VetWalking Week 27

Walk Across America

Week twenty seven brings us closer to San Diego and less than 2 weeks left in our campaign. We walked 101 miles this week. The states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona are behind us. We have walked through 4 time zone, 7 states, hundreds of towns, met 1000′s of people along the way and walked 2,428 miles. Week twenty eight will be the last full week of our journey to raise the level of awareness and of the challenges faced by Disabled Veterans.

Day 183
  
Felt refreshed as I awoke this morning. Stayed at the Knights Inn here in Blythe, Ca. Our first day in California was awesome. As we walked today we had more farm equipment pass than cars. Walking thru farm country. Took us three hours to make it over to Palo Verde. Sure is hot. When we arrived at the pace car we were met by Sgt Mike from the Imperial County Sheriffs Office and some local vets. We talked for awhile and left to start back walking. The temperatures rose with each mile and we were glad to see our ending point. We did a huge tag with red paint and headed over to Arley and Shirley’s to spend the night and eat supper with them. When we arrived Shirley had us a huge meal prepared. Hot cornbread, beans/ham, hot wings and an assortment of other things. First class country cooking. After eating we took showers and did a load of clothes. Arley got a watermelon out of the ice box and we sat around talking as we ate the melon. It was good and cold. Arley was a rescue chopper pilot in the navy and served in Vietnam. His wife said he didn’t talk much about it, but as we talked he told me about some of the things he went thru while in Nam. His wife Shirley called us kids. I wish!! Shirley took us out to the fifth wheel camper to show us where we would sleep tonight. It wasn’t long and we were snoring. Its all good.

Day 184
 
Woke to find Arley waiting to show us where things were for breakfast. I made bacon and eggs. After eating and saying  thanks to Arley we headed out to start our walk. Thanks for everything, Arley and Shirley Plemming. No shoulders on the HWY. today. With every step the road got hotter and we got weaker. Only kidding!! Wondering when we will see a mirage. Heard some bombers overhead. They were circling and leaving vapor trails. It wasn’t long when a rainbow appeared and then another one. We took some pictures of them. Got a feeling something good is going to happen. Finished our walk and headed back to Palo Verde. We will be staying with JC Holford. He was a scout in the Marines. He had fresh catfish for us for supper. He caught them off his dock behind his house. His friend Jimmy was staying with him. Went down to the Colorado River to take a dip. Settled on wading, the water was darn cold. Went back to the house and JC cooked up some good grub while we cleaned up. After eating we sat around talking while they fished. Well its time to crash. I’ll sleep in the pace car tonight. Nice cool breeze as I laid there thinking about getting to the end of the walk. Dozed off with a smile. Its all good.

Day 185
 
Slept in the pace car last night. The fresh air was relaxing. Had to cover up around 3 a.m. got cool. As we started walking it was cool and we had a little breeze. It will get hot today before our walk is over. After walking thru the check point Sgt. Mistriel stopped to check on us. Said he would get some press out to do a story. Thanks sir. Not much traffic but everyone that passed blew their horn and waved. Was pretty hot as we reached Glamis, Ca. our ending point for today. Tomorrow we will walk thru the sand dunes. Headed back to JC`S to spend the night. Sat around talking while Jimmy shot off some fireworks. What a nice sunset. Not many days left. After dark I headed out to the pace car to get some sleep. Its not a bad bed. Thanks Tim Byrnes for the mattress. Off to sleep and its all good.

Day 186
 
Up early and ready to walk. We slipped out without waking JC and Jimmy. Drove over to Glamis to start our walk thru the dunes. As we started walking we got a pic of some people and their 4 wheelers. I’d rather be fishing than riding thru the desert. It got some kind of hot today. Pegged out my thermometer when I sat it on the pavement. After we finished walking for today we headed over to El Centro to visit the American Legion Post 60. The commander came over to meet us and they donated money for a room. Left to go get cleaned up and check in. We went to the Brunners Inn and they donated a free night. We’ll take off tomorrow and I’ll go to church. After cleaning up we headed back to the Post and talked to everyone there. They all signed the car. Talked with Mario a lot. Real nice guy. Well its time to go crash. Thanks Post 60 for your support. You rock.

Day 187
 
Up early so I can clean the pace car. Why am I cleaning it and not the pace car driver? Good question and all I can say is plum lazy. I’ll deal with it myself. You tend to learn a lot about someone when your around them. If I sat around waiting in a car for someone walking the car would be immaculate at all times. Been asking him to do a blog but he don’t even read the blogs I write. Makes you wonder about his motive. I’ll vacuum the car after church. Headed over to the Calipatria Community Church. Met Pastor Mike Mutado the other day and he invited me to join him in worship. After arriving I met America a young girl. Sat her on the pace car and got a picture. Pastor Mike gave an inspiring sermon and then introduced me and took up donations for our cause. Thanks so very much. It was an honor to attend church with so many wonderful people. May God Bless you all. Stopped and vacuumed the pace car. Got back to the room and Vince was watching TV. Thought he would at least go out and pass out fliers. No motivation at all. Said he didn’t want to lock me out. Like I can’t get a key to get in. Smile!! Well I’ll head up to Bombay Beach to the American Legion Post 801. Once we arrived at the Post we were served BBQ ribs. They were awesome. The commander gave us some gifts and we headed back to the room to meet with a reporter from the Imperial Valley Press. More press for our vets. We had a good interview and after he left I crashed out. Its all good.

Day 188
 
Up early and we will be walking thru Brawley,Ca. today. Passed a lot of Sugar beet fields as we walked today. Truckloads of onions passed all day. Walked into Brawley and had Joselita from the Imperial County Press come to do some pictures for the article they are doing on us. Thanks Joselita and the paper for the press for our cause the disabled vets. Not much happened today. Got our walk in though. A little humid though. Drove back to Brawley to get a room. Got to work on our blog. Been asking Vince to write something but I don’t get nowhere with him. Oh well. Wants to be part of the walk but doesn’t let his actions show it. Won’t be long and the walk will be at its destination. Off to sleep with that on my mind. Its all good.

Day 198

Hi all, Jack here. Today is Tuesday and what I do on Tuesday is put together the daily email Blog’s that I receive from Ric (not a typo). When I got to ‘day 189′ email Blog it said ‘this blog is for you dude, put a pic of yourself on and tell us a little about you and the family’. OK I will.

Woke up to a cool but seasonable morning today with the weatherman guaranteeing it will be warm and he’s right, 72 and sunny, a beautiful day in May, in Green Bay. Did my thing with the daily early AM phone call with Ric to bring me up to date and then talk about the days walk. In addition to the day to day stuff we always talk about we are starting to talk a lot about San Diego and the end of our long journey . It’s a pretty good feeling to look back from where we started and knowing we are just a few  days from accomplishing our goals.

 

As Ric has said in past Blogs, I will be a grandfather in a week or so, this is also pretty good feeling. Riley, my daughter is having a boy and the due date is May 30th. She is very excited this being her first child. This is a good thing for all except Eddie, the dog. When Tenison is born Eddie will no longer be the baby of the family and he will be demoted back to dog

status. Where I wind up in the pecking order is anyone’s guess.

Today turned out to be a good one. Ric walked another 16 miles and I’m waiting for the nightly update.  It’s possible today he may walk into a no-mans land and his cell may not find  a connection. We are anticipating the possibility of some dead zones in the next few days. Well, that’s it. I’m not a GrandPa yet. Now I’m going to hang out with a couple of Welsh Corgie, Eddie my dog and Foxy a dog I’m babysitting this week.

That’s the Blog stuff for today, day 190. I will add it to the other six days, insert some photos and publish week 27 in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 Jack

 

 

 

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