walk - 100 words

My longtime readers might recognize this piece. It's the finale of a longer article I published in Peoria Magazine about a walk that Dad - aka Dennis Smysor - and I took on the Rock Island Trail a few years ago. It bears repeating (with some "100 words" modifications, of course) as a heartfelt sentiment about the man who started this madness - literally!

He peers into the gully. Just fifteen feet, but we must carefully pick our way down. Not an easy task after walking so far.

Clambering up a root-bound wall of dirt, a dazzling display of prairie stretches out on each side. He walks ahead, his stride loose, nevermind he has traveled twenty-five miles on gray legs.

Before long, we’ll encounter a second washout. Before long, we’ll reach his truck. Before long, our walk will end.

But not yet. For now we must walk, me following in the footsteps of my father, as I’ve done for my entire blessed life.