Things along the way.

For an 11 day walk across Tennessee, I spent many, many probably hundreds of hours poring over Hwy 45, on Google Maps, preparing for my walk. One thing I did was make sure there were adequate shoulders and sidewalks to safely walk on. 

There were several towns that had to be navigated around on 'not too traveled' side streets. After hours and hours of Google Maps, I did have the slight worry that I would somehow be too familiar with the roads I was looking at online and kind of be bored on the actual walk. 

Yeah right!!!

I've already told you of the 'important' things along the way, the people, the towns, my interviews, my wonderful wife who wonderfully helped along the way, one crazy emotionally disturbed man, etc., etc., . 

But what of the lesser important things I saw. I promised weeks ago that I would have no more dead armadillo pictures, nor any other road kill kind of stuff.                     So I won't. 

But I will mention that armadillos were one of my biggest surprises on my trip. Growing up in Texas, I thought Armadillos were truly a Texas kind of thing. In San Angelo, Texas, in the late 70's and early 80's our Fiesta del Concho every year would have the 'World Championship Armadillo Races'  The race was only about 12-15 long, but exciting. But I do ask the question. Who let the dillos out?

This is no exaggeration, but at least once a mile, all 122 of them, I saw evidence of an armadillo. A dead one, that is. Sometimes several times a mile. Sometimes it would be just a small 3inch square of shell, others almost a full body of shell. They are easy to spot. I'm not sure how so many of them walked across the very few bridges crossing the Mississippi River, but they did at some point. 

So, what else did I see along the way?

Beer cans. Sadly, they outnumbered the Coke, DrPepper, Mt. Dew, etc. cans

And styrofoam cups. By the thousands. 

Parts of old shoes. Maybe there were a lot of others walking like I was, though I never saw them, just William the biker, and former walker mentioned in day one. 

Random clothes items. I know I didn't undress in anyway along the way leaving myself open to losing any clothes items. 

And one thing that was almost as numerous as Armadillo parts and beer cans???

Bungee cords. 

Not these. 

But these. 

The industrial/farm kind of bungee cord. The kind that would hold the real heavy kind of stuff on the back of 18 wheelers and farm trailers. Which begs the question. If I saw dozens and dozens of them(and most of them were cut in half, that's why they fell off) then where were the barrels of stuff, the piles of hay, the stacks of logs, the wooden boxes, etc that they had been holding up?

I also saw hammers, screw drivers, and other just random weird stuff. Yeah, just one boot. Was it a one-legged guy that lost it?

 
But there were a few things I noticed were almost totally absent from my route along Hwy 45. Deer. Yes those lovable four legged, horned friends in the woods.

Twice, while training here in town, in Alcoa, I saw deer. Once about 5 wandered through the woods. Another day, One startled me by jumping in front of me about 30 yards away. 

And nearly every day there were squirrels along the greenbelt. I love squirrels and deer. 

But sadly on my walk, there were maybe a dozen squirrels I noticed along the way, and a total of ready for this...........One, single deer. On day 5, halfway between Medina and Three Way. Yes, one lone deer in 122 miles. 

Praying Couple in Arby's

Sorry it has been three weeks. You should know by now that this trip started partly as a result of a 100% blockage in an artery that feeds my heart and the heart stent surgery that fixed it. Two people I met, had similar problems in the past, and I certainly had no clue of this when I first met them.

I had just finished my first week of walking, had gotten to Union University in Jackson and had come to the realization that it was going to be too dangerous to cross I-40 safely, so I sought refuge in an Arby's, called Judy, and waited for her to pick me up.

While there, I saw this couple buy their meal, sit down, and had a quiet prayer before they ate. I walked over to their table, told them I assumed they were Christians, and told them what I was doing.

I then asked if they had any story to share, and Roscoe started telling me about Dale's similar experience, though I was never rushed to the ER with my heart issues.

Click here for Roscoe and Dale

In a few weeks from now, you will hear from Laura Ann, who was told she would never walk again because of an aneurysm.

1st Interview, drunk drivers

I promised you, my followers, to try to get 4 or 5 interviews on each day of my walk. Well.......it didn't quite work out that way. But I do have 9 or 10 of them. And no, none of them will win any kind of awards. So here we go.

This first one was not really on my trip, but two weeks before. One morning I was just completing a good 4 mile practice walk ending up with breakfast at Burger King. As I was parking my cart outside, I noticed this man getting out of his car, very slowly. He needed help from his son just to take a step onto the curb.

I looked up and smiled and the man made a comment about how hard it was growing old. I could tell he was several years younger than me and was wondering what had brought him to this point in life.

Before we got in the front door, I found out. I felt so sorry for him, I bought him and his son breakfast, ate with him and then filmed this.

Click here for Tony and Drunk driving

The next day, Tony called me just to confirm that he had had to go to the doctor to take his cortisone shot. It usually lasts about one month, so every 30 days, because of a drunk driver, Tony has to endure this.

So....If you do happen to be a drinker, do it at home, do it responsibly. Don't create another victim like Tony, his son, and certainly his first wife.