in (7) different newspapers,  (1) TV clip (w/ a 2nd pending),   a chance to talk w/(4) High School history classes and (3) history groups while on the walk.  We finished the trip with a small reception in Dubuque @ Lot One- site of  Tim Fanning’s Log Tavern….it was a full week.