The Great American Journey

GAP WALK JOURNALS - VI

Thursday - August 21,  2008   Day 169   21.6 miles

Total Massachusetts miles - 25.8   Walking Days - 83

Washington D.C. miles - 4.6   Cumulative miles 1460.5

This was an interesting day - to say the least. We got away from
our motel in pretty good time, made a stop for a restroom at a
Friendly’s Restaurant in Sudbury, MA, and made friends with
the staff instantly. They want us to stop by again for a free meal,
so we’re planning to go there for breakfast tomorrow. What neat
people. The people around here really are great!

We drove the route to our start point, and we knew there would
be several very difficult sections for Norma to navigate. For me
it’s a lot easier as I can stop and look around and compare my
route map with the roads and highways around me. For Norma,
she has to watch for traffic, one-way streets, and for signs that
aren’t there. I don’t know how anyone finds anything here.

We finally got to our start point, and I got my gear on and began
walking. I prayed for Norma as I walked - as I do every day as I
start - that God will wrap His arms around her and the car, keep
her alert to all that’s going on around her, and help her see the
roads she needs to see.

Soon I saw a young man painting one of the fire hydrants in the
town of Methuen. I complimented him on the good job, and
began talking with him about it. He has taken this on as a
summer job for the city to paint the fire hydrants here. I gave
Nicholas my card and explained what I was doing. He was
delightful, and said he would pray for me. I took his picture,
then walked on down the street seeing many of his masterpieces
as I walked.

I came to a Dunkin’ Donuts that we had stopped at earlier, and
went in to use the restroom. When I came out I stopped to talk
to the staff and thank them for the use of the restroom, as I often
do when I use a restroom without buying anything. I told them
about the walk and they got really excited. They gave me a nice
big cup of ice water, and wished me well. Later I realized I
forgot to take their pictures.

Norma met me alongside the road between Methuen and
Lowell, MA. We talked over the section coming up and looked
at the maps to be sure we knew what we were doing. Then I
continued on. I figured it would be a longer segment because
there really weren’t too many places for her to stop. It was a lot
later when she called me to ask where I was. When I told her,
she said, “Oh, no. How did you get past me?” It turns out she
had stopped in Lowell and was waiting for me. I had already
gone through Lowell, and was on the outer edge where I was
expecting to see her. Oops.

Since I had already passed through some of the tricky parts, I
gave her detailed directions to get onto the street I was now on.
We had missed each other just before a section that had one way
streets. I had planned to walk on the route she had to go, so had
stayed on that side of the street. She had parked just before the
one-way section on what would normally be my side of the
street. Oh, well.

We finally met at an ice cream shop where I found her with an
ice cream cone. Not to be left out, I also purchased one -
decadent chocolate!

Now we continued on after going over the maps once again. In
this last segment there were several hard-to-find streets, so we
ended up keeping in close touch by phone, often with me giving
her as specific directions as possible.  Through this area I had a
young man pull up in a car asking directions to the very street I
had just turned off of, so I could give him clear directions all the
way back to Lowell where he needed to go. I told him I was
from California, but I just happened to have walked from where
he wanted to get to. He asked, “Did you walk all the way from
California?” I told him I had in a round-about way, and went on
to explain about this walk and the others I’ve done. Victor let
me take his picture, then we each went our own way.

I ended up at the junction of Maple St. and Highway 225.  This
was a beautiful section with ponds filled with lily pads, purple
flowers growing in abundance, and lots of trees - and poison
ivy. I’ve had a lot of poison ivy to watch out for lately. It creeps
right out to the shoulders where I walk, and sometimes clear
over the shoulder. I am very cautious around it since I am still
getting over my most recent contact with it. I still have it on
both legs - the knees are especially bad - and some on my torso.
Ugh! Not much itching left, since I’ve been very dedicated at
cleansing it thoroughly each night with Tecnu, and then
covering it with Calagel. That does a good job.

I guided Norma in by phone to where I was at the end. What a
trooper, and not a complaint from her. Of course, we both have
the same complaint for Massachusetts and its cities - they need
road signs! It was kind of fun figuring it all out though.
Tomorrow may be more of the same.

From the end point we drove back along our route, making a
few mistakes along the way, but always finding our way back.
We have one detour we will both have to make where a bridge
is out. The detour doesn’t take us too far out of our way.

In Sudbury we stopped at Starbucks for my treat, then on
through the other towns on our route and back to Milford. We
stopped at the same Mexican Restaurant as last night for some
nice Mexican salads with chicken. We both liked the enchiladas
from last night a lot better.  Still it was good.

Back to our motel to get ready for bed and take care of evening
chores.