Day 20, Leg 17

Hard to believe we're already at Day 20. Nine more days to go—or is it now eight? Yeah, about that: my right foot was aching pretty badly after today's walk, so I'm thinking of taking an extra day at Jeokgyo-jang Motel before attempting the 33K walk to Namji-eup, where my beloved chicken tenders await. An extra day means a total of six rest days, and I'll be back to ending the walk on Pepero Day: Saturday the 11th. Taking the extra day at Jeokgyo-jang also means not walking at all this coming Saturday, so I can wait out the rain in the comfort of my motel room. If I recall correctly, Jeokgyo-jang has never had WiFi service, so I'll be providing my own via my portable hotspot.

I lumbered into the Cello Motel at the end of today's walk... and lumbered right back out. The place is an ancient, skanky mess, and I just wasn't in the mood. Went next door to a slightly upscale motel called Hong C. It's W60,000 a night, so you'd think it would have chargers and charger cables, but no. Just plenty of electric sockets. It's not quite as good as the cheaper If Hotel, and the bed here is way too soft, but it's not horrible. I can tolerate a soft bed for a single night—just not for several nights in a row. 

Today's walk felt long despite being short. But instead of being 25K per Naver's reckoning, I added 2K when I decided that I knew better than Naver and could get to the bike trail via a faster route. That turned out to be a mistake: "my" route was impossible to get to because of a freeway that had no bridges or tunnels allowing a person to cross over. Embarrassed and angry at myself for wasting time and adding unnecessary distance, I sheepishly backtracked and followed Naver's recommended path to the bike trail. I thought about how it was fine to fuck up on my own time, but had I been leading a group, my eager arrogance would have cost us all dearly. Good thing I'm alone, with my stupid mistakes affecting only myself.

The stubborn fog lifted a bit after 10 a.m., and once the sun got to shining, the day actually turned hot. I'd also forgotten that today's route out of Daegu would include some hills. There were no huge, nasty hills, but there were several small, nasty ones. Most of the route was smooth; Naver led me into the town of Hyeonpoong/현풍, where I am now, chilling at Hong C. Eschewing restaurants, I got myself a microwavable doshirak (Korean-style bento box) from a local convenience store; I was famished and didn't even bother to photograph my meal—something I've been doing fairly faithfully for the past few weeks.

I have a bad feeling that tomorrow's going to involve a lot of hills: Naver shows that the walking-route shortcut veers close to quite a few local mountaintops. At the same time, the path seems primarily to be on or parallel with roads, so I'm hoping it's not too steep. I guess we'll see come morning. I also wonder what I'll be missing (other than the river, of course) by taking this new route. Tomorrow's going to be another warm morning like today, and it'll again be bright and hot come late morning and early afternoon. I just want to get this unfamiliar 25K stretch over with and get back on track.

Tonight, the agenda is to get my feet off the ground as soon as possible and to rest a long time for what I expect will be an arduous day tomorrow. Speaking of sleep: I wanted to sleep more than I did last night; the If really was a good motel. But I was on the computer until late, and I don't think I got more than four hours' sleep. That's on me, though. I'd love to go back to the If just to enjoy the local Chinese food and get eight hours of proper rest. 

Moving on, then—info and images:

Add 2K for my mistake.

Subtract about 10 minutes for my convenience-store run. 27K in 469 minutes = about 3.45 kph.

whoa—quite a sight at 5:45 a.m.

another lonesome tree

frog's ecological park

I'm attracted to dilapidation.

mural

father and son

recumbent trike—a rare catch

Dalseong Dam

little warrior

Park Seok Jin Bridge

My room has mosquitoes, so I'm going to have to kill them with the inadequate bug spray the motel has. Murder, laundry, shower, rest. That's the plan.

ADDENDUM: the forecast is for rain to continue through Sunday and part of Monday. I can rest at Jeokgyo-jang, but I can't avoid the precipitation.

PHOTO ESSAY

leaving the If Hotel

nasty van

The impassable freeway is to my right. I eventually had to turn around as there was no way to cross.

The region is apparently famous for maenggongi, a type of frog.

a type of talented frog, I guess

The tree stands, brave and alone.

Human assholes for once.

The sign on the frog's stomach says, "Maenggongi Ecological Park."

small orb-weaver

Walking out of Daegu proper always starts off weirdly. Lots of esoteric paths to follow before you hit the river.

The bike route I'm following (not exactly the Four Rivers) twists and turns.

another typically foggy morning

Some of this is hillier than expected. But the hills are brief, so I guess I forgot about the slight difficulty. Here's a family gravesite.

a better view

up we go

a humble myo all by itself

I wonder whether these sites are related somehow.

a Christian grave... interesting

a very beaten-up Porta John

Luckily, I'm separate from the traffic.

Up another hill. This entire segment all feels familiar. We're not at the shortcut yet.

We're back on track for the moment, but I'll be veering away from the trail when I take the shortcut.

Speed limit: 30 kph. Slowly!

a large family plot that dominates a hillside

Big family. And rich. Such sites aren't cheap.

a type of cosmos

humble tumuli (myo)

nice mural

The rust hasn't quite taken over this container-office.

meep meep

poor and old next to expensive and modern

I'm still on the familiar path.

sign for some kind of village (a traditional village? Samunjeon tavern village?)

the statues I always pass on this segment

dad and son, presumably

another sign for the "tavern village"

a sign for the Samunjeon ferry

from tunnel...

...to trail

This is still all familiar to me.

Dalseong Dam, 19.5 km

"For use by pedestrians."

196 km to final goal

turning right as usual

more Dewey Webbs

Is anyone surprised we're turning right again?

awwwwww

Gukto Jongju

Roughly the Nakdong halfway point (not the Four Rivers halfway point).

digital zoom

sun-damaged

Okpo Ecological Park

turtle dove

Someone got smashed and never made it.

more snake-versus-tire drama

branch pruner

There are a lot of yellow flowers that look close to this. Any help from readers?

one recumbent trike

then another—a red-letter day

Yes, someone was operating this.

192 km to the final goal; 193 km to Andong Dam (back along the Nakdong River)

Do we really want to know what happened here?

191K forward; 194K back to Andong (Andong/안동/安東 means "peaceful east")

I think this leads up to a highway.

another one squished

190K forward; 195K back to Andong

basket case

Dalseong Dam, 12.1 km

informational map for Okpo Eco Park

The clouds finally start to burn away.

I set myself down at this simple, modern shwimteo.

goddamn polluters

Hapcheon-changnyeong Dam, 45.4 km; Dalseong Dam, 10 km

Did the distance to Dalseong Dam just increase?

Rice left out to dry. I'll never understand how the wind doesn't blow it all away.

169 km to final goal

Oho, lads! Another right turn!

Wasn't fast enough to catch the guy here...

...but I got him as he retreated.

Could it be that we're going right again?

I guess you haven't used your tractor in a spell, there, Farmer Bill.

If this is all fertilizer, I'm sure the spirit of Timothy McVeigh would approve.

The sign says to watch out for bumps (i.e., impacts, not lumps in the road, as when vehicles bump into walkers); it also notes this is a combined-used farm road and bike path.

Ah, love. While eating. The two life-impulses: lust and hunger.

dead, not sunning

The graffito(?) says, "88 Nakdong River Bridge."

I think I took this pic to remember that the "bridge" is actually two one-way bridges.

By now, you know what these indications mean.

성산로/Seongsanno (Seongsan-ro)

a gathering

This is 성산대교/Seongsan Bridge.

Of course. Park golf.

182K forward, 203K back to Andong

that retarded-looking, near-headless Chinese grasshopper

1K to the Dalseong Dam promotion booth

Dalseong Dam, 700 m

a map of Dalseong Sunset Park

500 m to go

The day became quite beautiful despite the foggy start.

the dam itself

40 m to the cert center

cert center

Dalseong Bridge (many dams also serve as bridges letting you cross the river)

the park next door

plenty of places to sit and chill

Nakdong River Bike Path, toward Hapcheon-changnyeong Dam

veering left

What creature that is in the window, I have no idea.

I'm always glad to see the ones that are alive and healthy.

bench sleeper

Enjoy your nap.

cosmos

curving around to the right

I've seen a few of these weird grubs. Possibly a June bug larva: Cotinis nitida.

If I had a drone, I'd love to fly it in there.

All of this is still familiar to me.

a very neat garden

"Bike path—watch for collisions"

forlorn moped

박석진교/Park Seok-jin Bridge

dipping into town for a bit

Somewhere around here, the route became unfamiliar because I'd changed my destination.

Yeah, this route is new to me. Every time I do the Four Rivers, it's a little bit different.

the ubiquitous Lion's Club lion (accented by garbage)

Restaurant That Does Food Well (Korean Food)

blue sign, yellow letters: Jeok Gyo Jang Motel (where I'll be staying eventually)
yellow sign: restaurant ad for a place that makes samgyetang (traditional chicken soup)

one last little hill before the Cello Motel

the Hong C, where I ended up

the Cello Motel, looking smarmy

Motor Boom!

the Cello Motel: not very promising

I turned around and went to the Hong C.

orange marigold

So really, today was the beginning of the shortcut I'll be doing tomorrow. Today's route was 95%-99% familiar to me except for the very end. Tomorrow, though, is another matter. I'm cheating by not walking the 40-ish kilometer bike route tomorrow.