FT2018 Day 44: Campsite near the Aucilla River (mile 734.2) to Ring Dike Campsite (mile 760.8)

FT2018 Day 42: Deerwood Inn (mile 691.9) to Fellowship Rd. (712.6)

20.7 FT miles

I woke up this morning before my alarm and immediately checked the radar. I'm glad Sugar Rush and I hadn't made a plan the night before because the radar was totally different this morning. It actually looked better.

From the radar prediction, it looked like we would be hit with a heavy band of rain in the late morning. It left us with two options. For the first option, we could leave immediately and try to make it to make it to a church a couple miles down to shelter when the rain hit. The other option was that we could go to Denny’s, get a big breakfast, wait for the rain to pass, then get a late start.

We decided to go with the first option. I ran out the door first with Sugar Rush on my heels. We rounded onto the country roads, waving to passing cars. I kept checking the weather and the radar kept changing. By the time we reached Hopewell Baptist Church, I was wondering if we would get hit by any rain at all.

Early morning on the roadwalk.

Dirt roadwalking.

I had only thought that we would use the awning of the church for shelter. Sugar Rush saw a light on in one of the buildings and found the pastor. He opened up a room for us to stay, use the bathroom, and fill up with water at the kitchen.

Two other women showed up as well. There was a gathering the night before and they had left over cakes, which they fed us. They also filled up cups of sweet tea for us. We stayed, ate, and watched the radar. It was incredible.  It was like the storm couldn't touch the blue dot that indicated our location. The storm bowed around the dot, dumping rain elsewhere, but leaving our litroad walking.

Church goodies.

When it was clear we wouldn't be rained in, we thanked the women and the pastor and kept heading down the road. The roads we were taking we lightly travelled, but we're full of private homes and properties. It was difficult to find a place for lunch. Eventually, we just took out our mats on the side of the highway and stopped to eat.

After that we kept doing the same thing we had done all day. We kept walking the asphalt. We made good time on the hard surface, but it was painful on the feet.

Paved roadwalking.

Vlog

When we were about 2 hours out, I contacted Belinda. She and her niece, Terry, showed up at the junction I had picked as a meeting spot just as we had gotten there. There could not have been more perfect timing.

The women drove us back to Live Oak, stopping at one of the biggest Wal-Marts I have ever seen for supplies. We then went to Belinda’s house where we ate dinner, watched the Olympics, and got to shower and do laundry.

Great sunset at Belinda's house.