DAY 68 

Text Post: DAY 68: Without my phone I have no alarm, and having stayed up late the night before (Thanks Giving night), I didn’t get up until 5:45am this morning. While I was breaking camp, Bruce came by with a sack of corn-on-the-cob for Reba. We shook hands and I thanked Bruce again for his kindness and making me feel so welcome (Also, I forgot to mention that Bruce brought me a bale of hay when I first arrived in town). Thank you again Bruce!
 
Text Post: DAY 68: After Bruce came by, Allison stopped to check and see if I needed anything. She then handed me an envelope and said that God had told her to give it to me (it was a contribution with a very kind note). Thank you Alison for all your kindness!
 
Text Post: DAY 68: Before heading out, I worked on tightening Reba’s loose shoe: I didn’t have any tools, so I improvised. I lifted her back foot and somehow used my thigh to hold an empty propane camp bottle against her shoe (to keep the nail heads in the flutes) while I hammered the protruding ends of the nails with a wagon-wheel-wrench. I was fairly proud of myself for being able to hold the spent propane bottle against her shoe, and not so proud of the fact that it made a tinny noise like the nail might go through it and blow my head and her foot off! So I put the bottle aside and managed without it, and I got the shoe tight. We got rolling and I would have liked to stop by the library for WiFi and to check my messages but we just needed to get rolling. As we departed town, I looked at my watch and was surprised to see it was already 11:30am!

On the road again. Heading from LeRoy towards Aliceville and Westphalia. Reba likes the flat-lands. She pulled with intent and we made good time. We stopped for lunch and ate together in the ditch as usual. Sometimes a person will make a comment about how Jill must be my great companion, and when they do, I say no, Reba is. I love Jill, and am glad to have her, but I do not have the connection with her that I have with Reba. Jill is young and runs 100 yards ahead in a dog’s paradise, meeting farm dogs along the way, hunting field mice, and so on. Meanwhile, Reba and I are working together to keep this thing rolling along. To Jill’s credit, she does a great job of keeping varmints out of our camp, and she’s always happy!

Text Post: DAY 68: Having got a late start, we were fortunate to make over ten miles going northeast towards the town of Westphalia, and we just did get to Brittni and Marci’s house with enough time to make camp before sunset (Brittni had invited me there, see prior post). Brittni was away at work, but she had prepared a plate for me made from Thanks Giving Day leftovers, and a second plate of homemade desserts. Both plates were oh so delicious! That is my second Thanksgiving meal! Marci and Brittni run an animal rescue program and they have quite the menagerie with horses, dogs, and sheep. I slept in the sheep pen, and it may sound funny, but it was a good campsite (Jill did an excellent job of keeping sheep away from our camp). Marci gave me a bale of brome hay, there was water and electricity in the barnyard, and Reba had a couple of horse friends! Thank you Brittni and Marci!