Brisk dawn walk

I got up, and decided that I would take Lucky, our ten year old, 100 lb., SPCA alum on a long walk, one morning. We usually go on walks in the neighborhood, or runs, but this morning was going to be different. The plan was just to take him around the block (one mile), hang up some laundry, work on my abs., and then eat some breakfast. Plans, however, rarely work out, as I was soon to find out …
The darkness was just beginning to break, when Lucky and I bound out of the front door. I could feel an uncharacteristic bite in the air from this morning’s unusually chilly morning. Lucky and I briskly walked along an old jogging route, when I came across an opportunity to go down a trail which seemed to border my neighborhood and the rural properties just adjacent to them. I could hear the frosted grass crunch beneath my feet, as we made our way around the outskirts of my neighborhood. The skies were just starting to offer up streaks of dark pink and tangerine as the sun began to make its way up to the horizon.
I spied abandoned hobo camps situated underneath tangled trees and underbrush, as Lucky and I traversed the undeveloped country fields. I have been living in Antelope for the better part of 20 years, and have never hiked in this area, until this morning. The air still had a bite to it, when we finally came up to a long, lonely stretch of asphalt road. The sun was now higher in the horizon, and Lucky and I made our way to the local junior high school’s parking lot. I crossed the abandoned parking lot, and climbed a bit of an upgrade to another expanse of undeveloped land. The kids and I used to cross through here, back when they were still in elementary school, before the junior high school was built. This morning was the first time I had set foot on this field in almost ten years.
Lucky and I were about one and a half miles from home, by the time we crossed the still- frosted over fields and stepped onto the wide sidewalk which runs adjacent to one of the major roads in this part of Sacramento County. Lucky began to breathe a bit harder, once we were about a mile from home, but his tail was still high, and he seemed to genuinely enjoy this change of scenery. Exploring this new route piqued my curiosity, brought back old memories, and allowed me to focus on my spirit of adventure. I wasn’t holden to a schedule, and I wasn’t doing this explicitly as a training endeavor; the opportunity just presented itself, and I gratefully accepted it.
We eventually stopped in front of our house. I stretched out a bit on the driveway, greeted a few passersby, and we went inside of the house. I stretched some more on the Jiu Jitsu mats and grabbed a glass of water. Lucky explored the backyard, drank some water, and plopped down onto the carpet. He was asleep by the time I had changed out of my sweat-soaked clothes, cleaned up, and returned to the living room. I made myself a peanut butter and honey sandwich, sat down on the sofa, and looked out the living room windows. This was going to be a good day.