DAY 28 ~ 10/12/21
I did a total of 14.2 miles today all on State Route 4. Walked 10.3 miles before lunch. Joan joined me for 5.7 of them and her knees couldn’t do anymore so Clarence picked her up. They went grocery shopping and picked up Panera soups for lunch. My favorite!! Joan and I walked another 3.9 miles after lunch. I walked through 4 towns today: Auburn, Thayer, Viirden, and Girard. That’s the most in one day of the journey so far. They were all really nice, clean and quite fun to walk through. Lots of high school team pride signs. The weather was just perfect. Sunny, nice wind and temps in low 70s. Wonderful walking day overall.
Clarence had a gentleman come up to the RV just after lunch right after we left for our afternoon section. He said that he saw me walking back in Virden, then again at our lunch stopping spot which happened to be where he worked at the railroad (BNSF). He saw the decal on the back of the RV and told Clarence that his mom died at the age of 62 after living 10 years with pulmonary fibrosis. He gave Clarence all the cash he had which was a $10 bill. How amazing is that!! Brought goose bumps when I read Clarence’s text.
The interview with WICS-TV in Springfield went great. Marcella Baietto, who was the reporter and is also the evening news anchor, and camera man Mike came right to our RV Park this afternoon. The story will be on the air Thursday on FOX News at 9 p.m. and ABC News at 10 p.m. She said it will also be repeated on the morning news Friday. Can’t wait to see it and share it with you all.
We all contributed to help prepare our dinner. Clarence grilled pork chops, Joan sautéed veggies and I made oven roasted potatoes. Yum!
Today’s walk marks 4 weeks since our launch on September 15. I am 28% to completion. Unbelievable!! I’ve walked just shy of 400 miles coming in at 393 so far. Woah!! Joan added up her miles too. Her Fitbit isn’t calibrated (hers tends to be underreporting to my Strava app by a mile on days she walks the whole day) she thinks she’s walking about 65-70% of the route I’ve done. Go Joan!!!
Gonna sleep well tonight. Am loving these cooler night temps!
