My main form of exercise is walking. I walk on the treadmill at the gym, take evening walks with my ever patient husband, and sometimes take morning walks in the neighborhood (often alone, sometimes with hubby, often because there isn't time to make it to the gym and back). Friday night we went for a long walk and hubby mentioned that we should do the 4-mile loop around the outskirts of Masterson Station Park sometime. I immediately suggested that we do so the next morning.
He was reluctant at first, but then I pointed out how the weather was cooler and that if we went early enough in the morning it would be really nice, even a bit chilly. So he agreed.
Fast forward to 7:30am this morning and we were on our way out to walk the trail around the park. The sidewalk into the park is only a couple blocks from our house. And sure enough it was a bit chilly out. We finally headed into the park and started down the trail.
The last time we walked this entire trail was before we got married, so maybe 3 and a half to 4 years ago. But we have walked portions of it (the portion closest to the neighborhood) many times. So everything was good as we started ... well, most everything.
Since it was so early the grass was damp and the sun wasn't yet high enough to start drying out the dew. Not long into our walk I could tell my shoes were getting pretty wet. We had maybe walked a half mile when my toes were also starting to get a bit damp as well.
By the time we made it to the road that brings cars into the park my feet were pretty wet. Hubby's were also getting wet, but not quite as bad. My shoes have some mesh fabric on them to let your feet breath. Unfortunately it also lets water in too!!
After crossing the road we couldn't find the trail. This is a very big park. There are soccer fields, a dog park, a roller-skating hockey rink, jumps and practice areas for horses, picnic shelters, and an area where sheep dog tournaments are held. And you can be at one of these places and not see any of the others. The place is huge. So the trail around the edge is hard to pick out at times.
After a bit of searching we decided to walk down past some of the soccer fields and hopefully pick up the trail. Eventually I think we did find it. By which time my feet were soaked!!
From that point on nothing looked familiar and the trail was almost impossible to see. Even when on the trail (we think) the grass was very high, leading to more soaking of the feet as well as wet grass clippings up and down my legs. There were many times when we found ourselves looking over the rolling KY hills wondering where the trail had gone. It was amazing how you could be on it and then it suddenly disappear!! Thank goodness we were just in a park or we might have been seriously lost!
One note of interest, we did at one point happen upon a large stone with a plaque on it. The plaque indicated that on that spot Bishop Asbury held the first Methodist service this far west of the Alleghenies, in 1790. I'm guessing that he is who Asbury Seminary is named for.
Once we finally found the last portion of the trail we were back on the neighborhood side of the park. Even this didn't look quite like it used to because of new homes that had been built. Those houses hadn't been there the last time we did this (over 3 years ago!). At that point we decided we'd take the first exit from the park back into the neighborhood and just walk home from there. Luckily it came earlier than expected. Part of that newer section of the neighborhood had a path out to the street, so we took it.
I've never been so happy to be back on a sidewalk! My feet were completely wet and I'm sure I had a half inch of water in my shoes. Definitely felt like we had trekked through a swamp. It was a bit of a sloppy walk back to the house. Once home we took shoes and socks off on the porch and left it all there to dry in the sun. Even several hours later my shoes still weren't totally dry, but certainly a lot better.
What a morning!! After that long walk through what felt like a swamp at times, we decided a good breakfast was in order. So after some scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast we were very content.
What a way to start a weekend!! At least I got in my exercise for the day.
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