Day 23: Odds & Ends

Well today was very similar to yesterday – the road was wide, the terrain was flat, the wind was blowing and 20 miles passed under my Etonics. That’s two days in a row! Tomorrow we should be either in or very close to Fallon. Okay, enough about today. I want to catch up on a lot of things that I’ve been letting slide.

I had an email about my walking stick from Mark. The stick was made by Morris Verkest of the Syracuse, NY area. He made the stick about seven years ago from a piece of New York hickory. He carved it, stained it a sort of red and varnished it. I bought it from him In Homosassa, FL in 2001 for $15.00. It has been a constant companion on my Walk, sometimes I carry it, and sometimes it carries me. It Is 48″ long and may have been longer in 2001 😉 My wife talked to Morris about a week ago and he said he no longer makes the sticks. However, you can buy one in just about any large campground office/store. They are usually made locally by someone who needs extra money.

In Seattle, I met a man named John Wallace. John & I met via emails. He RAN across the USA a couple of years ago, pushing a baby jogger that held his provisions. He averaged 31 miles a day during the run. John now works in Seattle and has a website dedicated to all of the people running/walking across the country. We are a part of that website. l think you’ll find it interesting!

Jackson, CA was a really neat little mining town that I walked through about ten days ago. It is just three or four miles away from Sutter’s Creek and Sutter’s Mill, where the California Gold Rush started in 1849. Sutter’s Creek is located on CA Hwy 49 of course. It is an area you wouldn’t think the gold rush would have started in. It is rolling foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and not mountainous, hard to reach areas that I always thought the gold came from. There are still several gold mines in the area, but mostly there are antique stores and trendy shops. If you get a chance to visit area, it’s worth it.