Walking the Dog...

I've been working myself up to 3 miles a day walking. My goal is higher but I'm working on this for my trip to Utah. I want to be able to hike for good chunks of time before I need to rest. So far I'm using the time to work on Boomer's leash walking manners. I might have a dog yet I can walk down the street without having them try to jump any dog they pass to play with them... I have come up with a lot of complaints about my walking location. I live in a nice town, low crime rate and such anyway. Due to a bunch of people voting for it (not me, I view it as a ridiculous waste of money) the town redid the Town Center during the last few years. Pretty trash cans are on every corner, brick is now in the sidewalks that kind of thing. The Town Center does look nice provided you aren't planning on driving through it. Less than a block in either direction though and I'm finding the trash excessive. Too many Bud Light cans and water bottles along the sides of the road. Now I'll admit some of this could be getting blown out of recycling bins on trash day (only way to explain clean large juice bottles really) but it's freaking everywhere. Every time I walk I spot at least one new beer can and water bottle. And what is with throwing cds from cars. Was the music really that bad??? I walk a fairly heavily trafficked commuter route, so I expect at least a little of this is from drivers. Do people think this stuff biodegrades or something??? Once Boomer gets a little more reliable about wanting to foray into the street I'm going to bring a bag with me and at least pick up the flat cans and water bottles, because it's driving me absolutely nuts. And the freaking dog waste. If something comes out of your dog what makes you think someone else wants to clean it off their yard everyday??? Do I like picking up after my dogs? Nope, I find it fairly unpleasant, however I know someone else would find it more unpleasant to try to clean it off their shoes on the way to work. I seem to spend a lot of my walk time staring at the ground. I've been rather unimpressed with some of the drivers too. I make an effort to cross at crosswalks with walk signals. On smaller roads that don't have that I use the basic crosswalks that you see on just about every road. If there isn't a crosswalk I wait, and jog across the street during a clearing. I don't expect drivers to stop for me if I'm not in a crosswalk. However if I am in a crosswalk, by STATE LAW I have the right of way. Yesterday I was crossing a smallish street and had a car come within two feet of hitting me because he wanted to get into the 'shortcut' side street. When I started to cross it was clear. Mr red car had been sitting in traffic farther down the street but had decided to pull into the oncoming traffic lane, zoom up and try to turn left before any cars could hit him. He couldn't wait for the three cars in front of him to pull up enough for him to just turn. There was also a car pulling out of the street, which he almost hit as well. Mr red car zoomed up and was mighty annoyed I was in front of his car and that he had to wait. I've had other cars zoom past behind me by the same 2 foot margin. I know it's horrible that I keep blocking traffic for those precious 5 seconds it takes me to cross half a street. Why is everybody so impatient. The world will not spin off its axis if you don't get to work at the time you were supposed to. It's called planning ahead. Rather than leaving with just enough time, give yourself an extra 5 minutes and you won't be late again. And please try to remember that all those other people are in the same boat as you, trying to get somewhere, though hopefully at least a few of them are on time, so are less impatient. Maybe I should just change my route. And sorry it went kind or ranty...