I ran down S. Walnut street which turned into Walnut street Pike and was THAT ever a mistake!! No shoulder to speak of, sidewalks that dwindled to nothing, cars EVERYWHERE. I had to spend much of my time watching and listening for traffic and running along yards which I don't like to do as I don't want to piss off any homeowners.
I ran on...my goal was Fairfax and it seemed a lot farther than I thought it would be. I turned and saw the Speedway and that was pretty cool. I ran along an old stone fence. I had brought not only my hydration pack but then had jury-rigged my running pack on the back of it with safety pins, straps and prayers it wouldn't bump up and down all day and drive me nuts but because it was such a long way I felt I needed some extra food (2 peanut butter/jelly sandwiches, some crackers, swedish fish, sports beans and jelly beans for quick sugar). I also packed some changes of clothes in there which came in handy!
I passed by Smithville and came upon this old store with these really old gas station pumps. I had to stop and take a picture of the pumps and the store.
The pumps and store were along a little street called 2nd avenue in Smithville. They were so cute!
I ran along Fairfax which had a pretty large shoulder which was good because traffic was booming. I pulled over as much as I could and with some particularly aggressive looking vehicles went all the way up into people's yards or into the sides of fields so I could definitely get out of their way! The sun was shining and so I stopped and changed into my singlet. Was that a mistake! The wind blew up and was really chilly so I stopped once again and put my long sleeves on.
The next thing I came upon was a very strange little place called the Smithville Railroad Museum. IT had lots of interesting, sometimes creepy stuff. There were skeletons hanging on the fences, a huge metal jack-o-lantern hanging from a metal tower, big saw-looking things, weird metal sculptures. They also had old railway cars and railway light stops. 
Someone had obviously spent a lot of time putting this together. I wasn't quite sure of their sanity, however, as some of the things seemed pretty strange. The old railway cars were really interesting though and there were lots of other things to see. The sign said "Open While Home" but I thought I would just continue on. I felt it would be a long enough run without sightseeing stops although I wouldn't mind a tour sometime!
After about another hour or so I arrived at Fairfax Recreation Area. I was quite excited to be there!!! This had been my big destination from the beginning! I wanted to go run around and see Lake Monroe and I wasn't disappointed. I got to see the beautiful lake in all it's glory with sunlight shining upon it. At one point I saw three very stately swans all in a row gliding along the lake. I wished then, as I wish often, I had a better camera with a zoom lens to catch these things.
I had to snap a photo of the sign because I wanted to show I was HERE!!! Then I went in. There was nobody at the booth although I don't think a solitary distance runner would have had to pay anything anyway. I ran down some deserted roads and came to Lake Monroe. I saw it in the distance.....a beautiful blue lake just waiting for me!
As I said I had come at the perfect time. The sun was out and shining upon the lake like a sparkling mirror. I got out my sandwich and some crackers and sat along the waters edge just listening to the waves and watching the swans, ducks and seagulls. It was so relaxing and I was having a wonderful time but I had to go! I took a couple more pictures and then continued on to look for a trail called "Old Oak Trail" which was supposed to be about 1.75 miles and contain a 175 year old Oak tree which would be cool to see. But I could never find it! As hard as I tried, following the maps, I could never find the trial head. I did find some little trail that petered out at the edge of some water. But that was it.
I was on my way again then. I stopped at Fourwinds and asked about the Old Oak Trail there as well. They told me to go back to the shelter house I had just been at and it would be there. That led me to that dingy little trail that just ended. There WAS an interesting wooden thing holding up a pipe though.
The water was so lovely it was hard to leave. If I had had my swimsuit and it had been warmer I might have gone in a bit into the shallow water at the edge but no it was too cold for that.
Then I made a mistake. In a mind-boggling bout of stupidity I decided to try to make Pate Hollow part of my route. I had looked at the map. I knew to take Ramp Creek Road to Handy Road to Stipp Road and then up to 446 (which I was really, deathly afraid of doing) then hang a right and get to the Pate Hollow trail head and Run the Bear. Then I saw a sign that said "E. Paynetown Road" and thought to myself "Hmmmm....says Payetown Road....must then, logically, lead to paynetown somehow right?
To the left is just one of the scary declines. You can't, perhaps, tell from the photo but it was very steep and when I descended it the only thing keeping me from falling sometimes were the trees I grabbed onto as I stumbled down.
Equally terrifying inclines. I did inclines like this more than once, ,clawing my way up, practically crawling in some places to reach the top. The scenes from the ridges were lovely but I was tired! Here is a photo from one of the ridge tops. Down below you can see Lake Monroe in the distance. I ended up on lots of these ridges at the top of those crazy uphills.
Still moving steadily through the woods I started to get hungry. I didn't want to stop, though, and eat because I was so focused on getting out of the woods now and back onto a road. So I kept checking my Maps on my phone and trying to keep track of Stipp road. At last I was at the top of one ridge and looked down into the bottoms and there was a tiny little white truck going down a tiny, little white road. YES!! I must get down there!
The bottoms were WAY down and the way was muddy and steep. I tried at first to keep myself somewhat horizontal but finally gave into the mud. I just decided to grab a stick to slow down my way down, sat down in the mud and slid all the way down on my butt. My pants were covered in mud now so, without thinking anything of it (at this point I could care less) I tore off my pants and reached into my pack and got out my shorts. They might be colder to wear but at least I wouldn't have to run the next couple of hours with mud on my butt.
I got onto Stipp road and started running it. It eventually turned into E. Moffet and then past 37 that turned into W. Church lane. I followed that into Clear Creek, ran around Clear Creek for awhile and then got on S. Rogers. I ran up S. Rogers and then, eureka!, I found the horse farm and that was the rail trail! I felt like kissing the ground when I got on that. OH Rail Trail! Your wonderful traffic-less, flatness is like a balm to my soul. Unfortunately soon after that my Garmin ran out of battery power. I logged onto an app on my phone that lasted to 6.55 miles and then my phone died too. Now I was running naked, as they say, tech-free. No Garmin, no phone, not even a watch. Just me, my feet and the lengthening shadows telling me it was getting a bit late in the day. I had been running since 7am and now guessed it to be about 4pm.
I ran through Clear Creek trail to Tapp road, turned around and ran back rail trail then took B-line to the bridge, swung a right at the bridge and came home at last. Since I had had no tech to tell me I had no way of knowing my mileage until i came home, uploaded it and mapped out the rest. I was a little disappointed to realize my 60K had only been a little over a mile more. A lap around bryan park would have probably done it. Oh well!
I had had an adventurous day, got in some great mileage, seen Lake Monroe from several vantage points, discovered how to get lost (and then un-lost) in the woods, and was happy to be home. I got out my celebratory Guiness to finish off the day!
To end this post: Just two more weird things from the railroad museum.
A day well spent! Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!
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