The Great American Journey

GAP WALK JOURNALS - VIII

Monday - October 6, 2008 Day 215 10.1 miles

Total Maryland miles - 24.3 Walking Days - 100

Washington D.C. miles - 4.6 Cumulative miles 1756.1

Forty-one years ago today Dave and I, and our two children,
Alyce-Kay and Russ, went to the San Francisco International
Airport to pick up a very special package from Korea. The
package was a little five-year old girl from an orphanage in
Seoul. We returned to our home in Santa Clara, CA - now a
family of five rather than four.

Our family has had a tradition on October 6 ever since our
daughter, Laurie, came, of going out to an Asian dinner to
celebrate her arrival. It doesn’t matter where we are, we always
plan to go to our Asian dinner. Then we call or e-mail each
other to let everyone know we remembered. Tonight Bonny and
I went to a Korean Restaurant to have our dinner. It was
delicious, and we had a great time.

A few years after the adoption of our daughter, Laurie, we also
adopted a five-year-old boy, Darrol. That completed our family -
now six of us. All four of our children are grown and happily
enjoying their lives in their places of residence.

Now back to this morning and today’s walk. We stopped by
McDonald’s for our usual breakfast, then we headed to our start
point in Rising Sun, MD. It was actually a chilly morning, and I
started out with the zip off legs of my shorts zipped on. I also
wore a light windbreaker. As I started out walking I needed to
stop at the nearby grocery store to pick up some gummy fruit
snacks. Bonny followed me over in the car so that she could
take the box from me after I took out what I needed.

This done I walked on. A few minutes later I met a man coming
my way. We stopped to talk for a bit. He was heading for the
Veterans building, and told me he had served in the Marines. I
thanked Tony for serving, and soon we each continued on our
separate ways.

I passed some cornfields that had been cut into interesting
designs, and cattle standing on a green hill staring at me - well,
some of them were staring and some were grazing. A few trees
are changing their color and looking grand in their red robes.

Bonny met me at a Convenience Store where we had hoped to
use their restroom - it was out of order - bummer. On I went,
and soon came to the U. S. 1 Bakery and Market. I thought it
looked like a place with a restroom, and went across the street to
check it out. The first door was locked, the second one was
opened to me by Dennis. He told me they weren’t open today,
and that he was just there doing some bookkeeping. I asked if by
chance he had a restroom I could use, and he stepped aside to let
me in. After the restroom I mentioned that I had hoped to buy a
pastry, so he showed me the day-old ones he had. There was a
chocolate covered one with custard filling - my favorite. He let
me have it for a mere fifty-cents.

As I walked I ate my delectable delight, then washed the
chocolate from my face and hands with a “wet-one.” I was one
happy walker by now. Soon Bonny and I met at the entrance to
the Susquehanna Bridge. I hopped into the van and rode across
this very narrow - with no walking space - bridge, then back out
on the other side to continue walking.

I missed nine-tenths of a mile on the bridge, so instead of an
eleven-mile day, it was only a ten point one-mile day. I saw
a lady walking ahead of me, and soon caught up with her. We
stopped and talked for awhile, and I learned her name was
Shirley. I prayed with her, then we said good-bye and each
continued on.

Bonny and I met again at the end point where Hwy 1 and Hwy
440 met. The easy part of the day was done, now for the hard
part. After shedding my gear, we headed off to scout the route
ahead - a little over four day’s worth. This took us through
Baltimore and a little ways on the other side of it.

Some of the route is a little “iffy” so I’m going to look on the
maps and see if I can find a way around some of it. There are
parts where there is no shoulder against a railing, and with
heavy, fast traffic. Please pray I can come up with an alternate
route for some of these places.

It was after we got back to Aberdeen that we had our Korean
dinner. Then we landed at our motel and got to work with the
regular evening chores. Lest I fall asleep again I guess I’d better
sign off and get to the next project.