Day 39
Miles today: 22 miles
Miles so far: 700ish miles
Campsite: Stealth Campsite.

Ah, the warmth of a motel room. It was a good night. Joey and I got ready and we had breakfast in beds. He had a frozen calzone from the gas station and I had my peanut butter wraps. What a way to start the Valentine’s day. We both joked about being each other’s valentine for the day and both felt sorry for each other haha!

Today was literally just road walking and not a single foot was set in the wilderness. We passed a few shady and dilapidated houses with a ton of junk in the yard but we also passed many pretty ones too. We met a few loose dogs again. First few remained on their property and just barked at us. One did bark at us than ran towards us across the street. I feared she would get hit. She was the sweetest black lab and would not leave my side and just wanted to be loved. Wish i could of stayed the night and snuggled.haha! I tried walking her back to her house but she wouldn’t listen to “stay” and as soon as i turned my back she was right about my heel licking and hugging her body onto mine. Like I said, sweetest girl. I noticed she had a juicy tick above her eye after many failed attempts of making her stay at her house. Before she finally stayed, I pulled the tick. Who’s owner wouldn’t notice that tick?! Oh well.

We were able to continue hiking until 2 barking dogs ran our direction and Joey had to yell out because they came too close to comfort. They followed us silently after that until we passed their house. While chatting, we got a big surprise when a pit bull pulled right behind us quietly. Another sweet girl who seems very scared but loving. I took her back to her house and tried to point her back home. Her owner probably heard me talking to her and started yelling at her and not even acknowledging my presence… I don’t blame her for trying to follow me.

We pass a house where a gentleman was getting his mail. I had seen him in the distance crossing the street a few times and thought it was odd for him to keep checking the mail on Sunday. As I approached he walked slowly towards me and I slowed down to make sure Joey would catch up to me. The man seemed lonely and had one hand in his coat pocket. He asked where I was going, I replied “Pensacola!”. Without any word he handed me a $20 bill and I refused taking it. I tried telling him I was okay and we were hiking for fun and such but he insisted. Do I really look that homeless?! Eek! We took the money and talked to him a bit. He was lonely and wished he was back in Georgia where it was his home. He told us to have a good day and we continued hiking. We jokingly said we’d buy a nice Valentine’s day dinner at a gas station in town. I still feel bad for taking the money despite my attempts to let him know that this is *hiking* and it is for *fun* and we didn’t need it.  I am sure a lot of people don’t understand that.

I bought a “sharing size” m&m’s pack. Who are they kidding? No one shares candy here. NOM NOM. NOM all mine!

We came across a car that was park next to a dirt road. Jokingly told each other that it was a section hiker who wanted to hike this crappy road walk section haha. But as we walked closer to the vehicle, we realized there was a Florida Trail guidebook on the dash. We laughed. We peaked inside to find multiple jugs of water and more FTA Stickers. Ha! It truly was someone parked right there to hike this boring section. We later met with this person, it was Audrey Minnis. She was a southbounder that I had heard of from the Facebook page. Too funny! She was in a car with friends on her way back to her own car. She told us great info about what’s ahead. Yay!

This stretch has zero camping. As it is on roads, most of it all is on private property with Posted signs and no. Trespassing signs… This is where I either had to camp at a church or stealth camp somewhere next to the road. We found a flatten spot in the wood next to the dirt road. It had a no trespassing sign but was commercial logging land. Eek. I didn’t want to do it but Audrey had told us she didn’t see many good spots to camp ahead so we took a chance. We had gone 22 miles and I was ready to be done. This was a secluded area with no houses…

Hope your valentine’s day was good! Mine included road walking with somewhat of a stranger, Joey haha. I had sent Bryan a cheezy Valentine’s day card from White Springs. I walked into the post office on Thursday, I think, and asked if she had postcards. I informed her I wanted to send a cheezy valentine message to my boyfriend back home. She ran to her office and handed me a true valentine’s day card. She had written all of hers and had 1 remaining and told me I could have it. It was meant to be! So here I was writing a sappy note to Bryan which he got today once he got back from a trip. Yep, it was all meant to be…

Time to get some sleep, wouldn’t want to be here longer than I have to in the morning. Hopefully I get to set foot in a forest real soon! I’m missing it already although I have dry feet on the road. Sorry for the lack of photos, roads are not as pleasant. Happy trails!