Day 15, Leg 10

Five more days to go, four more legs to go.

only 19 or 20K, not 25.4

not 23K, it seems

Today was a lot like yesterday: once the sun came up, it was bright and windy. But before I get ahead of myself, I should talk about what a foot examination revealed yesterday at Libertar Pension. 

Everything takes a million years to do when you're tired, so it's important, while you're thinking sluggishly, to think logically, to put your upcoming actions together in rational order so you don't screw things up. Since I got to Libertar in the late afternoon, the first thing I needed to do was eat, so I did that while watching YouTube. Pooping came next (pungent but gratifying), followed by hand-washing clothes, then showering, which meant taking off my various bandages. 

I immediately saw that I've started to form a blister under the thick skin of the ball of my left foot. I've had worse, so I wasn't worried. My right big toe, though, was looking beaten up and a bit misshapen. A blister had formed in that region, then popped, subjecting the area to a bit of a "wet bandage" effect, which is never good news.

So the next logical steps were: dry the feet, disinfect, re-dry, and re-dress everything. So I dragged out my first-aid kit and got to work, first drying everything, then swabbing the blister-popped areas (and elsewhere), drying everything again, then taking nearly thirty minutes to re-dress my feet in the proper order. The final result met my satisfaction, and today's walk, while somewhat abusive as all such walks are, was emergency-free.

But with several more and longer walks coming up before the end, I'm a little worried that burst blisters and minor wounds might become infected. Luckily, I did remember to bring along the remains of my antibiotic pills, so if I perceive any signs or smells of infection, I'll take the pills and hope for the best. At worst, I'll finish the walk and see the local doc about further treatment.

Those minor concerns aside, I enjoyed today's walk, which was shorter than expected at only 19K (Naver switched things up on me again, by 4 km this time). The walk started off energetically, and it was short enough that I arrived in the Nakdan Dam area a lot earlier than expected—just a little after noon. So I shrugged and went to a local Chinese restaurant that I'd been to years before. I remember that it had served okay food, but that I'd gotten the runs afterward—maybe because of the food or because of something else. I then took a slow tour of the dam, padding my step count and kind of hoping that the cute girl from last year would pop out, but as my rational mind had suspected there was to be no pop-goes-the-cutie. So, I ambled into a convenience store, got some supplies, then wandered over to the Bonghwang Motel, which Naver insists on calling the Bonghwang Park (봉황파크) despite all evidence to the contrary, from the motel's name on the building's front to the stitched labels on my room's pillows to the printed names on the bathroom towels. Absolutely everything simply says "Bonghwang Motel," not "Bonghwang Park."

(You do remember that bonghwang/봉황 means "phoenix," ja? There will be a quiz later on all of this vocabulary. Stay frosty.)

My room is only W35,000 for the night. The manager gave me the password to be able to access router internet, but that didn't work. Not a problem: this sort of situation is precisely why I switched my phone policy to unlimited data. 

25K walk to eastern upper Sangju tomorrow. I'm in southern Sangju now, and the day after tomorrow marks the definitive turn eastward to begin the final phase of this walk. I'll still be following the Nakdong River until I hit the Andong Dam, but it should be noted that the river's source is not in the area of the dam-created lake (안동호/Andong-ho/Andong Lake): I believe it's closer to the east coast. 

After Tuesday's walk to eastern upper Sangju, Wednesday's walk will be 36K and will take me to Jibo-myeon, the town next to Andong City. I'll rest in Jibo one extra day, then push on to western Andong on Friday the 14th, a 30K trek. And finally, on the 15th, I'll amble 28K to the east side of Andong, where I'll climb the steps up to the top of Andong Dam. While I'll be very tempted to celebrate in town with something expensive and vulgar, I'll force myself to grab a cab, ride to the local intercity bus terminal, get myself a ticket for Seoul, then bus back to my place, where I hope I'll have enough time to pay my building's admin fee before midnight so as to avoid a late fee. I also need to get right back to work on Substack and other creative endeavors.

It's hard to believe that this walk is winding down. Barring a massive heart attack or stroke, I'm going to make it through this and redeem myself for last year's disaster. My face and hands have gotten a little sun (and wind); otherwise, I can't say that I look much different. I am, however, glad I'd taken along my resistance band and door mount: except for one day when I was too exhausted, I've been conscientious about doing my condensed routine as a way to keep from losing the strength I had developed through training multimodally at home with kettlebells, dumbbells, bodyweight, heavy clubs, resistance bands, etc. I've still got frozen shoulder, but it feels as though the training is helping with mobility. I know I've also recovered a measure of core strength: it used to be nearly impossible for me to do a single situp to get up off a bench after I'd been napping on it for half an hour; now, I can wrestle myself upright with little problem.

So: baby steps. Enjoy your ten images.

Gumi Dam (구미보) in the dark

the effects of sunrise on a mountainous river valley

Given its colors, I'd say this snake was poisonous... but it was also dead.

Even after sunrise, the sun takes time to peek over mountains.

massive complex tucked into a mountain's flank

straightaway

The moon watches an Orwellian watcher.

lots of farm/landscaping/family vehicles on the bike path

I did manage to see one shaman spider today.

Nakdan Dam, but no cute girl

I had only about four hours of sleep after walking 33K yesterday, arriving late at the pension, hand-washing my clothing, and re-dressing my feet. Tonight, I'm gonna turn in early. As in around 7 p.m. Today was only 19-20K, but I'm beat.

ADDENDUM: Local weather still looks great through the 15th for Sangju, Jibo-myeon, and Andong. Woo-hoo!

ADDENDUM 2: bonus selfie—