DAY
What a fruit-basket of emotions I was when I woke up on what I hoped would be my last day. I was glad I was so close to fulfilling me several year long dream. I was also anxious about still possibly some rain messing up my plans. I was wanting to finish, but I was also thinking, 'It's almost over? Really? I have barely gotten started. I want to walk more than this.
And then came 'The E-mail."
As I did every morning, I got to my laptop and checked my email. In my inbox was the following email from Valarie, a total stranger. Here it is.
First off allow me to say that your story leaves me in happy tears and giving God all the glory! I am a 36 year old who just survived the widowmaker on 5/28/19. My aunt lives in Jackson and sent me this article and I am feeling instantly inspired by you..I have had three open heart surgeries, countless pacemaker surgeries, a donor valve, and a mechanical valve before this. I have always had a fighter's spirit and now I'm thinking of what I can do once I'm well to honor the fact that I once again survived, especially something of this magnitude. You sir, and your amazing supportive wife are people who the world needs more of..I can almost feel your inner light shining through as I read then reread the article...Good luck and safe travels on the rest of your journey..I am attaching a few photos of the doctor who saved my life and my before and after surgery photos...Godspeed, and prayers, Valerie
I was balling huge tears by the time I finished reading this. I went back and looked at the date, May 28th. That was day 2 of my trip. While I was walking peacefully between Martin and Sharon, Valarie was being rushed to a major big city hospital to have her heart opened up. And survived. Yes, technically you can say I had heart surgery, but just through an artery through my leg, and I was home by that afternoon. Nothing like what Valarie had just gone through.
I thought she was from the area and I wanted to see if we could drop by and see her. Well, turns out, Valerie's aunt lives in Jackson, Tn and had seen the article in the Jackson Sun and emailed it to Valarie. Valarie lives on Trinity Bay about halfway between Houston and Galveston Tx., just about ten miles from my family in Clear Lake.
I ask all of you, my followers, to please be praying for Valarie that she recover completely from this major surgery and that her doctors find ways to keep her from having surgery #4.
Thank you, Valarie in your encouragement to me on that last day of my walk. May God bless you in many ways.
Day 11 started back at Littlejohn's Monuments. Mr Littlejohn was already at work and Judy was able to meet him. After she left, Mr Littlejohn took me into his side shop which was a duck and turkey call factory. He makes some elaborate calls and has won many nation-wide contests for his craft.
Joel can be found at https://www.instagram.com/littlejohncustomcalls/?hl=en and can also be found on a search of https://www.callcollector.com/us-tn/turkey-calls.html a nationwide website of turkey and duck call makers.
While talking to Mrs Littlejohn, I for some reason mentioned the sad little town of Bethel Springs. She said that in the past, Hwy 45 had been built to bypass the town and sadly the town of Bethel Springs, in her words, just seemed to die. It was a nice place to live, (as the quilt sign says) and I'm sure it still is, just not thriving financially as it used to.
From Littlejohns, I walked straight south toward the Mississippi state line. Sadly, I didn't have 'stopping and talking' as my day's goal, but getting to Mississippi. And I did not have any interviews for the day. but a blog full of silly videos that I felt compelled to make as I got closer to my goal.
About halfway there, I did stop at my first Love's truckstop in Eastview. It had a full convenience store, a Subway sandwich shop, and full showers for truckers and travelers. I thought of William Smith, the walker I had heard about the day before, who I understand maps out his route along Loves locations.
The closer I got to Mississippi, the more excited and delirious I seemed to get. I don't know if it was excitement, or the extreme heat of the Mississippi summer bearing down on me. but my mind was playing games on me.
First delirium induced video can be found here.
I kept on walking, and walking, sometimes in circles I think.
"I think I'm almost there" video can be found somewhere close around here.
Time to back up a few hundred yards. About two hundred yards from Mississippi, I noticed a car pull into the left turn lane and start to make a u-turn right at the state line.
Oh NO!!!!!!
Please tell me it's not the crazy guy from Day 8!
It was a small white car, not a large tan pick-up, but for a few seconds I worried it could be him. The car did make the u-turn and pulled over onto the shoulder and just stopped. When the man got out, I could tell it was not Day8 'crazy guy', but I was still too far away to know who it was or if it was even anyone I was supposed to know. It could still have been a total stranger, or mass-murderer, or.....?
I got a little closer and I saw the man lift his hand, with something in it and he waved it with a yell, 'hurry up, hurry up'. It was not a stranger or a mass-murderer, but Joel Littlejohn the monument and duckcall maker from Selmer. As I got closer, I noticed him holding a newspaper. And the closer I got, I could tell that I was on the front of that newspaper.
The Littlejohns had gotten their copy of the Jackson Sun earlier that morning with my article on the front page. His wife gave it to him and said, 'go find that guy walking and give him our copy of the paper.'
So at the state line, I had a welcoming committee of 'one'. Joel Littlejohn. Joel, what a blessing it was to see you and not a crazed maniac. You truly made my day. You were willing to take a 9 mile drive, and take 30 minutes out of your work day. And I think God orchestrated the timing of it so you didn't find me a mile away or two miles away, but right at the state line. Thanks so much, Joel.
No I don't think that is a 'state approved' sign at the bottom, but David Dudley sure approves of it. According to Google Maps street level view, it has been there at least a year and a half.
Let me say a big 'THANK YOU' to all of my 162 followers. I hope you have enjoyed this trip. I hope it encourages some of you to go out there and do something you have dreamed of for years. Yes, maybe make a long walk, or run, or bike ride. Or write that novel, long held deep inside your mind, waiting to get out. Or start that business you have been too scared to start. Or volunteer at that nursing home you visit your grandmother at. Or go back and finish that college degree you never finished. I hope my trip may encourage one or some of you to fulfill that lifelong dream.
And if you haven't made any kind of comment yet about my trip, go to the 'comment button' or 'no comment' button at the bottom of this post and fill it with comments, good, bad or stupid.
And, yes, I still have a few more posts after this. Different things along the way that just didn't seem to fit into a certain day's post. So, stay tuned.
Uh....there seems to be something I missed. What is it?....uh....Oh yeah, I forgot to actually cross the state line.
Good bye!!
ps, I almost forgot, I have ten interview videos to come in the following weeks. Not academy award winning videos, but 'special to me' videos.
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 11 map--Littlejohns Monument to the Mississippi State Line
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