The Great American Journey is the story of three West Coast women who decided to make a difference in the world by walking and praying their way across the country after the devastating terrorist attacks of 9/11. From Washington State to the Florida Keys they passed through fifteen states, following country roads and made friends in countless towns and villages.

If you have yet to read this wonderful story we invite you to purchase a copy.

Tuesday - November 18, 2008

Day - 258

Walking Days - 106 Total GAP miles 1832.7

Today was fun - lots of eating. We began this morning with a
breakfast date with Pete and Suzi at the Original Pancake House
in Roseville. What a great meal, with the four of us sharing one
apple pancake. Now this is no ordinary pancake. Dave described
it well when he said it looked more like pullaparts. It was
delicious, and we talked non-stop as we ate.

From there we drove to a new funeral home that Dave’s cousins
are opening up. We met Ron and Chris at the Heritage
Memorial Chapel (still under construction). They gave us a tour,
and explained how it will look when finished. We had only a
few minutes before we needed to get going.

Next stop was back to Gail and Jerry’s where we got into their
car with them and headed for a lunch appointment with our
good friend Lorna in Antelope, CA. We had a fun visit with her
over lunch at Perko’s.

Then we went by Kim and Sean’s house to see the new paint job
they were having done. It’s still in process, so workers were
there. It looks very nice. We went inside for a little bit to see
their new puppies. Cindy was there also with her dogs.

Then we stopped to get gas and a few groceries on the way back
to the house. Gail got dinner started and I set the table. Soon all
the family began to arrive. First Cindy with Kim’s four kids, and
her two dogs. Soon we sat down to eat a wonderful pork roast
and all the fixings. A little bit after we started Kim came (she
had to wait for a delivery at her home before she could come).
We had a good tme of talking over dinner.

Gail and Jerry and the kids soon disappeared, then a few
minutes later they came walking past with marshmallows on
sticks heading for the back yard where Jerry had a fire going in
the fire pit. Cindy, Kim, and I got up and started collecting the
dishes to put into the kitchen. Soon Gail was in telling us to get
outside and fix ourselves some s’mores. We had a great time.
But all too soon it was time for the others to go home. Then Gail
and Jerry, and Dave and I watched a Hallmark movie and then
off to bed. It really was a great day. Lots of fun, lots of visiting,
and lots of eating. Good night all - time for bed.

Monday - November 17, 2008

Day - 257

Walking Days - 106 Total GAP miles 1832.7

Today we headed out from our motel in Sparks, NV intending to
stop along the way to eat some breakfast. Neither of us were
quite ready when we first headed out, so we figured some place
down the road would work quite well. Still not ready when we
passed through Boomtown, so we continued on into California.

I was pretty excited about being back in my own state for the
first time in months. Of course, going through the Sierra Nevada
Mountains at this point really didn’t offer much for eating, so
we pulled out the can of cashews and began nibbling. That
worked out just great, along with a bottle of citrus flavored
green tea.

We were running pretty early, and suddenly realized we would
be heading right past Park and Pat’s place. So the idea came to
us to call them and see if they’d like to meet us in Auburn or
some such place to eat - well, it would be brunch by now. Pat
was out with her mom, but Park was at home and suggested we
come on out to the house. He said that Pat would be home in a
little while. So that is what we did.

We figured we’d just wait and eat a bit after we left there. So we
had a great visit with Park, then Pat came home and we visited
with her while Park went off for an appointment. But we didn’t
get to visit with Pat too long before we had to leave.

Now driving on to Lincoln we stopped for little bit to eat. Then
we called Gail and Jerry to let them know we would be there
soon - like in about five minutes. Once there we visited
some, then got our stuff in.

One of the things I’ve been looking forward to is getting my hair
cut when I got back to California. Gail is my “hair cutter” so she
set up shop and cut my hair for me. She cut it last February
before I left for this walk, and it hasn’t been cut since until now.

At about 6 pm more of the local family arrived for dinner. Sean
came with their four children, Michael, Elizabeth, Abigail, and
Sarah. Denny also came, and soon we were eating one of Gail’s
delicious meals, and visiting around the table. What a great
evening.

When everyone left we crashed in the living room just to relax
in front of the TV for awhile. Then off to bed.

This was a pretty easy day. We spent most of it in the car
traveling from Elko to Sparks, NV. At first it was all just desert
area with tiny settlements here and there. Then after
Winnemucca we could tell we were getting closer to Reno,
though it still wasn’t very populated.

In Winnemucca we stopped to eat at the Red Lion Inn where
they advertised ham and eggs anytime for $3.99. That’s what we
had, and it was very good. It also came with hash browns, toast,
and a drink of some sort.

Instead of going to a church this morning, we decided to listen
to a Lon Solomon CD we had gotten when we were at McLean
Bible Church. This was his story of when he came into a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is an incredible story.
We really enjoyed hearing about his life and the things that led
up to his turning to Christ.

Finally we pulled into Sparks, NV at about 3:45 and got a room.
The clerk at the motel was very excited about my walk, and
ended up buying a book, which I autographed for him. That was
pretty cool. We talked with another young man who is staying
here as well.

Now we’re trying to get an Internet connection, but so far it
hasn’t come through for us. Dave’s gonna check about a
different connection since they have several. Each one has a
separate password. This place is set up for people to stay for
longer periods of time as well, so they have several Internet sites
that are secure. We were really counting on getting some
Internet work done tonight so hopefully it works. If you see this
up on the website before tomorrow night, you’ll know it
worked.

We went to dinner next door at IHOP, then came back and
worked some more, and watched a bit of TV before heading to
bed.

(Monday morning note) We didn’t get the Internet connection,
so we’ll just have to get this onto the website another time.
Possibly we’ll stop on our way to Lincoln at a place that has
WiFi connection - who knows??

Though we didn’t get the connection here, I do believe this is
where we were supposed to be for the night. I found myself
burdened to pray a lot for the people who were staying here for
the longer periods of time.

I’ll probably put the final journal entry on after we get home
Saturday or Sunday, November 22 or 23. So stay tuned for
another week.

After that we are hoping to update the website to cover some
other things, like stories from all my prayer journeys, speaking
and other such things. We’ll try to send out e-mail notices when
we get something new on, so if you want to be updated about
the “life and doings of a walking character” let us know on the
comment section of the website.

Saturday - November 15,  2008

Day - 255

Walking Days - 106       Total GAP miles 1832.7

This was a travel day. Still we began with breakfast at Ruth’s,
and some time of visiting with her before we left. She is really a
delightful lady, and I am so glad we got to spend some time with
her.

But finally we had to head out. Because we have several things
on the computer we hope to accomplish while we are still
traveling, we decided to divide our time up into three days of
travel. This will allow us to get to a motel early in the afternoon
and get settled, and work on things we need to get done.  We
know that once we get home there will be so many other things
to do, so the more we can get done while at the motels the
better.  We’re due in Lincoln, CA on Monday, November 17.

Leaving Ruth’s place we headed out for Elko, NV. Much of our
time was driving beside the Great Salt Lake. During this time
I called my sister, Lois, in Washington to wish her a happy
belated birthday (it was yesterday). We talked for quite awhile -
until we lost service. She had a birthday celebration that lasted
about a week with lots of things happening. My other sister,
Gail, and her husband, Jerry, were there for most of the week.
That, of course, added to the specialness of the time. Gail and
Jerry are on their way back to Lincoln now to get ready for our
arrival.

We got checked into a motel today at about 2:30 pm. Then Dave
worked on the computer for some time while I condensed some
of my bags to make it easier at our next few places. Hopefully it
will help. Then we switched places - I took over the computer,
and he sat down to read. We stopped for dinner soon after I
started on the computer.

Back to work to finish up the journal, and work on getting
information together for the San Francisco Christmas Hike that I
lead every year. It is coming up on December 9, and I need to
get that information out to people.

The rest of the evening will be spent on this stuff until I’m too
tired and need to get to bed.

Friday - November 14,  2008

Day - 254

Walking Days - 106       Total GAP miles 1832.7

Today was quite an experience. We headed out from our motel,
with a quick stop at the Diner for our free breakfast, on our way
to Salt Lake City.  We decided to drive out to see Flaming
Gorge first. This is just outside of Green River a bit.

After stopping at one overlook where I took a picture, we drove
a little further to see what else there was to see. It’s probably not
the best time to see it, but the best part was the background of
mountains covered with snow.

We didn’t do much more than that. It was time to turn around
and get to Salt Lake City. But then a spirit of adventure came to
life in both of us. We turned on Lady G (the GPS) to help us
find the shortest route rather than the fastest route.  It took us
down a dirt road to Cedar Mountain. The dirt road was quite
rutted in some spots.

Once at the top of the bluff, Lady G told us we would be turning
soon. The first spot she wanted us to turn, there was no road of
any kind going any direction. The second place didn’t look like
a very safe road for us to go down - especially without four-
wheel drive. We drove out on the Rim Road as far as we could,
then Lady G told us to make a U-turn. She still wanted us to
take that impossible road down into the valley.

We went back to a main junction where a sign told us to go left
for 26 miles to meet up with I-80. This was still a dirt road, but
at least we saw a couple of trucks, and a white van or pick-up
truck on it going off across the valley floor.

One truck was coming toward us, so we had to pull to the side
to let him pass. We soon caught up with the two that were going
the same direction as us. The one in front had to stop to tighten
his load, and the other one pulled to the side enough so we could
pass. When the front one started up again he got to a place
where he pulled over to let us pass him as well.

Eventually we came out to a paved road where we could get up
some speed. Everything got so quiet (it had been very noisy
bouncing over the rough dirt roads.)  We got onto the interstate,
and kept driving. Eventually we stopped for gas just a short
distance before Salt Lake. Then we called Ruth to let her know
about when we would be getting to her place.

The drive from here on took us through some heavy traffic, but
eventually got us to Ruth’s place waiting.  It was good to see
her, and spend a little time visiting before going to dinner at
AppleBee’s.

There we had a delicious meal, and a delightful visit. Just before
we left, Jeannine and her daughter, Whitney came into
AppleBee’s looking for us (we had left a message on her
phone).  They sat down for a bit, and we visited. Then they
needed to get going, so we all walked out to the car together.

Back to Ruth’s home where we settled in to look at genealogy
stuff (Dave and Ruth).  Finally I headed for bed hardly able to
keep my eyes open.

It was a good day and a good evening, but I was very tired..

Thursday - November 13,  2008

Day - 253

Walking Days - 106       Total GAP miles 1832.7

Tonight we’re in Green River, Wyoming. The day has been
extremely windy. It’s been one of those “tumbling
tumbleweeds” days here on the high plains. But not only were
there tumbleweeds blowing across the highway, there were also
thing like strips of plastic, a bouncing hubcap, and lots of
miscellaneous stuff. We even saw one big semi-truck lying on
its side.

We started out from Laramie, WY, and stopped first at
McDonald’s for breakfast. Then we went to Wal-Mart to get
some things we had been needing for a couple of days. From
there we went to Starbucks only to find out their main machine
was down, so no hot drinks. Oh well.

Dave drove on through the town of Laramie, and then back out
to the highway. We had about 250 miles to go today - all with
that strong headwind. I had put my hair up today so that it
wouldn’t get so blown, but by the time we got the car loaded,
my hair was blown every which way. Oh well, who needs a nice
hairdo when the only ones who will see you are the people at the
rest stops. Besides with the wind, everyone’s hair was pretty
bad.

At Rawlins we stopped for a break to stretch and get a quick
snack. Then on to Green River. After getting our motel, and
getting set up in our room, we called Dave’s cousin, Beth. Then
we headed over to visit. When Mike got home we headed out
for dinner at Don Pedro’s Mexican Restaurant.

We had a delightful visit over a very delicious dinner. This was
a time of getting to know more about each other’s families. It
was only the second time we had met. The first time was when
we were on the way home from the walk across America in
2004.

Now it’s time for me to get to bed, especially since I seem to
wake up at about the same time no matter what time I get to bed.

Wednesday - November 12,  2008

Day - 252

Walking Days - 106       Total GAP miles 1832.7

This morning we got up and packed - mostly before breakfast.
After a wonderful breakfast and some visiting at the table, we
finished packing, and loaded up the car. When we said our
good-byes we headed out.

We were heading out to visit an old high-school classmate of
Dave’s. She had e-mailed us detailed instructions of how to get
to their place since it does not show up on any GPS.  The drive
out was long and beautiful. Then we came to a place where the
directions said to turn right. Nothing else added up right on this
road, yet we continued until we came back out to the main road
we had been on earlier.  Back we went, up the hill with the 15%
grade, but this time we went straight, and all the places
mentioned in the directions were on this road.

Finally we drove up to Andy and Bev’s house on its 100 acres of
land about an hour late. They had also discovered the mistake in
the directions sent to us, so they understood why we were late.
This was a delightful couple, and we so enjoyed our time with
them.

She served a delicious lunch of salad and hot stromboli
sandwiches.  I loved the sandwich, and ate more than my share,
I’m sure. Then she gave me a zip-lock bag to put the rest in
to take with us. How nice.

We moved to the living room and sat in front of the fireplace
drinking hot tea and eating chocolates and Cotlets as we visited.
The view from their living room window is spectacular. But
soon it was time to move on, so we said out good-byes and
headed out for Laramie, WY.

The drive took us through a part of Denver, and we stopped at
Starbucks for my chai tea latte. Later in Fort Collins we stopped
for a light dinner, then on to Laramie and our motel for the
night.

Tuesday - November 11,  2008

Day - 251

Walking Days - 106       Total GAP miles 1832.7

After I got up this morning and had my time in Scripture and
prayer, I went upstairs where my brother, Ernie, was sitting. He
asked if I wanted to go for a walk. So I got my walking shoes on
and my jacket and gloves, and off we went. I also grabbed my
camera.

Our walk took us down the hill from their house to a field where
a trail then led us out past a pond and on through some trees to a
spot with a view and another trail back. The leaves on the
ground glistened with frozen dew, and I took some pictures of
them, as well as the scenery around me. As we got back to the
pond I stopped to take more pictures - this time of the pond with
Pike’s Peak in the background.

Getting back to the house we were greeted by Bernice and Dave
who were now up and about. We sat and visited for awhile, then
had a delicious brunch at about 10 am.

By noon Dave and I were off to the Christian & Missionary
Alliance Headquarters in Colorado Springs. Dave had a one
o’clock appointment there, and afterward we were given a tour
of the offices. Dave’s cousin, who we visited Sunday, works
here, so we got to say “hi” to her while we were there.

Next we went to Starbucks just down the street where we were
meeting my publicist. We had a good meeting with Don, and
covered a lot of issues. He gave me some good ideas, and we
bounced a few of our thoughts off of him.

Finally we headed back to Ernie and Bernie’s. There we had
some popcorn, watched TV, and visited. Then we were off to
bed with breakfast scheduled for 9 am tomorrow.

Monday - November 10,  2008

Day - 250

Walking Days - 106       Total GAP miles 1832.7

This morning I got ready for the day, then finally made my way
upstairs to join the others. It was snowing outside, and looking
mighty pretty. About 15 minutes later Bernice, Dave, and I
headed for the Springs again. This time it was to go visit
Rhonda and the kids for brunch. Rhonda is my niece (Ernie and
Bernice’s daughter). The snow had stopped before we got to
Rhonda’s.

Brunch was wonderful, followed by entertainment by Becca and
Amy.  They are both preparing for a dance recital, so they
demonstrated their routines for us. They are very good. Meg was
working on her computer much of the time. Each of the girls has
a different personality - each quite delightful. They have an
older brother, PJ, but he was at a class.

Then we had to get going back to the mountain. There I got
laundry started, and we sat and visited some more. We ate a big
meal at about 3 pm, and I finished laundry. Then I finished
getting caught up on the journals.

We’ll have a relaxing time the rest of the evening. Then I’ll be
off to bed probably before all the others.