Ready, Hike!

The air was a bit thick and the flags were flying as we headed out for a weekly walk after several weekends off due to time restraints and various other commitments. In the morning Rob ran up to town for a haircut and when he returned Alex dropped us off at Lake Pleasant and Curtis Road where the Pollyanna Trail ends. We planned to hike south as far as we were able then call her to pick us up. I said a small prayer that morning that the trail would be walkable, I should have put the order in earlier for it to be mowed. It was passable but with the wet grass popping up between the stone our shoes got wet fast. Almost immediately upon starting out a deer fly zeroed in on Rob. They were relentless around him, first one, then a couple, at times a small swarm. Interestingly they didn't bug me one bit. I heard something flying around me but never felt anything landing. So he swatted his way through to Stanton Lake, from there we decided to break from the trail and stay on the road. The flies left from there.
We didn't talk much on the trail since I kept stopping to take pictures of the wild flowers in bloom (nearly a dozen different varieties and color variations) telling him to keep moving if he needed to. Rob found a few patches of wild strawberries but hardly stopped to enjoy the bounty due to ongoing fly attacks. He also pointed out sassafrass which I don't think I ever knew what it looked like before. A few times I jogged to catch back up with him. He walked up on a small deer but I didn't get close enough to snap a picture. I did get one of the cows resting in the protection of the trees. Once we were on the road walking and the flies backed off we had some time to talk about upcoming project needs, family schedule, etc. We were out for about an hour and forty minutes and maybe covered 5 or 6 miles since instead of having Alex pick us up at an undetermined rendezvous point we took Stanton Lake back up to Lake Pleasant then north to Kings Mill and home. It was actually a pretty good loop and about all I could take for the day with soggy shoes. Timing was perfect too because shortly after we arrived home the rains came.