Harold Williams Cooney

Monday, December 22nd, 2025. Room 205 of the Extended Stay America Suites – Orlando – Lake Mary – 1036 Greenwood Blvd. Off m383.4 of the Florida Trail. Woke in a queen bed, naturally at about 530am. About 59° and calm.

The time to abandon my bastion of overeating has arrived. I take a shower. Pack my things. Clean the room the best I can. I lace up my new shoes. Take two massive shits. Make it out the door by about 7am.

Walking east back to the red line and coffee at Panera Bread, I burn through some emotions, common to my brain from town stays, from over eating, from the holidays. I sit and eat a breakfast sandwich, try to bring this blog thing up to date. I take the third large dump of the day and refill my coffee before walking on.

City streets to a bike path and north. I take in the days events on my cell. I love politics, and Monday is the primo day. Somewhat predictable how the recipe of coffee, news, and misgivings over my holiday disposition has me committed to a fouth shit in an upcoming Publix and purchasing a pack of cigarettes. At the counter, I find out the lotto is over a billion dollars, and so I add that to my sin list. Walking on by 1030.

I stop in at the toilets at Markham Trailhead for another shit. That’s five. Thrilled.

The controlled burn caused me some confusion, but eventually, I figured it out.

Somewhere after the hiker oasis, around 545pm, I pass another hiker who was lying down in his tent. His name was 007, and he’s from ohio, a college kid hiking the florida trail.

The sun goes down, and I keep on going for quite some time. The trail is a little confusing. There’s a lot of old roads and game trails. I don’t know what all was going on, but I figured it out.

I walked up the road to Dollar General, where I got a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and some pizza flavor Combos. I move a row of shopping carts out of the way so that I can get to the electrical outlet being used by the ice machine to charge my cell phone and headlamp. I use their bathroom and take another shit. Six?

I go maybe a mile further up trail find a place to tent on an equestrian path. Before bed … I dig a cat hole for another shit! Seven?! Wow, I feel great. A beautiful day.

Milage:

Started at 383.4. Tented at 413.7. So…30.3 miles. That sounds about right. Loved it.