Day 12 - where we enter the heart of capitalism

Another hot day today, though not too bad. We saw the last of the small New England towns at the beginning of the day but once we hit Worcester it is suburbs all the way to Boston. After the actual town of Worcester it was solid strip malls and chain stores all the way. On one hand this also meant there was not much shade from trees, but on the other hand the Dunkin' Donuts count got a "wicked" big boost. Currently we are 34-19.

Because it was such a consumer's wasteland there wasn't as much chance to talk to people, but we did get a really good interview with our buddy Pat who we're staying with. Upon his and his mother's recommendation we checked out a new route for the last two days. Our original route took us all the way into Boston on Route 9 and up Brookline. They noted that we would see no break from the tree-less and occasionally sidewalk-lessness of today and suggested the Boston Marathon route. I checked it out and it looks like a much nicer and more scenic.

We'll actually start before the marathon's starting point in order to still do about 30 miles as we would have otherwise but we'll end the same place, and that's what's important. Also it seems fitting that we end our super-marathon of walking with the path of one of the most famous long-distance races in the world.

So that's the new plan. I wasn't so much for deviating from our original route initially, but since our starting point for tomorrow isn't that far from what would have been our starting point I can get down with this. I'm just really stoked that tomorrow will be our last full 20 mile day of walking and I'll also be staying with my brother and his wife tomorrow night.

This blog was brought to you by Pat and mom once again, making them the third of the Great Two-night Hosts. Congrats to you.