Today started out like so many other days have: I get up, eat breakfast, take off walking and start clicking off the miles. About ten minutes into yesterday’s routine, I looked down and saw a shiny gold coin and so I picked it up, thinking it was probably another car wash token or something similar. Well, it wasn’t. It was a Thomas Jefferson $1.00 coin, and it spends like nobody’s business. I didn’t know such a coin existed, but I found it, and I want to thank the person who threw it out their car window. It is much appreciated.

Still thinking about that coin (it obviously doesn’t take much to occupy my mind while walking), I was just amblin’ along, minding my own business when I spied a young girl jogging toward me on the opposite side of the highway. Now, this isn’t unusual in itself; I see two or three joggers a week (and I always wonder what possesses them to run like they are). But this jogger yelled “hey Uncle Rick”, and I knew this wasn’t ordinary. Now, there are only thirteen people who can call me ‘Uncle’ and mean it, and only nine of them are women. So – I strained my eyes and finally had to yell back that I wasn’t sure who she was. Of course she was getting closer and closer (I think I stopped and may have been backing up just to protect myself from this strange person) when I realized it was my niece Sharri J. of Indianapolis. She and her dad, my brother Don, drove over to surprise me. Mission accomplished. I was totally taken back.

We talked for a minute and started walking toward where Valda and Don were parked. After a short visit with him, Sharri and I went ahead and walked till noon and then were driven into San Jose for lunch. What a treat. It was really good to see them and just a great pick-me-up. Thanks you two for what you did. I also want to thank Sharri’s two daughters, Maggie & Sarah each for donating a bag of coins for Gateway. It too is much appreciated.

After all that, I walked the rest of my 20 miles and then we drove into Lincoln, Illinois to have lunch with Valda’s cousin, Ann A. and husband Larry. They live in Springfield and drove up to see us. They also have loaned us a GPS system to use the rest of the way. I want to thank them for that and for dinner last night. I guess Larry felt sorry for me when Valda told him about my taking the wrong road out of Havana the other day and walking a half mile the wrong direction. Not the first time that’s happened, but now it should be the last.

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 2,234
Money Found: $1.26
Total Found: $64.41