We had a decent start to the morning, getting out of our camp around 9:30am. Our walking was slightly staggered, with James about a mile ahead of me. Everything was going routinely until I (Sam) received a call from James saying that a man named Ian pulled up next to him in his truck and asked what we were up to. When James explained our journey, Ian offered to buy us a drink at a bar in Martinsville, IL about 3 miles away. After I arrived at the bar, I was able to meet Ian, a mechanic for the state. We shared a pitcher of Michelob Ultra, and we learned more about each other. Ian had a wife, daughter, and a baby girl on the way which he was very excited for. He showed me around the small town, which had a population of about 1300. One of our stops included a hardware store, which Ian said he frequented for not only house supplies but also hunting equipment. Ian is an avid bow-hunter himself. After he left, James and I stuck around at the bar and ordered some more food, our favorite entree being the grilled catfish. We conversed with the bartenders, who were locals of Martinsville, and they told us about Casey, IL, the next town up. Casey is known for having many of the worlds “biggest things” which you will hear about in the day 55 blog. Right when we were leaving, another man at the bar named Dustin introduced himself to us and bought a six pack of Miller Lite for the road. We left the bar to walk 6 more miles to Casey, where we set up our tents near a church. James unfortunately lost one of his crocs and shattered dropped his phone, resulting in a quiet end of the night.
8/9/22
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