Today we left Carthage and took a route change south of town and out in the country. I found an alternate way to go that let me bypass Macomb, kept me out of some road construction, and put me on a seldom traveled country road. It wasn’t a shortcut, but it was pretty good. We spent the night at the farm of Rosie & Duane S. somewhere off that country road and we want to thank them for their hospitality. When you get done walking and you stop at a random farmhouse that looks like they have a lot of room, you never know what to expect when you knock on the door and ask them if you can borrow part of their driveway for the night. So far, everyone we’ve asked have been more than gracious, and the Rosie & Duane were no exception. Thanks to them for a good night’s rest. Check out the barn I passed on this ‘shortcut’. Took some doing to get that looking right.

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 2,177
Money Found: $0.00
Total Found: $62.54

John Denver said it pretty good in his Annie’s Song about filling up your senses. On this walk, I’ve spent a night in a forest, I’ve seen the mountains in Springtime, and today I took a walk in the rain. I’ve also seen a storm in the desert and in Bodega Bay, I saw a sleepy blue ocean.

This morning we woke again to the sound of rain and I got started a little late because of it. I started walking through Carthage and when I got out of town, the shoulders were wide enough that traffic didn’t bother me. I then hit a four-lane portion of US 136 and then I got my wish from yesterday – I got smack dab in the middle of new road construction and paving of the old road. Now normally this would have created a problem that I would just have to deal with, but today, no one was working because of the rain and I walked the new portion all by my lonesome. In some places I had a forty-foot wide ribbon of asphalt to myself and all the traffic could do was pass me and look. It was pretty nice. Now, I’m past that I think, and I am in Colchester, IL. Tomorrow we set out for a small town called Table Grove and are actually taking a route change to bypass Macomb and to alleviate some of the traffic. Should be fun.

It finally stopped raining this afternoon and turned quite nice. On the cool side for August and a bit humid, but we managed. So far, other than some of the roads, I’m real impressed with Illinois. The picture below is another friend of Valda’s taking a bath and a sign at the Mississippi River telling about the eagles.  Speaking of eagles, I must have seen about 40 or 50 as I crossed Nebraska and Iowa.  They liked to set on top of phone poles and flew from one to another as I approached.  They would not let me get too close before they would fly off to the next pole.  Some of the eagles would do this eight or nine times before flying off.

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 2,157
Money Found: $0.46
Total Found: $62.54

Illinois at last. I crossed the Mississippi River at 10:05 this morning and have put 13 miles between the river and my stopping point this evening. We are in Carthage, Illinois and tomorrow we keep on truckin’. The road, US 136, is in pretty bad shape compared to all the other roads I’ve been on the last four and a half months. The shoulders are crumbling and there are large chunks of asphalt I have to walk around and through. I almost turned my ankle a couple of times today and you’d think a US highway might rate a little priority when it comes to resurfacing. Oh well, such is life.

I want to thank Barb C. of Bowen, IL.  Barb saw my interview this morning in the Burlington Hawkeye and got on my website. She then tracked me down and gave me a donation for Gateway. I like her tenacity. Thanks Barb, it is much appreciated!

The TV is talking rain tomorrow and who knows. We have seventeen days to get to Indy with two days off. We have no room for rain!

It was a real treat crossing the Mississippi today. I’ve divided the walk up in several milestones and crossing the Mississippi was one of them. The next one coming up is walking through my old hometown of Indianapolis. Of course, the last one is splashing in the Atlantic. I can’t wait! 😀

Miles Covered: 19.75
Total Miles: 2,137
Money Found: $1.34
Total Found: $62.08

Currently, I am sitting 6 miles from the Mississippi River Bridge at Keokuk, IA. Valda & I took today off and got caught up with things and this morning we drove down to the bridge. Tomorrow, at about 9:30 AM or so, I should be walking across that bridge and enter Illinois. By all of our figuring, we should have 220 miles to walk across Illinois and then it’s into Indiana. But first, we have to cover that 6 miles in Iowa.

Today I had an interview with the Burlington Hawkeye. The article should be in the paper tomorrow and will be on our ‘media page’ in a few days. Thanks to Nick Bergin for coming out and talking with us.

So tomorrow we hit another state, our seventh. It’s always exciting to cross state lines and I believe the last of the big states is behind us. Hopefully the next eight states will go smoothly and we’ll be in NYC before you know it. If you are going to be in the NYC area sometime around the end of October, why not come out and walk the last mile with me. It promises to be an interesting time – probably fun too. 😀

Yesterday was a typical day I suppose. The cornfields were all around me and the gravel shoulders were always present. I was on three highways though, and that was a bit unusual. Also, Valda stopped and got some produce from a lady and her two daughters at their farm and I got a free ride on a 4-wheeler. It seems the lady, Karen of Alley Greenhouse on US 218 wanted to buy one of my books and wanted me to sign it. So, there I was, be-bopping along and these two pretty young girls offer me a ride. They said it was okay with my wife. Anyway, I want to thank Karen, Toni (the driver) & Molly for the produce, ride and for buying the book.

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 2,117.25
Money Found: $0.46
Total Found: $60.74

Well, we are within a couple of days walking of the Mississippi River. Now I’ve crossed the Mississippi many times, all at a mile a minute (once on a ferry in New Orleans at about a mile in ten minutes), but on Tuesday I’m going to take it a bit slower. I figure it will take me about twenty minutes to cross over and I’m going to enjoy every minute. It will mark as far as I’m concerned, the separation point between the West and the East. I’ve been looking forward to it for months.

Today we got up in Cantril and took off toward Farmington. We stopped today about 5 miles from Donnelison and tomorrow we should get real close to Keokuk. Good weather was with us and we had a real productive day. I want to thank my brothers Don and Scott for distributing flyers around the Monument Circle in Indianapolis. They had to notify all the tenants on the Circle of our Sep. 6th event per the City of Indianapolis protocol. It is much appreciated.  Don’t forget the 10 laps for Cancer Research at Monument Circle in Indy, and the Bowl-o-thon later that day at the Beech Grove Bowl.

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 2,097.25
Money Found: $0.11
Total Found: $60.28

Today I resumed my walk and got back into the swing of things. We had a good day with good weather. There were a number of bicyclists touring Van Buren County here in Iowa, and they passed me all day. Their SAG driver Fred, stopped and gave me a cold bottle of water and it was much appreciated. I saw him again today and he had another bottle with my name on it. Fred can follow me all the way to NYC if he wants. 😀

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 2,077.25
Money Found: $0.22
Total Found: $60.17

Today I had the fortune to walk with my brother Ron again. He drove out from Indy and spent Thursday night with us and walked for a couple of hours on Friday, before leaving to go back home. We started the day with rain and had a delay but got going after breakfast. We went to our starting point in West Grove, IA at a little cafe, L&M Kwik Shop, and I want to thank Linda C., the owner for buying all of our breakfasts. Once we started walking, a pick-up pulled up beside me and slowed down and three men handed me a wad of money. The driver said “here you go” and pulled away. Ron asked me if this happened often and I told him not really, but it does happen. I think between the free breakfast and the three men in the truck that he sees how people have treated us all over the country. Later that day, Valda & I stopped at Southern Iowa Electric Co-op, Inc. to see if we could spend a short break in their parking lot. The lady in the lobby said yes and a few minutes later, Bob Weaklen came out and asked if he could take some pictures after we had our lunch. So he did, and after he finished he pulled out a handful of bills and said it was a donation from the Co-op. Amazing! All the money will be sent to Gateway very shortly. We had a very good lunch. Many thanks to Bob and the Co-op and many thanks to the three unknown men, and many thanks to Linda for all they did to make last Friday memorable. It is all much appreciated!

Miles Covered: 14 (in the rain)
Total Miles: 2,057.25
Money Found: $0.34
Total Found: $59.95

I blogged the other day about being flexible and this morning we got a real dose of flexibility. We were awakened early this morning by thunder and rain and at 6:00 AM, it was doing just that. So, we shut off the alarm clock and turned over and went back to sleep. Flexibility. At 8:00 I woke up hungry and decided to go ahead and get up. It was still raining, but the thunder had passed. Valda woke up and we drove into Centerville and found a nice little cafe for breakfast.

By Joanna Poe from Munith, MI, USA – Centerville town square, CC BY-SA 2.0

Centerville is a unique town. It has what is billed as the ‘World’s Largest Town Square‘ and it surely is the largest one I’ve ever seen. They have two separate one way streets around the square, one each direction, separated by two rows of angle parking. Then the store fronts line all four streets and face the courthouse like everywhere else. It is pretty interesting watching the people negotiate the four corners where it is the only way out or into the inside road. There are no stoplights either.

Anyway, Valda decided to walk around the square before we returned to the starting point of the walk. It had stopped raining at this time and we decided to get in as many miles as we could. In about ten minutes, she came back to the RV and told me to get ready because I had a live radio interview right now. Radio station, KMGO, 98.7 FM has a studio on one corner of the square and she walked past and went in to see if they were interested in talking to me. They were!

Russ Ocker was the on air announcer and he did a 15 minute interview with me on his live show. He is live on their website, but I don’t know if they archive the shows, so don’t know if it is accessible to hear. It was a good interview and I want to thank Russ and his station for the opportunity.

We went out after that and I got in 10 miles for the day. I only walked about three and a half hours so I’m calling it a half day. I’ll do another ten miles on my regular day off this weekend and call it a half day too.

The rain never did come back today, but it looked like it could rain any minute all day long. The sky is a pretty pink and blue now and hopefully we’ll have no rain tomorrow. I don’t mind being flexible, but I’d just as soon not. My brother Ron is somewhere in the area, but he isn’t here as of right now. Should have some pictures of him and me walking tomorrow.

The old tractor was taken at a museum where we spent the night last night, and the little church is actually a rest area on Hwy 2. The church has six individual pews and a bench outside. It was pretty small.

Miles Covered: 10
Total Miles: 2,043.25
Money Found: $0.02
Total Found: $59.61