Day 7

Day 

Monday, start of week 2, walking day 7, was a long, very productive day.

Click here for a start of Week 2 video

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. 

Click here for a DrPepper video

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.

https://www.jacksonsun.com/story/news/local/2019/06/05/man-walking-122-miles-across-tennessee-david-dudley-artery-bloc/1355723001/

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.

Announcement found here

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 7 Map--Casey Jones Village to just north of Pinson

Day 6 +1

DAY

 Plus 1

(Sunday)

When I started out, I just named my walking days, Day 1 through Day 11, for the 11 days I actually walked. Here is the Sunday in between on which I didn't walk.

I haven't said much about out host families, but I will, or the churches along the way that helped provide them. Our Friday night stay was coordinated by Cornerstone Comm. Church in Jackson, just west of Union University. I had done some research on churches in the area, and Cornerstone seemed to be much like our church in Maryville, Grace Comm. Church. So, we had planned weeks before that we would worship there on this Sunday morning.

Cornerstone Community Church, Jackson, Tn

I had spoken to the pastor on the phone but had not met him. When we entered the foyer, he was standing there and recognized me and called me by name. I guess he had seen my picture on my blog. He met Judy and I and we spoke for a moment. 

Then he said, 'I think there is a family here who you may know,' and he attempted to tell us their name, which he mispronounced. Finally, Judy spoke up and said, 'Are you trying to say Creasy?' Just about this time, Judy looked through the door into the sanctuary and said, 'there they are right there.' They were dropping their youngest child off at Union for a 4 week program that allowed her to get two dual-enrollment credits. The Creasy's had also just 'out of the blue' googled Cornerstone and thought it was very similar to our church and decided to worship there on the same morning.

We not only have known the Creasys for the 10 years we have been at Grace, but they live less than a mile from our home in Maryville. We went and sat in front of them and visited for a few minutes. Before the service started, a young man who was sitting in front of us turned around, pointed at Mr. Creasy, and said, 'I spent the weekend in your home 5 years ago.' 

Mr. Creasy told him he didn't think they had ever met, to which the young man replied, 'I go to such-and-such church in the Atlanta area and our youth group spent the weekend with your youth several years ago in Maryville and three or four guys stayed in your home. 

WHAT A SMALL WORLD. But that is only one of several amazing coincidences that we had along the way which I will share more of later. 

We ate lunch, went back to the motel, and rested from a long, tiring week. 

Day 6

Day 6

(Before I start my day, let me say one thing. I am getting very few comments. I would love tons of comments, just to let me know someone out there is reading these posts. Please???)

Ok, I put my kleenex away. I'm ok now. Now, onto a week-ending, kind of quiet day 6.

After a quiet, but fulfilling evening with a wonderful host family with five delightful kids, Judy got me back to the Medina McDonalds for day number 6. I could sense getting closer to a bigger city and we would sort of stay in and around Jackson, Tn for the rest of our time, though I would be walking everyday except for Sunday.

Day 6 update video found here 

The first two or three miles I would still see a lot of farming going on. I saw this field below being irrigated by automatic sprinklers. Childhood memories made me jealous of the owner of these fields, or maybe the children of the owner of these fields. There was no one out there in the searing heat. No one sweating. No one caked in filthy mud after spending hours picking up and placing the mud covered syphon tubes I worked with for many years of my childhood. NNNNOOOOO....., just the gentle  'whish' 'whish' sound of this system spraying water over hundreds of acres. Guy probably got up, went to the field, pushed a button and was now sitting at the local cafe with all the other farmers who were also not sitting out in the searing heat getting mud caked all over their bodies, having to watch the level of the canal so it would not overflow everywhere, or get too low, causing the syphon tubes to stop flowing.

click here for the gentle 'whish' 'whish' sound of modern irrigation in West Tenn.

Slam the keys down hard here for a taste of the irrigation I did in my childhood. And no, these men are not filthy and mud caked, but they will be when they have to move these tubes somewhere else.

Now, let's move on, down the road and away from childhood memories.

Near this field, I noticed this rather humorous mailbox.

 Cute, but about twelve feet above it, was the box for airmail.

I also saw this very sad remnant of what I thought was a several year old Easter Sunday announcement. 

A few miles ahead, after making a direct south turn towards Jackson, I ran into my first 'not too friendly' person on my trip. Up ahead, I saw a man picking up trash on his property and putting  it into a trash bag he was carrying. As I got closer, I heard the wonderful sound of his 'over the top' beautiful blue tick hound barking at me from behind a chain link fence. It was a friendly bark, not an angry bark. The man was still about thirty paces in front of me and I yelled at him, asking if it was OK to take a picture of his dog. He answered 'yes'. As I got closer to where the man was, I stuck my hand out, shook his, and introduced myself and told him what I was doing. I asked him if he might have a story to tell for my followers and he said 'no, I'm a little too busy for that'. 'Then", I asked, 'can I still take a picture of your dog and put him on my blog?" 

"No, I don't want my dog all over the internet!!" he yelled and off he stormed. Kind of strange, he went from friendly, to not interested, to angry in just about 12 seconds. I quickly walked off to a nearby store for a nice crispy chicken dinner break.

As I got closer to Jackson, I had my first break while sitting under a huge concrete overpass. It was to be my only one, really. I sometimes had to turn off my 30 minute alarm, which on my phone was a loud, raucous clucking rooster, and then spend an extra 5 or 10 minutes just to find a decent shady spot to rest. Sorry for those a little squeamish, but shortly after this, I saw this sad little creature. Though I never saw a live armadillo on my trip, pieces of 'dillos was probably one of the most common things I saw on my 122 miles. At least once a mile, I saw some kind of evidence that an armadillo had been there recently. I had thought they were mainly a Texas and New Mexico kind of thing. This dude was the biggest 'piece' I saw.

No more dead animal pictures, I promise. 

Along the way I met a lot of really nice people who, when I told them what I was doing, would give me a pretty mixed bag of responses. 

'No way, Jose. I could never do that. Wouldn't want to.'

'Well, that's cool. Good luck with the rest of your trip.'

'I could do that someday.'

'I'll certainly be praying for you.'

But just a few miles north of Jackson, I stopped at a convenient store and met a young clerk named Heather. When I told her what I was doing, she reached over the counter, yelled, 'way to go, dude' and gave me an enthusiastic high five. She couldn't get over what I was doing. I set up my chair on the store's sidewalk and rested for awhile. She kept coming out to ask me more about what I had already experienced. Every time a customer would drive up and come inside, she would be upset that she had to go inside. 

Like I have said before, I did a lot of Google Maps research for months before I ever started, to find out the best and safest route. I quickly found out that Jackson was just about the most 'un-walker friendly' place around. So many miles of streets in town with no sidewalks or shoulders. I got  to Oil Well Street which crossed Hwy 45 about a half mile north of Union University. The intersection was very large, and had no crossing lights, so it took me about 15 minutes of waiting for traffic to wane so I could cross to the west side of the Hwy. I finally did and took a break at the McDonalds. Then I wandered through a shopping strip center for about a half mile, thankful for the shade next to the stores.

I then got to the north side of Union University, after passing an Outback Steakhouse. The one I assume was the one my niece waited tables at while at Union years before. I then walked closer to Hwy 45 and came to the sad decision that at this time of late afternoon, I was not going to be able to safely make it back across the highway. So, for all you mileage 'purists', YES, I CHEATED ABOUT A MILE AND A HALF. SO THERE!!!

I then went inside an Arby's, called Judy to pick me up, and met my only interview couple for the day. I saw a nice couple a few years older than I sit down with their meal, hold hands, and offered a prayer of thanks. I later approached them, told them I was a Christian, and they kindly agreed to tell me their story of the wife's medical issues a few years ago. 

<Be looking for an upcoming video of Roscoe and Dale>

So, about suppertime, Judy and I made it to our Sat and Sun night stay, a motel really close to the Casey Jones Village, just south of Union, across I-40. More about Casey Jones later. 

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 6 map--South end of Medina to Union Univ. Jackson.

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

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