I swear, this morning was one of the creepiest walks I've had in ages. All my walks lately have been dark, and it's always darkest down there, but that wasn't the issue. There was a light rain and the noise it made in the trees surrounded me and made me realize that normally in the dark I depend on the ability to hear if someone's approaching, and that was taken away. Next, some workers at the residential construction site were looking around inside one of the houses with a flashlight. Even though I knew what was going on, it was super creepy. Then, toward the North end of the route, I was pretty sure I could see a campsite off in the distance, and that was confirmed when I smelled, then saw, their campfire.
Just to be clear, I never felt unsafe, but there's something about the occasional creepy walk that makes me happy when it's over.
The obligatory new neighborhood photo:
I only recently realized I can go to the parking lot by the boat launch and do some laps to get some extra miles in, and wanted to do that today, but the path was flooded and I wasn't in the mood to get my feet wet. That led to a little bit of time on the non-paved trails there, which I rarely do. In the summer, there are too many bugs, and in the winter, they're too dark. But they were fine today.
4.92 miles in 1:34, 10,501 steps
After I got home, I managed to go to WinCo and spend a decent amount of money without buying anything on my list. At noon, I took my car back to the shop for the repairs we discovered it needed when I was there for an oil change last week. I took Jerimiah to lunch since he wasn't able to join me and Liz during the oil change, and it was delicious.
Unfortunately, the technician had a hell of a time getting the new power steering fluid pump in. And after four hours, it was in, and he realized it was defective, because it wasn't fitting right. So not only was the car not ready, but I was there with it, without a way home. Garrett came to pick me up. Coincidentally,
jameth texted saying he'd be at a bar in our neighborhood for a bit, so we went there to meet him, which was great. That kind of stuff doesn't happen often once you move to the 'burbs.
We didn't get home until almost 7:00. I thought I'd be gone for three hours max, but it was more than double that. It was nice, though. I used to chat with Liz all day when we worked together and it was nice to hang out in her shop today, and also really nice to see James. But I also am pretty sure I'm getting a cold, so since I have no car, I'm turning off my alarm and sleeping in.