I Should Have Delayed This Walk Even More Than I Already Have. Then I Could Have Walked Happily Through

I should have delayed this walk even more than I already have. Then I could have walked happily through the Rheinland living of off grapes and apples and cherries. And maybe the weather would have been better...

When a sign has the words "militär", "verboten" and "eigene Gefahr", it's probably best to stay on the trail and not go into the bushes or behind the trees no matter how much you need to pee...

Today all four of my weather apps said the same thing - rain all day, and lots of it. However, the rain only lasted until around ten, and then I didn’t see a drop the rest of the day. Even now, tucked into my tent, there’s nothing outside. Now the apps are saying the rain is coming tomorrow or tonight. So I’ve placed my tent on a slight ridge, and strung it up pretty tight. I hope it pours tonight, so I can walk in dry weather tomorrow.

Maybe the four-leaf clover I found this morning had something to do with it?

Also, I’m not sure if that lizard is local to the area, or an escaped pet off on a whirlwind adventure.

Today's hike. A tough stretch with a lot of literal ups and downs. The first picture is of a view I enjoyed while listening to Manowar. I felt very metal, walking through the German forests with the Kings of Metal album blasting through my head. It also sped me up a bit, leaving me completely exhausted when I reached the top. The next two pictures are of a plant that always reminds me of dinosaurs. I don't know why, but every time I see it, that's what pops into my head. I have this memory of either reading or someone telling me that during the time that dinosaurs were alive, these plants also existed. And then I saw a lizard! I kept snapping pictures of it, while going steadily closer to it, afraid it might run away. When I finally got this close, I started getting worried it might pounce on me and that it might be poisonous. I know pretty much nothing about lizards (salamanders?) so as ridiculous as the fear felt, I still drew away and walked on. Then there are some pictures of the trail. Someone pointed out to me that the strange square rocks in a previous post might be caused by natural erosion. So I had to look up what goes into building trails. If you want to know more, just Google it. Basically, I couldn't find any information on a rock-carving machine, but in a lot of places the trail looks like a wedge cut out of the rock in order to form a level road. And then on some dirt roads, like in the picture, the rock seems smoothed down to the level of the dirt. I have no idea how old these roads are, so it could be natural in some places and man-made in others. Or both. But one thing I figured out was the use of the metal ditches dug into the trail. They're to lead the water away from the trail, so the trail doesn't become the next river. I admit, this seems fairly obvious, but I hadn't really given it much thought beside "strange." I honestly don't think very deeply while hiking. My mind seems to clog with the exhaustion. At one point I couldn't remember how to tie my shoelaces. I really had to stop and think about it for what felt like a full minute before I could recall what goes where. As in, how to tie a knot. It was a hot day. And the last is an uplifting photo of Chanel rolling in something that's most likely very gross.

So today was a much better day. Just walking slowly through the woods listening to the sound track of Into the Wild and feeling very relaxed. I could get used to staying at hotels.

"Dammit, Europe, more work and washingpowder staff?" Another case of my initial German translation upon reading something out of the corner of one eye.