Sunday, May 6, 2007
A day of rest (well, sort of...)
The Stonewall Brigade took the train from Afton to Staunton in the wee hours of May 6th, and walked four miles west from Staunton, getting into camp "shortly after sunrise."
As a pragmatic concession, I started the day's walk about sunrise (not wishing to be walking through Staunton in the dark). I made good time, and covered 4½ miles in less than two hours. I will spend the rest of the day resting, and nursing blisters. Tomorrow's walk will cover 14 miles, but cross no mountains. Tomorrow night’s stopping place will be West Augusta.
It felt good to be back in the Valley. People here seem more amenable to the project. I got several honks of the car horn from passers-by. On Friday, one poor Albemarle County woman with a bumper sticker declaring her allegiance to Gaia the Earth Mother Goddess, looked horrified as she passed me. Folks in the Valley are more likely to honk and wave. Perhaps this is in part because the modern Stonewall Brigade, the 116th Infantry Regimental Combat Team (Virginia National Guard), deployed to Iraq this weekend. In any case, the people in the Valley seem more supportive of the Walk the Valley Campaign Project.
One aspect of the walk worth pointing out is Jackson’s policy of walking for 50 minutes, and resting for ten, each hour. During the stops, Jackson encouraged the men to lie down. A body “rests all over when lying down,” Jackson said. Experience over the last few days has shown me the wisdom of this policy. It extends the endurance of the infantryman, making longer marches possible. While this morning’s walk was only 4½ miles, the walks of Friday and Saturday demonstrated very well the beneficial effect of Jackson’s policy. I anticipate this will help as the daily marches get longer in the weeks ahead.
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