Day 6 - April 17th

km: 25                to date: 173
End point: Goobies Irving

bottles/cans: 115        to date: 389

cups: 46                        to date: 67

Money spent: $7          to date: $56

Temp: - 5 partly cloudy, med SW winds

I need a clicker. Those handheld counters that a doorman might use to keep track of how many people have entered the club. I used to keep track of the bottles and cans fairly easily and accurately but now with the added coffee cups I could use a little help. : /

Clicking counter and some mesh bags (like I had last year) to better hold the recycling. Two things to look out for on the road ahead. Then the clean up numbers will get much better.

Wind in my favour for a change - today the wind was at my back for the first time this trip. It was still cold out but at least my face wasn't assaulted like yesterday. I slept in a bit as usual and didn't hit the road until 11:00. That's when the store opened so I was able to go in and thank the guy once again for letting me camp out back semi sheltered from the winds. (Hmm....I think I use the words wind and winds too often in my writing. Maybe I should think of a few synonyms.)

Once in motion, I felt like I needed to make up for lost time. Probably ran a little too quickly with too few breaks for stretching. My left knee and right foot started acting up a little. Same culprits that plagued me over the final 500km of last year's run. I eased up right away and instead of focusing on distance I spent more time on clean up. The steep embankment on the side of the highway here makes it difficult to get at a lot of the litter but I'm make up for it in areas where it's more gradual or the ditch is closer. 

With the foot & knee warning, plus the promise of another cold night, my goal became the twin of Goobies just 25 km from my starting point. More specifically, the Goobies Irving Big Stop. What separates a 'Big Stop' from a normal gas station/store/restaurant is that it has a trucker's lounge where drivers far from home can chill out, relax, shower and even do laundry if necessary. Last November, in the home stretch of my West to East run, I arrived at this particular oasis on a cold rainy evening. The staff were kind enough to let me bed down in the lounge for the night which was awesome. 

This time around I arrived with a few hours of daylight left so I offered to 'earn my keep' by cleaning up the litter around the building and parking lot. A few of the staff remembered me from last fall so all was good. It pays to have friends in warm places! I bought a calling card, an apple and an orange from the store feeling like I should support the business as much as my budget would allow. 

In the lounge I was able to take better care of my feet and legs though light stretching and self massage. Something I clearly hadn't done enough of the last few nights. My usual motto when getting into the tent after a long day of running is 'feet first'. So far this year however it's been 'get warm first'! 

The other great thing about the trucker's lounge is that there's a pay phone. Calling card in hand, I was able to let my family know that despite the challenges over the first few days, Andy is healthy and happy and heading in thier direction. Slowly but surely. : )