John Wayne???....uh, no.

Day 3. I walked into Bradford, and found a convenience store to rest in and wait for Judy and then, well,....I'll just reprint what I said in my day 3 post weeks ago. 

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. 

So, you may ask, 'why did you title this, 'John Wayne'?

In the video he just calls himself 'Rooster'. His full stage name in the ring is Rooster Cogburn, the same name as the John Wayne character in True Grit. 

Click on 'Rooster' if the video does not come up

Hold on! Wait a minute. I'm not finished.

Just a little more fun here. I didn't learn this from Rooster, but from the Baptist pastor that we stayed with that night. Just east of Bradford is the unincorporated town of Skullbone, Tn. According to legend, Skullbone was incorporated back in the 1800's and as I understand it, was and possibly still is a center for 'bare fisted fighting'. It was illegal, I'm guessing according to state law, to have bare fisted fighting within the city limits, so Skullbone 'un-incorporated' itself just so they could keep the fun going. What is left is one store, and one pole announcing mileage to cities all over the world. 

Here is a website explaining the town of Skullbone. Make sure to watch the video inside. 

'Crack skulls here' to get to website. 

Recovering Meth Addict

On day five, I started out in downtown Milan at the Marathon gas Station. I barely went 5 blocks when I saw this man walking toward me next to a cemetery. I stopped and asked him if he had a story for me and he was super excited to share this with me. 

Click here if  the video is not visible. 

Hosts and other kindnesses on the trip.

I have mentioned very little of our overnight stays, so here goes. Months before starting this journey, I started calling and emailing churches all along Hwy 45 explaining what I had planned and that I was hoping that the pastors could find a gracious host family to put Judy and I up for a night. 

Knowing all would not respond, I contacted about three in each major town along the way. Some responded quickly, others only a week or so before the trip started.

I did not speak to any of our hosts about telling their stories, so I will honor every one's privacy and mention no names or specific towns, just in case I have somebody reading this that would be crazy enough to think that since it worked for David and Judy, I will just give them a call and try to drop in also. 

I will say that all our hosts were north of Jackson or in Jackson and we had none south of Jackson even offer us a night's stay, but as you will see from my story, I think , ... I know God worked it out the way it happened.

One of our stays was on a Wed. night and our host was the pastor of the church and weeks before I had arranged with him for me to be the guest speaker for his Wed. night service. 

For 12 years now, Judy and I have been involved with a ministry called VOM, Voice of the Martyrs. It's main purpose is as a prayer ministry showing members of Christian Churches in the western world what kind of lives our Christian brothers and sisters are living, being persecuted for their simply being Christians.

The founder of VOM, Richard Wurmbrand, was a Jewish, converted Christian from Romania who shortly after WW2, was arrested and imprisoned three different times for a total of 14 years in communist prisons just because of his Christian faith. His wife, Sabina, was also arrested and worked in a cruel work camp for three years. 

My part in this is sharing the many times tragic, but always, victorious stories of how people are living under persecution today, and how God is sustaining them through their hardships. 

If anyone is interested in learning more, simply go to  www.persecution.com .

So that night, we had a great time with about 40 members of his church and getting to know him, his wife, and three cute little children.

Another stay was with a family of 7. This couple had adopted their oldest child about ten years ago and since have had two more girls and then two more boys and had just moved into this much larger house to accommodate a growing family. 

One lady called me several weeks before our trip started and told me that it had been worked out by them and their pastor that they would host us either on a Monday or a Tuesday.  "Which day would you be needing?" she asked. "Well, either really," I responded. "So, you need both nights?" she asked. "Great, you will stay with us both nights." 

Then, she found out Judy and I used to live in Texas and she asked where. It turned out that 30 years ago, she and her husband and Judy and I all lived in the same town in East Texas for about three years. Wow, did we have a great time putting the dots together of common friends. One of the couples they knew there, we knew in another town we lived in ten years later.  

Another host we had was also a pastor. Earlier in the day he had taken his wife to the airport for an out of state trip to see grandkids. So it was just the three of us. He took us to the town of Humboldt where we ate at a downtown coffee shop oddly named, 'The Coffee Shop'. So, a big shout out to Guy and Tammy, owners of  'The Coffee Shop' , home to good sandwiches, soups, and salads, and I assume, coffee. (I don't drink the stuff) 

Friday night was our last known stay with a host family,  we thought. Thinking that I could finish this walk in 8 walking days, I hoped to have been finished Tues or Wed of the second week. We found a nice AirBnB in Jackson and rented it for Mon-Wed nights on week two. We still had Sat and Sun up in the air several days into the trip, so we reserved Sat and Sun night at a motel close to the famous Casey Jones village. By then, I knew I could not finish by Wed, so we made a split reservation for Sat-Sun and then Thur-Frid. 

It didn't take long to realize, that though our room was clean and adequate, there were many aspects of the motel that were very sub-par, especially the noise level around the lobby. And the three closest ice-makers were not working. Several things could be upgraded. 

The main hostess at the counter was very kind and professional. We had told her what kind of trip we were doing, and asked her if it was possible to get out of the Thur-Frid reservation if we did find something down the road. We weren't sure what we might find south of town. She said we would not be charged if we let them know 24 hours in advance. 

Sunday morning, we visited Cornerstone Comm. Church in Jackson. While there, we ran into a family from our own church in Maryville who were dropping their daughter off at a four week class at nearby Union University. We live about a mile from each other. What a coincidence. 

Monday morning I had the privilege of starting very early while leaving Judy asleep in the motel. I walked about 15-16 miles that day, my farthest of the trip. 

The is Judy's excited conversation when she picked me up Monday afternoon just north of Pinson. 

"I checked in to the AirBnB and the wife asked where we lived. I answered 'Maryville' and the wife asked, 'wait a minute. Are you the people walking across Tennessee?'

"Yes we are," Judy answered, very surprised.

'We know who y'all are. We've been praying for you for weeks. We are members of Cornerstone.' (The church I just mentioned from the day before.)

She went on to explain that when the pastor had put out a notice to the church that this crazy guy was walking across Tennessee and he and his wife are looking for a place to stay, that she and her husband had initially sent an email saying they were interested in hosting since they had several empty rooms. But somehow, there was a miscommunication, or a lost email, or something and they never got on the list.

Our Friday night stay was with a family also from Cornerstone.

When Judy picked me up after finishing my walk on Tues, (day 8, Crazy Guy Day) we went back to Jackson for our 2nd night at this AirBnB and we got this announcement from the couple who lived there. They told us that since they had wanted to host us in the first place, that they had gone online and re-imbursed our money for the three days and offered to let us stay through Friday night if we needed, for free. 

God blessed us with 5 free days with this very generous couple who should have made several hundred dollars as a business owner. WOW. And my walk did finish on Friday, and the next morning we headed home. God is good. 

Now to summarize some of the gifts along the way. Many of them have been mentioned already.  Day 1 I had a hat, a hamburger, and a handful of change offered to me, which I refused, since it was from a fellow traveler and I figured he might need the money as much as I. I did take the tire patch kit which was later needed. 

I was given a $20 bill, a $5 bill, two free meals by shop owners and I don't know how many bottles of water and several bottles of soft drinks. Besides one unfortunate incident, we both were showered with love and kindness the whole trip.

Praise be to our God. 

Sean and the Happy Couple

So...Day 7. Monday morning after a good rest on Sunday and good visit at Cornerstone Church.

I had started early, leaving Judy asleep in the motel. I walked about three miles on the  Hwy 45 'by-pass'  and knew I was coming close to two bridges that had very little space to walk on, so I got on to Airway Blvd heading east toward downtown. It was an older, more industrial part of town. Tire shops, warehouses, the abandoned DrPepper plant I earlier showed.

I looked up and saw Sean, walking toward me on the sidewalk, I assume maybe he was heading to work for the day, but he had three or four minutes to spare.

So here goes. It is rather short. But meet Sean.  Click here for Sean. 

William the 'walker/biker'

On day one, I mentioned William, who we almost ran over on our trip west about 20-25 miles east of my walking route. I caught up with him at the Martin, Tn McDonald's along with his dog, who I think I misnamed earlier. William had found out some bad 'family' news and was just about to head back south to Dothan, Alabama. He made it to the Walmart to redo his supplies and then head back south.

William saw I was totally worn out from the walk already. And he offered me four things. His hat, a hand full of change, a hamburger. These I refused, though I did eat with him inside.What I did take that he offered was a small $2 patch kit. I used it on day 8. Thanks, William.

 I e-mailed William shortly after getting to Mississippi and he had already made it back to Dothan. It's amazing how much more distance you can make a day on bike as opposed to walking. 

So, here is my talk with William the Walker/Biker  (sorry I am a horrible videographer and it was cut short)

Click here if it does not show up

The man and lady at the cemetery

So, I had left Milan a few hours before, and had met and videotaped a man ( a future video) walking past a large cemetery in downtown Milan and then a few miles out in the country, I looked up and there was a 10x10 ft portable awning sitting beside another cemetery, about halfway between Milan and Medina. And under it was sitting a man and lady, a scene I don't think I had ever seen in my life, so I was compelled to cross the highway and check it out.

Click here if your device does not open the video above.