Day 19, Leg 16

I had forgotten how so very nice the Boom Motel in Daegu was. I'm here now, back again after two years. The only complaint I have is that the computers in my room (there are two of them) are unusable. One computer won't turn on; the other turns on but won't let me visit my usual round of websites, nor will it let me download the Chrome browser. So I'm still unable to do the things I've been wanting to do with all my myriad photos of the walk. I guess those things will have to wait until I'm back in the world.

I'm kind of in the world right now, actually: Daegu is South Korea's third-largest city, and I'm in its west end, suddenly immersed in civilization again. I leave Daegu tomorrow, then I've got one more night before I camp for two days straight. I'm not looking forward to Friday, the first night of camping, because they're forecasting a 50% chance of rain for the day (UPDATE: revised down to 20%). Just my luck to walk 32K in cold rain, then finish the day by camping.

As for the upcoming days, my schedule looks like this:

Wed., 10/16 (today): walk 32K past Gangjeong Dam and into Daegu; spend 1 night at Boom Motel
Thu., 10/17: walk 23K to Gangbyeon Jang Yeogwan and spend 1 night there
Fri., 10/18: walk 33K to just past Hapcheon Changnyeong Dam and camp
Sat., 10/19: walk 18K to second campsite near the Yeoui Health Clinic (여의 보건 진료소)
Sun., 10/20: walk 28K to the CF Motel in Namji-eup; stay 2 nights
Mon., 10/21: rest a 2nd day/night at the CF Motel in Namji-eup
Tue., 10/22: walk 33K to Miryang Arirang Auto Campground; camp 1 night
Wed., 10/23: walk 38K to the Bliss Motel in Yangsan City; spend 2 nights
Thu., 10/24: rest a 2nd night at the Bliss Motel in Yangsan City
Fri., 10/25: walk final leg, 28K, to Busan, Nakdong River Estuary

I'm thinking of taking it easy and splitting the 38K walk on 10/23 into two shorter legs by stopping partway before I reach Yangsan. I remember contemplating doing this in 2017. If I do split the walk up, though, I can either make up for lost time by staying only a single night in Yangsan, or I can still stay two nights in Yangsan and end the walk a day later. The demon of laziness is whispering that the latter course is the better idea, so I'm inclining toward the former. Then again, if I end the walk a day later, I deprive myself of one weekend day to recuperate before I'm back in the office. So there's a price to be paid no matter what course I take. I have a few shitty days of walking ahead of me, in terms of weather and nasty hills, so I've got some time to ponder this situation.

Today's 32K-ish walk had some very minor hills but was otherwise smooth sailing. It was interesting to see how certain construction projects have progressed over the past two years. One overpass now looks to be almost finished.

I was accosted by a middle-aged male biker this morning, barely an hour into my walk. He wanted to take a picture with me, so I gamely posed for the camera. Toward the end of the day's walk, an older woman, sitting in a shwimteo with a group of friends, stared creepily at me before beckoning me over to her group. I have her a big, wide stupid-furriner smile and pointed along my path of travel in what I hoped was an understandable "gotta keep going" gesture. Now I know how young women feel when they're being leered at by older men. Begone, vile prune!

Did I mention that yesterday's motel, the Lee Motel, had a bidet in it? Well, I'll be hornswoggled!

My stroll out to the Chilgok Dam was the only walking I did yesterday. Here are yesterday's walk stats:

And here are today's:

I'm pretty drugged up today. I decided to self-medicate much more frequently, and that choice definitely helped my performance. I had plenty of aches and pains, but I was still able to maintain a decent pace. Even better: by the time I settled into my current motel room, I could still walk around without fear of screaming feet.

Some pics from today:

Photo essay: