The longest walk of my life

Last night, after 2 hours of playing Ultimate frisbee, I watched The Dark Knight in Kagoshima City since it finally came out in Japan this week, and there isn't a movie theater in my small town. I caught the last ferry boat home, which left around 10:30pm, and I assumed there would be a bus to greet the last passengers of the night on the other side and take them home. Apparently my assumption was wrong.

Upon arrival at 11:30pm, I found out that there were no more buses for the night and the next bus would come in around 7 or 8 hours. I wasn't aware of this at the time, but I live about 35kilometers (22miles) from the ferry port. The taxi driver offered to drive me home for 10,000 yen ($100US) but I only had 5,000. I called a couple students to see if any of them could give me a ride (at this point it was almost midnight) but they were either all asleep, drunk, or their phones were turned off. I was contemplating sleeping at the (now almost pitch black) ferry port but I kept hearing these crazy insects crawling around, so there was no way that was going to happen.

I decided to walk home, having no idea at the time how far it really was. I figured, "Hmm... maybe a 2 or 3 hour walk (10 miles), which would suck, but I'm young right?! Hell, let's do this, it'll be an adventure!" I guess my late night math wasn't too sharp since it usually takes a bus 1 hour to take me home.

Over the first two hours I came across a few convenience stores and picked up some water and food. With my broken Japanese I found out from one of the clerks that I still had a long way to go. He laughed when I told him I was walking home. He probably thought I was insane. I continued walking and dodged numerous massive spider webs and spiders, swatted at some flying beetles, saw a stray kitten, and watched a massive, flying beautiful white/yellow butterfly's wing get destroyed by the rain. It was so big I thought it was a bird at first. Thunder and lightning was constantly going off in the distance and the rain poured on me numerous times throughout my journey.

After about 3 hours, the flat, beach side land gave way to steep hills. I walked for another hour through these pitch black, roads in the hills, using my cell phone as a flash light and the ring tones as a source of music. I even made up lyrics and was singing to the ring tones. It was both peaceful and terrifying. I was pretty scared and lonely at that point.

After about 4 hours my feet and legs were killing me. I got lost twice in the hills and luckily ran across an old lady who had just parked her motorcycle in her front yard around 4:45am. She pointed me in the right direction. About an hour later I saw an illuminated Christian cross, a McDonald's sign and some mid summer Christmas lights that gave me hope that I was getting closer.

After about 5 1/2 hours I saw a building with a painting of a family walking on a metal door and a building that said "You can do it!" on the front, and I got new found motivation, knowing the end couldn't be far away. The morning light began to illuminate and I started to take pictures of what I was seeing.

After 6 hours I finally arrived home. My legs were completely cramped and limping up the steps to my apartment. I had made it 35 kilometers (22 miles) in 6 hours. I never felt so happy to sit down in my entire life. I ate a peanut butter sandwich and went to bed. It feels like a dream now that I think about it.