DAY 14 ~ 9/28/21

Had a wonderful day of walking down country roads today and ended with walking through Sterling IL. Did my whole route all at once in the morning as temps today topped 90 degrees. Joan did 10.8 miles and had the RV pick her up at Aldi’s. I finished with 12.8 miles for the day. We started off on a gravel road met by a woman (Amy) walking her dog (Annie) and going to her mailbox. She saw us with our backpacks and knew we were not neighbors or walking down the road for pleasure. She asked right off the bat where we were headed. When we told her the story she asked if she could pray for us. We said absolutely. She finished her prayer with tears in her eyes. She then asked if we ate meat. Joan said not really, thinking she was going to give us a side of bed or something! I then spoke for myself and said yes. She said I’d like to give you some of our homemade beef jerky. I said that would be wonderful. Wow, there really are good people everywhere. The picture of the barn with a peace sign is her property and is today’s picture of the day. What a great way to start off our walk!!

I called my Aunt Pat today and had a wonderful conversation. She shared something I never knew. When she divorced Uncle Jim (my dads brother) she felt really bad leaving my mom as they were really good friends. She really cared for and loved my mom. I didn’t know that they were that close until today. Touched my heart, especially since I’m on a pilgrimage walk for my mother.

Ruben is getting lots of TLC at home with Paige who was off today so was able to be with him all day. He’s slowly doing better and eating well. My Paigey absolutely adores that little guy!!

I’ve officially got 2 weeks under my belt and over 200 miles logged in. I’m averaging 15.4 miles per day total so far for the 14 days. Only 1200+ miles and 13 more weeks to go!!

We decided that we should celebrate two weeks on the road together by going into Sterling (only a few miles from out RV park )for a burger and a beer. When it came time to order we all had a beer but only Clarence got a burger. Clarence felt betrayed lol. Joan had the fried shrimp and I had the fish fry. It was yummy!