Day 5

Day

Our day started out by Judy bringing me back to Milan from our host home farther down the road. Before stopping at the Marathon station I had stopped at the night before, Judy took me about a mile out in the country to the very nice, very large Milan City Park. Tennis courts, frisbee golf, baseball and softball fields (11 total) , swimming pool, YMCA, pavilions to rent out. Just a really nice park.

So, if you are ever in Milan......

I didn't get but just about 10 blocks when I was walking along side a very large, very nice cemetery. This man was walking toward me on the same sidewalk and I asked him if he had a moment to spare and if he had a story to share. "Wow, do I have a story to tell," he almost yelled out. "I got arrested on May 3rd...."

The rest of his story will come in a video in a few weeks.

Before I started my trip, I decided to stop and sample BBQ whenever possible and give a shoutout to the one I thought was best. The first contestant was, 

Also that morning, I ran into.....well, walked by really, ... an unlikely object, a 10-12 foot tall elephant. 

I stopped and met the owner who told me Greenway had been there for about 40 something years. I videoed him about his elephant but the video did not turn out well at all, sorry. He corrected me that it was not concrete, as it looks, but just fiberglass. It has chains around the legs to hold it down, and it takes only two men to pick it up and move it. He said it is NOT for sale, so don't ask. :( 

A few more miles down the road I had another cemetery experience. I looked across the highway and saw a man and a lady sitting under a 15'x15' portable awning next to a folding table and a few extra chairs. "There's got to be a story in this scene," I told myself. You normally don't just see people sitting next to cemeteries in the middle of the morning. Hopefully you don't see too many people sitting next to cemeteries in the middle of ....well in the middle of any time of the day. 

<Wait for Mr Williford's video in a few weeks> 

Shortly after the cemetery, I got off the main highway, US45, and went through the heart of Medina. Before  I got there, Judy and I had been told the natives called it Ma-Dine-a, and not the Meh-Deen-a, as it should be pronounced if you grew up in heavy Spanish territories of Texas, as Judy and I both did. My mother was born very near the Medina river south of San Antonio 100 years ago, and almost 38 years ago, 'woohoo', Judy and I honeymooned in Medina, Tex, just miles from where mother was born. I digress. 

As I entered town, a Medina police officer pulled into an empty parking lot and stopped. I walked up to try to talk and he asked me, "did a white Ford pick-up just almost run you over, driving kind of crazy?" "No sir, I didn't see any," I answered. Seeing he was busy, I walked on. 

In the next block, I stopped at the Main Street Grill. It was nice and kind of artsy for a small town like Medina. 

I know it wasn't the best choice for health and stamina for someone walking all day, but a giant order of fried cheese sticks sounded too good. They were fantastic. While there, I met a man, Mr Reece, who was a local artist who made his living scrounging for junk and making it into art. Two of his pieces were on the wall of the Grill. 

   

<Mr Reece gave me two minutes of philosophizing

 about life on an upcoming video>

After hearing about my trip, the owner of Main Street told me the cheese sticks were on the house. Thanks, Mr Woods. 

I walked another mile or so to end the day at McDonalds on the south end of  (wrongly pronounced)  Medina. 

Comments are certainly welcome. If you have ever lived in or visited one of the towns I walked through, tell everybody. If you know someone I met along the way, tell everyone. If something really touches you, well....scratch it. NO, tell everybody. Let this be interactive. Make any comments at the comments tab at the bottom of each page on the blog. But you have to go to the blog. 60Trip.blogspot.com 

sixtytrip@juno.com

Also, when you get to YouTube, hit the 'subscribe' button. 

Day 5 map--Milan to south end of Medina

Day 4

DAY 

Day 4 started out a little later than normal. It had rained the night before and again that morning so I didn't get started walking until about 10:30. However, the rain had cooled things off about 15 degrees, and there was very little wind. The night before, when we got to our host's home, I felt really weak and sluggish and a little faint at one moment. Our host was a pastor and I had already arranged to speak at their Wednesday evening service for Voice of the Martyrs.  (VOM can be found at  persecution.com ) I even had to ask to sit while speaking, which I have only done once, while on crutches 5 years ago. Well, here is the reason I felt so bad.

Find the reason here

Having been slowed down by the heat and wind, our planned host home for that Wed. night was past where I stopped for the day, so Judy had to backtrack back north to bring me to Bradford to start my trip for the day. On the way north, we almost ran over a rather large turtle right in the middle of our lane of traffic. It was laying upside down, kicking. Judy joked that if I saw it later, to make sure I helped it upright. My thoughts were that by that time, he would be only about a half inch thick and not still kicking. 

But, before I got close to where he was, I stopped at a building supply store for a rest on their porch. I spoke to the lady salesperson and she didn't want to talk on video but was sure her boss would, if he ever got off the phone. He never did. So I told her goodbye and started to leave. She handed me $5 and said to go down the hill to the store and get me a good sandwich. I did not refuse her offer. This was one of many offers I will talk about later. 

Well, when I got to the store, I found this, sitting on the table inside

The clerk explained that she found it in the middle of the road that morning. It was much smaller than the one we saw, but possibly of the same family. 

The lady I had spoken to was from India and she said she would be glad to share her story on video about how she and her family got to the states. But she asked me to wait ten minutes because she was about to get off of her shift and she would be free after that. Well, I waited, and waited......and waited.

Almost thirty minutes. I went back up to her and asked if she was about to get off and she frantically said, 'We are $40 off on our register and I have to find it." No interview that morning.

Later in the day, while coming into Milan, I stepped into the lobby of a truck accessory and repair shop for a break. In the corner of the room I found this, something I don't think I have ever seen in my almost 60 years. 

A display of used dipsticks for sale. 

Comments are certainly welcome. If you have ever lived in or visited one of the towns I walked through, tell everybody. If you know someone I met along the way, tell everyone. If something really touches you, well....scratch it. NO, tell everybody. Let this be interactive. Make any comments at the comments tab at the bottom of each page on the blog. But you have to go to the blog. 60Trip.blogspot.com 

sixtytrip@juno.com

Also, when you get to YouTube, hit the 'subscribe' button. 

Day 4 map--Bradford to Milan

Day 3

Day

I started this morning back at Shelton's restaurant. The heat and the wind were back in force today. About a mile into today's walk, I came across a church with an odd fixture next to it. An old wooden horse buggie, ...carriage,... whatever you want to call it. 

The man standing by it was a member of the church and just happened to be there doing some maintenance work. So I went up and asked about the buggie. The age of it was and still is in question, but did find out that the company that made it, H H Babcock went out of business in 1926, and by then, they were making bodies for car companies. So no telling really how old it is. 

News flash-update

The man in the picture just two or three days ago, emailed me and said the pastor told him the buggy was made in 1886, so it is 133 years old. 

<Look for Jeff in an upcoming video>

This day was pretty uneventful. I did walk through the town of Greenfield, where Judy had gone on ahead and met me for a few minutes. All along the way, I also saw farming at a bigger level than what I had grown up with. The tractor and implement (below)  he is pulling attest to that. Yes, my dad farmed about 500 acres of cotton, citrus, grain sorghum, corn and all kinds of assorted vegetables. However, most of the fields were only maybe 10 to 20 acres each and having tractors this big was not needed. 

psst, don't forget to click on the videos. :)

Here is a spray 'thingy'. My uncle  used to use one like this, but much smaller. I guess they don't have crop dusting planes like I grew up with. 

THEN, 

close to the end of my day, I found a quiet peaceful convenience store in the town of Bradford. The clerk, or owner, was the only one in the store. I talked to her and asked her if she had any story about her life to tell me and she said she was not much of a talker. I sat down at a table to rest and drink something. Then, in walked two men. The second one was rather large, and LOUD. He looked at the clerk and yelled, pointing to himself and his friend, "Well, it's 'Dumb' and 'Dumber'." I immediately realized this man was probably a talker with a story. So, I yelled out myself, 'Hey, Dumb, come talk to me a second.' He kindly came over and sat at my table and I told him I was walking across Tennessee and asked him if he had anything to tell the world. 

<Look for a future video of a man with a large goatee, and a name equal to a name of a John Wayne character>

Comments are certainly welcome. If you have ever lived in or visited one of the towns I walked through, tell everybody. If you know someone I met along the way, tell everyone. If something really touches you, well....scratch it. NO, tell everybody. Let this be interactive. Make any comments at the comments tab at the bottom of each page on the blog. But you have to go to the blog. 60Trip.blogspot.com 

sixtytrip@juno.com

Also, when you get to YouTube, hit the 'subscribe' button. 

Day 3 map--South side of Sharon to Bradford. 

Don't forget.....

Probably half of my followers may not even know this if you have not read all my posts down to the bottom of this blog, but please check out the 9th post below this one titled 'Trip Fundraisers'. Help support if you can. Thank you.

Day 2

Day

After a really hard, physical day #1, I set a new rule for myself that I kept for most of the rest of the walk. I would set an alarm on my phone for 30 minutes, and then stop, pull out my folding chair, sit under a nice shade tree, and set my alarm again for a 20 minute rest. That pretty much worked for me most days. Sometimes I had to walk a little farther to find shade, or cross the highway in order to do this.

The main enemy for the next two days was a never ending headwind. And the sun.

I did have to cut through quite  a bit of countryside south of Martin until I found some more highway shoulder to walk on. Shortly after I did, I came across a few men who were literally sitting in the middle of the road. Well, the old road that is. Years ago, the state had built a short bypass around what I guess used to be a very small town. At the end of the old road, literally sitting on top of the middle stripe, someone had put up a 20'x20' portable building and started a used tire shop.

Be watching for a future interview inside the tire shop.

A few miles later I spent one of my breaks inside a Family Dollar. They had little shade, and were happy to allow me to bring my chair right inside their front door, with A/C. AAAHHHH!

A few blocks past the store, in the town of Sharon, I met two sweet ladies siting on their porches right next to each other at their duplex. They didn't want to be on video, but one of them told about her 70 something year old mother who was very sick and had now been in a coma for two solid months. She was hoping and praying for her mom's recovery so she could bring her home and care for her. 

Across from their homes, was this. 

I told them they would probably think me some ignorant city fella for asking, but that I was in fact a country boy who did grow up on a 500 acre cotton farm. I asked them if this was, in fact, wheat, and they confirmed it was. I was not sure if I had ever seen it before until three days before on the drive west.

So, since it was not a real 'interview' watch as I play with Wilson, who belonged to one of the two ladies. 

Click here for cute little Wilson. 

I walked on through the town of Sharon (pronounced 'shay-run' ) and really anticipated a good meal at the south end of town, Shelton's Restaurant. I walked through a residential part of town and got yelled at by a ten year old girl. "What are you doing sitting in our yard?" I was quietly sitting in my folding chair two feet from a public sidewalk in a vacant yard. Mom eventually came over and also asked what I was doing. She had no problem with me being there.

This had been an equally hot day and I was very tired and looking forward to Shelton's. It was at the very south end of town and when I crested a hill and saw the building, there were no cars at all in the parking lot. It had a nice porch and I walked up and made myself at home.

With Google maps, it is easy to zoom in and find every little mom and pop place along a highway, or Dollar General, etc. Not as easy with my phone. SO, I called it quits for the day, not knowing if there was a good spot to stop at farther ahead. I tried to call Judy, but I was not getting good reception and was just hoping she would be heading my way soon and see me slightly off the highway.

 A few minutes later, a truck pulled up and someone got out and it looked like they went in a side door that I couldn't see. When they got back, I approached the truck and it was the owner of Shelton's. They unfortunately had to close for the day.  I was given a bottle of water, and then the wife went inside and came back with a huge ham sandwich. I finally got Judy by phone and we ended our day.

Comments are certainly welcome. If you have ever lived in or visited one of the towns I walked through, tell everybody. If you know someone I met along the way, tell everyone. If something really touches you, well....scratch it. NO, tell everybody. Let this be interactive. Make any comments at the comments tab at the bottom of each page on the blog. But you have to go to the blog. 60Trip.blogspot.com 

sixtytrip@juno.com

Also, when you get to YouTube, hit the 'subscribe' button. 

Day 2 map--Martin DQ to far south side of Sharon, Shelton's Rest.

Day 1

Day

One thing I have not told Judy is that since last Sunday, I have felt a kind of 'catch' in my left knee. Not ongoing, but occasionally I would feel a little twinge that I was scared might flare into something worse. Too late for a doctor visit and x-ray and major surgery and a twelve week rehab. So...I just shut up and went. My emotions the night before were all over the place. Excited, scared, proud, anticipating the unknown.....you name it.

So, off I went.

Make sure you don't miss clicking on all the videos, like the two below. 
(I'm still learning this blog stuff, so if there is no video below,
click here )

(David, you're still just standing there. Do something)

Ok, here I go.

Click here also 

So, off I went into South Fulton Tenn. 

Excited, rested, and ready to go. I, being a Google Maps guy, (I was nicknamed 'Maps' at work) had planned out side street routes for places that did not have sidewalks or shoulders. South Fulton was one of them. So, after only about three blocks of US45, I walked about 3 miles through back streets until I got back to the main highway.

I really had no plans for how far I would walk and how much and how often I would rest. That first day, my goal was to accomplish much. Far and fast. And I pushed hard. Way too hard. And, with not enough drink in my cart. 

If you did not know all my plans, I planned on stopping and talking to quite a few people each day, get a story from them, videotape it, and show the world. I have ten or twelve, not the 40-50 I had planned.

So, the first attempt I made was simply meeting a man who was spraying weeds in his yard. I asked him if I could borrow some shade from his big tree, and he offered me a bottle of water. He did not want to be videoed but told me his story is he just likes to help people, whether stopping on the side of the road helping  a stranded motorist or giving water to a guy like me. 

On I went walking fast with the whole world to conquer. Well...It conquered me. 

Let me explain. Most of my practice walking for the last year, was done between 6:00 and 7:30 in the morning, right after I got off work. Nice and cool. I would normally walk an hour or an hour and a half, accomplish my 4 miles, and think I was good to go. I thought I could do this 3 or 4 times a day, and do my expected 12-16 miles each day. NOT!!

I totally underestimated the need for fluids and the heat of the afternoon, though I certainly did remember my long days growing up on the hot farm in South Texas 20 miles from Mexico. 

By about 2:00 that afternoon, I had made it to the edges of Martin (home of UT Martin), hurting, totally exhausted, and out of water. Thank goodness I had the wisdom to bring a folding chair on the trip, though Judy had to bring it to me only about two hours after I started. I didn't forget the other days. So, I found a good shade tree, and called Judy, who I knew was already in Martin. She rescued me with liquid and a car A/C for a few minutes.

About a mile later, I ran into William. Here he is petting Sadie, his dog. 

On Saturday, on our drive from Dresden to Fulton, we almost ran over William, who was riding a bike and pulling a cart like mine on a 'no shoulder' very narrow road. Judy jokingly said I might run into him later, but I think we both thought he would really be way past US45 by Monday. 

Well, as I walked up to the Martin McDonalds rest., there sat a cart and bike. William had walked from Dothan, Alabama, (almost in Florida) to where I met him, over 500 miles. About 100 miles east of Martin, a family who he had met gave him the bike and the cart. Sadie now rode in style instead of walking.

Watch for William in an upcoming video.

William noticed I was very hot, and offered me his hat, a handful of change, and a hamburger.  I kindly refused, though I did make the decision I would never make it without a wide-brimmed hat, which I never wear. So, William and I sat for awhile and he later was my first interview, so please look for him in later weeks.

William did give me a small tire patch kit that really came in handy on Day 8.

After 13 1/2 miles, which I thought would be easy, I plopped down in Martin's Dairy Queen and had my first Blizzard in about a year. An Oreo Blizzard. A large one. Awww, what pleasure.  End of day one.

Memorial Day on UT Martin Campus

I asked my Domino's delivering daughter if this is why sales were up at Domino's Pizza's around the country.   :)

ps. If you are not able to open these videos, please contact me as soon as possible. I have two different ways to display videos. So if some can not view them, I will step back and punt. 

Comments are certainly welcome. If you have ever lived in or visited one of the towns I walked through, tell everybody. If you know someone I met along the way, tell everyone. If something really touches you, well....scratch it. NO, tell everybody. Let this be interactive. Make any comments at the comments tab at the bottom of each page on the blog. But you have to go to the blog. 60Trip.blogspot.com 

sixtytrip@juno.com

Also, when you get to YouTube, hit the 'subscribe' button. 

Day one map--Ky State line to Martin Dairy Queen

Oops

Oops,  so, I am still learning this blog making life. I opened my email from my post, 'The Trip West' and I had no video at the bottom of the page titled, 'Sad, Sad, Smoky'. On the website, it looks like the video is there and ready to watch but there was nothing but blank space. So, I think I have two choices. To have a bunch of  'click here' spaces that hopefully will lead you directly to a video, or after reading each day's post, you can click on the 60trip.blogspot.com link at the bottom and it will also lead you directly to the website itself and you will be able to click on the video's there. If anyone has blogspot experience, please do not hesitate to contact me and let me know what I am doing wrong.

So, here is my link to my 'Sad, Sad Smoky' video. So just click here and make sure you have your sound up.

Thank you for your patience. I am learning. Later, David

60Trip.blogspot.com

The Trip West

Pre-trip

As I've said before, I had a dream for this trip for maybe 5-6 years,  but didn't voice it to Judy for awhile. My original idea was to walk from North Carolina to Memphis. But then, about 4 years ago I started having chest pains, but only when I walked fast and more than just a few feet. 

Then, in January, 2016, I had heart surgery to clean out a 100% blockage in what is called a 'widow-maker' artery and had a heart stint. After a year, my doctor said I was looking fine and told me to go ahead with my dream. But, Judy and I compromised and agreed to a north to south trip, instead of a month's long east to west trip. 

So, since then, 3-5 times a week, I would walk on different portions of our greenbelt early in the morning after getting off of work for 3 to 4 miles each time. Since last June, I did this pushing my three-wheeled cart that I ended up pushing on my walk.

The Trip West

So, on Saturday, May 25, 2019, Judy and I headed west to my starting point, the Tenn/Ky border that separates the towns of Fulton, Ky and South Fulton, Tenn in two. We spent Sat/Sun night in a nice AirBnB on the Kentucky side, had a nice Mexican supper downtown Fulton,  and visited South Fulton Baptist Sunday morning. 

Romantic Towns along the Way

During our entire two week trip, we encountered many romantic European/Mediterranean type of cities. Monterey, Carthage, Lebanon, Paris, Rome, Dresden, Milan, Medina, Corinth. 

Driving through Paris, we had to go see this. Yes, only 70 feet tall, but cool to see. 

Sunday afternoon, we went to the Discovery Park of America, in Union City, about 15 miles SW of Fulton. For a town that is not a major city, it is a really nice facility. 

In the main entryway were these dinosaurs. 

There were also re-creations of historical items. Included was a Gutenberg press, (Judy's favorite) which revolutionized the world of printing, along with jump-starting the Protestant Reformation. Also was a Biblical Ark of the Covenant. (pssst--probably not the original one)

There were also military items including a Titan rocket and a transportation room. 

I wouldn't drive all the way across the state just for this, but if you are ever in the area, it's worth looking into. 

Last minute really sad, trip news. (not really)

Comments are certainly welcome. If you have ever lived in or visited one of the towns I walked through, tell everybody. If you know someone I met along the way, tell everyone. If something really touches you, well....scratch it. NO, tell everybody. Let this be interactive. Make any comments at the comments tab at the bottom of each page on the blog. But you have to go to the blog. 60Trip.blogspot.com 

Also, when you get to YouTube, hit the 'subscribe' button. 

WOW!!!

WOW!!!

     On the day before my 60th Birthday, I finished a most amazing, fun, swelteringly hot (some of the time) trip across my wonderful state of Tennessee. I met the most wonderful, loving, giving people who showered Judy and I with many blessings. I saw beautiful countryside. I wanted to quit several times, but knew I couldn't. I plowed on, (one of those days through solid rain), and walked 122 miles from Fulton Ky, to the Miss border just north of Corinth. 

Film at 11:00  or in about 11 days, that is  :)

David (tired of walking) Dudley

Comments please at  60trip.blogspot.com