Day 20 Centerfield to North of Salina

Today was a blustery day. The weather reports predicted rain, but luckily, very little of it seemed inclined to fall on me. (More photos)

Part way between Centerfield and Axtell, an elderly woman came out of her roadside home to tell me she and her friends had been following me on the radio. They would call each other up and give each other updates as they saw me on different places along the way. Now she could tell her friends that I had walked past her house and she was able to give me a donation and some lemonade. She was so sweet about it all.

The light was so interesting this morning. I even saw a flat rainbow, which I tried to catch on camera, but naturally, what you see isn’t quite what I saw. It was amazing. The sun peeked out periodically and in patches because of the billowing cloud formations that were tossed around by the gusting winds. So patches of radiantly golden corn stalks with small flocks of birds were lit against a grayish background, or stunningly vibrant greens splashes of spearmint leaves.

I left Sanpete County today. It is kind of sad. We have really grown to love it here. The people have been so kind and generous. Just before crossing the county line, a car pulled over driven by a young woman who asked if I needed a ride. I told her no, we were trying to raise money to help kids and she bid me good luck and started off, only to pull over again about a hundred feet down the road. When I approached she asked again what I was doing, so I explained. She said she would like to make a donation, but wondered what road she was on. I told her Highway 89. She was on the phone talking to a coworker who had taken a wrong turn onto Highway 50 out of Salina a few miles ahead and she was trying to give her directions. Kara was not far behind in the chase car so I went back and got a map and showed where we were and how to get her coworker back on track. She thanked me, reached into her wallet and pulled out some cash “to help the kids”, before driving off to Gunnison. She had handed me $70.

It started to sprinkle so I put on a sweat shirt and pulled a rainproof poncho over it. As soon as I did the rain stopped and the sun came back out. Soon it was wetter under the raincoat than it was outside of it. I finished up the day a few miles from Salina and went back to Spring City to spend the evening with some of our new friends we had met.

                                                     WHERE'S WALLY?