Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

TDY (government acronym for temporary duty).

It was 1980, I was 21 and just out of college. I went TDY for 78 days. That was 78 days and nights living in housing supplied by the government. Maybe three for four nights in motels, the rest in strange places on military bases and such. Throw in a couple dozen airplane flights.

I liked it. I spent the the next three years renting a bedroom in a lady’s house. I was only there five months a year and TDY the other seven. It suited my personality. I could sit in a room reading, writing, studying, and entertaining myself.

Fast forward to 2008 and the first phase of taking a walk. My wife was with me. For much of the first 500 miles we were within commuting distance of our house. The weekly routine:

• Monday 6 AM, leave our house, drive to where we were to start walking
• walk five or six hours on Monday
• walk all day Tuesday through Thursday
• Friday, walk until about 2 PM, drive back to our house

My wife loves to cook and have our three sons and one daughter-in-law over on Sunday for lunch. This routine gave her Saturday to prepare for Sunday.

As we walked farther from home, we changed the schedule and went to a two-week cycle. This meant spending a weekend in a motel. We walked all day Friday and Saturday, rested on Sunday, and walked all day Monday.

This suited me fine as it was a two-week TDY. Simple.

This didn’t work well for my wife. She missed cooking and feeding the entire family on Sunday. We had only two such two-week cycles before our grandson was born and we stopped walking for 2008.

Walking in 2009 was different. My wife didn’t come with me as she had important matters to watch at home. I was on the road for five weeks. The first three weeks I was alone, and my older brother joined me for the last two weeks.

I was back in 1980 – 35 days TDY. No airplane flights, about 15 different motels, and 70-something different places to eat. This suited me; I loved it.

My back hurt the first hour of every day. I wasn’t in the same bed enough days in a row to adjust.

I made a cup of Community Coffee in the motel room every morning.

I washed my clothes in the sink every evening, hung them in the shower, and they were dry by morning.

I ate here and there on the road with the evening meal near the motel.

The three weeks I was alone, I ate at least one sandwich out of my ice chest.

Yes, I missed my wife; I missed my three sons, one daughter-in-law, and one grandson.

I loved living on the road. It was a true blessing to be able to do it. Great fun all around.