Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
July 7
I've run through Georgia and am now in Alabama, heart of the deep
south. It's darned hot, and the roads are like shimmering black seas.
They truly look liquid as the heat rises from them in spectacular
mirages. I spent the day drenched in my own sweat. I'm drinking so
much water that I'm in danger of springing a leak. It's more humid
than I have ever experienced, even in far north Queensland. I can't cool
down. There are no breezes, and the vans have no air-conditioning. In
our haste to get the vans fitted, and always trying to spend as little
money as possible, we simply overlooked the air-con. It's tough going:
that's all there is to it.
Hurricane season is approaching, and we'll have to take the
weather as it comes. It's out of my control. If we get caught in a hur-
ricane, we'll just have to deal with it. As usual, I'll try to blend in rather
than fight.
The roadkill has changed. Today, I've seen a lot of dead arma-
dillos, weird 'missing link'-type creatures that resemble enormous
armour-plated rats. The stench of them decaying makes me gasp.
There are many turtles, too, that haven't made it safely from one side
of the highway to the other. There are also dead deer and squirrels. The
mighty trucks that rush by just centimetres away from me are deadlier
than any polar bear. In dark moments, I imagine a semitrailer hitting
me and leaving me lying among the armadillos.
The kids are having an education on the road. The experience
hasn't brought us closer together, because we were already as close
as we could get. They're seeing me as I am, as a runner. They run
beside me and tell me things—jokes, bits of news, memories of Lisa
when we were a family of four, not three—that lift my spirits when
I'm hurting.
July 8
Today, Bernie and I did the sums and worked out that when I finish the
United States I'll have covered almost one-third of the route.
A man stopped me and gave me some melons, and then another
presented me with a plant in a pot to brighten up the cabin in the
van. A family of eight went out of their way to wish me well and
