Day
Monday, start of week 2, walking day 7, was a long, very productive day.
I was able to leave straight from our motel, leaving just after 7am with Judy still in bed. I headed straight south on the 45 bypass until I got to Airways Blvd, and headed east toward downtown. This was a rather industrial part of town, and has several abandoned buildings along the way. I came across a childhood memory imbedded into a sidewalk.
A few blocks past this, I met Sean, my first interview of the week. Sean was walking down the street and agreed to a short video interview about a couple he saw on the street recently.
<Be looking for Sean in an upcoming video>
A few blocks later, I met two young men, about age 9 and 12 who were selling lemonade on the side of the street. The older boy told me he was earning money to go on a mission trip to Nashville with his church. The lemonade was good and cold. The boys were obviously not professional street-side vendors. I noticed they were almost out of ice, and all they had was an almost empty bag of melting ice. They maybe had enough ice for only one more cup of lemonade. I realized the small, purple cooler that I had brought along with me was not being used, so......
.....I asked them to go across the street, get another bag of ice and sell more lemonade.
A few blocks past this I was walking along and I looked up and saw a sign, 'The Jackson Sun'. I didn't hesitate in stepping inside and asking if they wanted to do a story about a guy walking across the state. So, I met Cassandra and she interviewed me for an article. You can find the article here.
There is a FaceBook video at https://www.facebook.com/JacksonSun/ , but you will have to scroll down to June 6th.
I bumbed around downtown Jackson for a little bit looking around the county courthouse. I came across this sign about a perpetual monument for those who gave their lives in war. I was skeptical at first that there was literally still a flame going, so I came in close and low and behold, the city of Jackson has made sure this memorial still shines.
I left the courthouse square after buying a huge double chocolate chip cookie with about a half inch of white cream in the middle from a really nice deli.
Then, just about 2 blocks south of the courthouse, an obviously homeless lady, and probably mentally challenged also, approached me and asked me for some money. I told her I don't give out cash to any one but would be willing to buy her some food and I pointed to a convenience store. "How about the Burger King? It's only 3 blocks ahead, she asked me, and I agreed. She was a very slow walker, so I told her I would meet her there and buy something for her. When I got there, the small lobby was packed with ten or twelve people and the line seemed to be moving very, very slowly. I finally saw her approach the door, I pushed it open, and she said she would be in there in a few minutes. I overheard a few comments from people in the line that led me to believe they had had run ins with her in the past. It was only about 10:30, too early for me to get something, so I was not wanting to stay in line for a while and then have her not there when my time came to order. I stayed a minute or two longer, and then left. She was still wandering around the post office parking lot and I know she saw me, but did not wave me down, so I walked on. Just a really strange moment.
A few blocks later, I met the owner of this monument company and asked him for a story, which he refused. But he gave permission to take a picture of his beautiful work. Good job, Eric of Timeless Monuments.
Even though I wore one of my 'Walking Across Tennessee' shirts everyday, I had never had someone comment on it out of the blue. I walked in to Arby's and was about to sit down and this lady asked, "and what are we doing, now?" "Well, 'we' are not doing anything, but I am walking from Fulton to Corinth. She laughed. I sat next to Laura Ann and her husband and she became one of my interviews. She thought it was really cool that my middle child was named Laura Anne. This wasn't planned, but she was the second person I interviewed that had similar health issues. So....
<...be looking for Laura Ann in a future video.>
Later, I met the owner of a really nice antique shop, 'The Darn Yankee'. She did not want to be filmed, but told me all about her life years ago as a college softball player in Iowa.
I finally made it out of town to countryside and ended my day in front of what seemed like a nice Christian 'rehab' sort of place for youth, called YouthTown, just north of Pinson. They had a nice shady entryway I waited at for Judy to pick me up. I think I walked about 15 miles that day, the most of my trip.
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
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Day 7 Map--Casey Jones Village to just north of Pinson
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