Team Reviews

(As originally appeared in Foot Prints Newsletters by Lyn Hanush)

Our GREAT AMERICAN JOURNEY walk team is now complete! The team is comprised of Lyn Hanush, Joan (Joni) Balog, Anne Foster, Joan (JoAnn) Thomas, and Samantha Garrett. In several issues of FOOT PRINTS we shared a bit about each team member. Here are excerpts from those newsletters to help you get better acquainted with them.

Team member update: Anne Foster left the Great America Team temporarily in July to head up a hike club convention in Colorado; Joan Thomas returned to Canada to satisfy residency concerns.

Lyn has been an avid walker for twenty years and is the organizer of the Great American Journey. This will be the fulfillment of a fifty year dream (although the original dream fifty years ago was to bicycle across the USA). Lyn has already walked from Tijuana, Mexico to the USA-Canada border, ending at the Peace Arch in Blaine Washington. This is where the Great American Journey will start. Lyn summarizes her hiking experiences as:

"I began long distance walking in 1983 with my daughter and her, then, future husband (they were married the next year) when we walked from Mexico to Oregon along the coast (my daughter walked the first two weeks, then took over the driving of our support vehicle). This walk took eight weeks. In 1984 I led a four day walk from San Jose to San Francisco. That walk developed into an annual walk (now six days) with varied routes every year (2003 was the twentieth of these walks). In 1993 a friend and I continued the walk from the Oregon/California border to the Washington/Canada border (a seven week trek). I have also participated in a forty day prayer walk in California that included walking to the twenty one California Missions, and I led a three week prayer walking adventure in Colorado Springs, CO. I presently lead monthly hiking groups in the San Jose, CA area and the North San Luis Obispo, CA area."

In addition, Lyn has climbed Mt. Whitney twice, and done many other mountain hikes with many of her hiking friends. Lyn even walked non-stop with a friend from San Jose to San Francisco - overnight.

Lyn was born in 1942 in Livermore, California, and grew up in Visalia where her family moved shortly after she was born. Lyn met her future husband, David, in Sunday School when she was five. Lyn and Dave were married in 1960, and have four children. Dave and Lyn moved to Santa Clara in 1966 and lived in that area for about thirty years, and then moved to San Luis Obispo area in 1999.

Joni has been a good friend for many years. She’s such a good friend that in 1999 she shared her home with my husband and me for about five months while we waited for our home in Paso Robles to be built. And we’re still friends! Now we’ll test our friendship even more as we spend a bit over a year together walking across the USA.

Joni was born near London, England, and grew up in Kent which is southeast of London. She tells us that Kent is referred to as "the garden of England".

Joni graduated and worked as a draftswoman for a time. However, free spirit and restless soul that she was she soon took off to see the world. She traveled in Europe and eventually ended up in Australia via the middle east. In Australia Joni ended up in Sydney where she met and married Karl. Karl and Joan came to San Jose, CA and stayed – for 40 years. Joni has been blessed with two wonderful children and three grandchildren.

Joni loves to hike/backpack – especially when she can take her dog, Cassie, along. Cassie will be joining us on the GAJ as our mascot. (Read Cassie’s story following Joni’s.)

Joni has hiked Half Dome and El Capitan and many miles of Yosemite’s wilderness area. In 2002 she hiked with a friend in South Dakota – Crazy Horse, Custer Park, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons. She also did a High Sierra backpacking trip and spent seven days hiking in the Hoover Wilderness with llamas (I was with her on the llama trip and she and I fell in love with our llamas, Blue and Premier).

Last but not least, Joni tells us she is really looking forward to and is excited about walking across the United States.

Cassie’s story – She was born on March 14, 1999, and her full name is Covy Tucker Hill Cassiopeia. When she came to Joni she was just 8 weeks old and a fluffy ball of black and tan fur. It was love at first sight for Joni as she watched this puppy with big ears, long nose, and a characteristic mask around her beautiful brown eyes.

When Cassie reached three months of age it was discovered that she had a "patent ductus arteriosis" – or put more simply, there was a hole in her heart preventing the heart from functioning properly. Without surgery she would not live much longer. Joni took her to UC Davis’ animal hospital where she had open heart surgery. Cassie is now a 90 lb healthy four year old who loves to hike, chase critters, and is a very loving companion.

Cassie will be a great member of our team, and will probably attract much attention as she walks proudly along in her boots while wearing her American flag scarf.

Anne was born in Delaware in 1932. She comes from a long line of Delawareans – as far back as they can go on her mother’s side; her father’s parents came from Scotland. She tells us that Delaware is the second smallest state, and was also the first state.

Anne began dating Eddie in high school, married him at 21, and remained married for 47 years until he died after suffering from Alzheimer’s for seven years. She misses him greatly. Anne has three daughters and eleven grandchildren.

It was while visiting her daughter in Florida that Anne met Coni Harris on the 10–day walk around Lake Okeechobee. Coni gave Anne a copy of FOOT PRINTS. After reading about the Great American Journey she immediately wanted to take part. (Lyn’s note – Anne and I began communicating via e-mail. Then in April Anne was in California and we spent one full day together. I knew immediately she would fit into our GAJ Team perfectly. After a few months of thinking, talking and praying about it, Anne became an official member of the Team.)

Anne has hiked since she was about 40 years old, with her children, her husband, a local hiking club and anyone else who would hike with her. The club introduced her to many great nearby walking places. She and Ed took hiking and backpacking vacations. They completed their biggest achievement, the Appalachian Trail, in 1992. Anne has hiked in every state, and in Switzerland and Spain. She tells us she now considers herself a walker – no more backpacks!

Anne is the "elder" of our group, but may be the most fit of us all. She recently e-mailed me the following: I walk quite a bit because I love it, I have the time for it, it is good for stress and general health. I recently was in Virginia Beach for six days and walked every day from 6 to 15 miles, then home on Tuesday to hike with my trail club Wednesday (10 miles), Friday (9 miles), Saturday (6 miles), Sunday afternoon (8 miles). Maybe you can get the picture - I walk a lot.

Sam, as she is often called, has been pretty special to me for over 15 years now – maybe that’s because she has been my granddaughter for that amount of time.

When Sam was 5 her family moved from Santa Clara to Los Banos, CA where they have lived ever since. She has been home educated for all of her school years, and will continue in independent study during the duration of the GAJ. Sam has three sisters and a brother.

Samantha is part of a walking family. Her dad walked the 1983 California Walk for Relief with Lyn, while her mom walked the first two weeks, then drove our support vehicle for us the rest of the time. Sam, Brenda, and Lois (two of her sisters) went walking regularly with Alyce-Kay (their mother) and Lyn until they moved to Los Banos. After moving Alyce-Kay continued to walk with the girls quite a bit. In fact they frequently worked on school work while walking.

In 1995 the three girls, along with Alyce-Kay, and Lyn were part of a California Prayer Walk team that walked the California Mission Trail. Sam does a lot of walking around Los Banos these days just to get to where she wants to go.

The last three summers have found Samantha doing missions work with Teen Missions, International. The first of those years she went to Germany and worked on a project at a youth camp. The next year Sam was in Malawi, Africa where she worked on a building project at an orphanage. Then last year she was in Uganda, Africa helping to build a dormitory for a Bible School. During these missions trips she spent a week in Ethiopia, and some time in Switzerland.

To raise funds for her missions trips each year, and now for the GAJ, Sam teaches sewing camps. In the last few years she has taught quite a number of both children and adults to sew. As her students work on their projects she tells them stories of her adventures in Africa, Germany and other places.

Samantha’s goal is to become a nurse and return to Africa to work with AID’s orphans. She has really had some exciting experiences, and now – the GAJ. We’re excited to have Sam as a part of our team, and we’re all hoping we can just keep up with her.

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