a quick pause before moving on

I was barely a mile out of Blaine, walking along Peace Portal Drive, when a horn honked and a 20-something dude in a lawn care truck leaned out of his cab and shouted, "Need a lift? Where ya' headed?"

"Washington, DC!" I shouted back. "I'm walking across America!"

"You're crazy! Good luck!" the dude laughed before pulling away.

My walk's been in a straight line for a couple miles now, which has given me time to think. Two regrets:

1. not being able to say goodbye to Nan, Tom, and Jay face-to-face, and

2. not having touched the water before heading out.

Yes, it's true: I didn't touch the Pacific. I had wanted to; it was symbolically important. But last night, before I got word from the Sikh community, I had intended to both find a bed and breakfast (I felt I'd imposed on poor Nan quite enough) and touch the Pacific in the evening-- this evening, in fact. I had resigned to being in town one more day. Instead, I find mysel on the road, trying to keep on schedule with my walk to Lynden.

While I regret the missed opportunity to touch the ocean, I console myself with the knowledge that I spent two sunsets at seaside. I was there.

One bit of bad news: the sternum strap on my backpack came off after an attempted tug just a few minutes ago. Not good. The thing isn't broken, but I'll need to really sit down with it in order to repair it, and I'd rather not make a major stop until lunchtime.

One last item: I saw and photographed a tiny snake on the highway. Cute.

OK...gotta mosey on. Am gonna miss Blaine-- the people, the seagulls (and the shattered clamshells they leave everywhere), the crows, the old cars sprinkled along Blaine's main drag, and the good Mexican food (the Chinese food wasn't all that special, I'm afraid).


_
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