it's almost like an alternate life when i'd planned to finish this trek on day 10. i am only grateful and delighted about my decision to extend my trek a day. it means that i've gotten to slow down and look around on my walk today, which has been nice. waking up to the news of the overturn of roe v. wade was so sickening, it was almost a relief to get out on the road and spend some energy pounding the pavement. here are some thoughts (from the middle!) of day 10:

• shoutout to an IG buddy who let me know that my past three blogs haven't published properly! here i was thinking it was only last night only to find that the issues went back to day 6! it seems like the problem was....get this...i was forgetting to press publish. NICE! the issue should be fixed now!
• day 10 was difficult to get started. of course, reading about roe v. wade was super demoralizing and i spent a bit of time sitting on my bed feeling like i didn't want to get started. i think that's relatively common for me with penultimate things though...i'm hoping i'll be able to start tomorrow with the sense of the finish line coming closer! just don't talk to me about those last few miles haha!
• once i got started, i really feel like i found a good rhythm! taking the day on the bike seems to have REALLY helped with my ankle/knee situation, and i actually enjoyed some of the long stretches of walking. it certainly doesn't hurt that the further east i go, the more and more peaceful the scenery becomes! water, vineyards, farm stands....it's really a completely different geography from what i saw on april 24th in brooklyn!
• the big drama of this trip seems to be my cell phone charger brick. i left ANOTHER one plugged into the wall of a hotel and am now on charger brick number THREE. you think i'd be like "fool me once..." but no, it turns out i never learn. luckily i walked past a CVS (hello, old friend) and stopped in for a brick and a gatorade.
• for the first time???? i think??? i'm actually writing this blog a little bit BEFORE the end of my walking day! i still have about two miles to go before i get to my hotel, but check-in isn't until 3 PM and i randomly happened across a public library! i figured now was a great time to deal with my blog snafu AND make use of some free wifi, bathrooms, and chairs....so here i am! 
• RANDOMLY!!!! i also just ran into one of the cast members from my most recent show! shoutout to gabe!!! he asked me what i was doing out here and when i said, "i'm walking from brooklyn to montauk" he only looked SLIGHTLY skeptical. maybe it's my ginormous hiking backpack and irreversibly wind-swept hair that convinced him.
• once again my plan for tonight is to rest, go to bed early, and wake up ready to walk. there's definitely a bittersweet feeling that has been creeping into my heart as i get closer and closer to montauk...i'm sure i'll have a clearer idea of what it actually is tomorrow and it'll be interesting to reflect on the whole journey as an entity. honestly, i've been here for every step, every mile, every ankle twinge and random ache....and sometimes it still doesn't feel like i've really done it. standing on the pier in brooklyn feels like some dream that i had years ago.
• enough of this nostalgic nonsense! i'm going to make use of the sweet free wifi to make my social media post for the day and watch some youtube videos and then i'll get right back to it!

for you: we will keep fighting, we will keep organizing, we will keep pushing back against the facistic mechanisms of oppressive systems until we achieve liberation, equity, happiness. i know we will! i love you! and i'll see you tomorrow!

day 9 is done!!! done!!! this day has been looming over me for a few reasons: it was my longest distance day, the forecast showed rain, and i’m getting pretty dang tired lol. i’ll tell you all about what went down in this blog post! (excuse any weird formatting, im writing on my phone instead of my laptop - details below!!)

• this AM i did my LAST interview of the series!!!! hooray! another varied and interesting perspective! i really feel like we covered so much ground in these interviews, and i’m getting excited to get back and start editing! i can’t wait to share them all with you! another HUGE thanks to everyone who took part!
• because of the reasons listed above (distance, rain, ailments) i decided to do today via bike rather than foot….and WHAT a GREAF decision that was!
• it RAINED. pretty much from the time i left my interview to the time i met my mom at a pizza place near my hotel…it RAINED. beyond that, it was cold and windy - which already wasn’t brilliant on a bike (especially near the water! i have begun to see water!) but would have been much LESS brilliant on a 9-hr trek.
• speaking of 9-hr treks, i was able to cover the same distance on my bike in a little less than 3 hours - which has given me ample to time to relax, stretch, take a warm bath, get cuddled up, etc.
• mysteriously!!!! my room at the hotel got upgraded which has really cracked me up. it’s HUGE and there are two rooms with a bed in each room? i’m only staying for one night? what do i do with all this real estate lol???
• as far as the aches and pains go, biking really did what i thought it might as far as taking some of the pressure and impact off my ankle(s). i’m not going to jinx myself by saying i feel any certain way, but i’m hopeful that i’ll have energy and recovery enough to get back to the road tomorrow!
• another AWESOME development is: because my interviews are over, i was able to unload a BUNCH of equipment from my backpack! my mom (thank u 💕) came to meet me out east to drop off/pick up my bike and she also was able to unload some of the heavy nonsense i’ve been lugging around for over a week: like my laptop (thus the phone-style blog) and a WHOLE ASS TRIPOD HAHAHA.
• finally: yes, i caught a glimpse of some water today! a tiny sliver of coast, if you will. it really hammered home that - despite the rain and the aches, i am getting closer and closer to that finish line!!! 

if you’ve made it this far in my blog, you get a special little piece of trivia! obviously, long island is 118 miles long. i have been telling everyone who will listen lol but - because of the interviews and the zig-zagging from here to there - my walk will be MORE than 118 miles…….HOWEVER! today, when i arrived at my final interview, i’m happy to say i hit the 118 mile mark of my specific journey since leaving brooklyn!!!!! i can’t believe it!!! keep that in mind when you leave your guesses on the total mileage……

​see you tomorrow!

day 8 dawned with a lot of promise. i've been feeling trepidatious about day 8 (and 9) since almost the beginning of my journey because these are the two longest distance days of the entire journey! back to back! who planned that? let me at them! regardless, i started the day really well....and finished it crying on the side of the road in brookhaven. let's dive in, shall we?

• it has been a FULL WEEK since i stood near the water in brooklyn and began walking eastward! it's very difficult to think about it, because the days on the road have all sort of collapsed into one mega day. either way - it's been a week! yay!
• like i said: day 8 started well! i had a funny little continental breakfast at my hotel (there was some weird machine that made pancakes on a conveyor belt? is this the future?) and i began walking with actually a lot of energy! my body felt about as good as it has since day 2!
• what i discovered is: for a long distance day, it's much more sustainable to do shorter burst with interspersed periods of rest. long treks are JUST NOT IT. unfortunately, due to my own poor scheduling, i did the first half of the day at a lovely, broken up, leisurely pace......and finished it by pretty much half-marathoning my way to my airbnb without stopping - which was horrible!
• i had my second to last interview in sayville, and luckily from now on my path is pretty much due east (or east-erly) towards montauk! because of the boomeranging i did to get to my various interviews, i still have almost a THIRD of the distance of long island to travel! so make sure you take that into account when you're guessing exactly how far i ended up walking.
• i will say: as i make my way through eastern suffolk towards the forks, the scenery is changing, the way cars drive on the road is changing, the volume of suburbia is changing - i was wondering when i'd see that shift and it's gratifying that it's finally happening! it makes me feel like i'm heading towards that final stretch.
• i thought a lot about walking today - especially during the early part of the morning when i more or less had energy haha! one of my drama teachers at guildhall used to say that if you walked a very long distance, your body would naturally find an efficient posture for motion. i have not found that to be true, but maybe she wasn't taking into account the immense distance, relatively quick pace, and HUGE BACKPACK i'm contending with. what i have found is helpful (besides copious rests), is making my strides shorter when i start to feel fatigued, keeping my feet pretty much right beneath my hips. i don't know what the science would say about that.
• and i know what you all want to hear about! you want to hear about me crying on the long island roadsides! well i did! i admit it! i figured i'd have a day or two where the physical toll of the journey overwhelmed me, and today WAS THAT DAY. it was a loooooong distance day and my body was just shot by the end of it. i started my day at 6:30 and i'm writing this at 10:12. i was just sore and tired, and i realized that there was nothing to do about it besides keep walking. which led to my roadside meltdown, which definitely may have involved me saying, "i don't want to walk anymore! i just want to lie down!" dear elena of the past, it's me - elena of the future. don't cry, we are lying down.
  
• the BIG news! (as big as it gets around here) is that tomorrow was supposed to be ANOTHER long day of walking.... not only that, it was supposed to be the LONGEST day of walking for the whole project. however, taking into account how my body feels and the amount of time i'd be on the road (my rule is to be tucked in for the night before sunset, and i broke it by a little today!!!), i have made a BOLD decision to cover tomorrow's mileage.....by bicycle! yes, you heard right! tomorrow i'll be mounting the old iron horse (do people call bikes the iron horse or is that just bizarre lol) and spending the day moving at a (slightly) faster pace! i'm hoping this will give me time to recover for my last few days!
  

as always: i will check in tomorrow! just in case: does anyone know any good bike repair shops in suffolk county? hit up my instagram and keep an eye on my story!