About a year and a half ago, after seeing my tentative walking route, my brother Ron told me that when I got to western Indiana that he would buy me a steak dinner at The Beefhouse Steakhouse in Covington, Indiana. Tonight, he came through with his promise and although I didn’t have a steak, I had a great meal at his expense. Thank you Ron, Valda & I both enjoyed the dinner and the company of you and Ande’, Don & Pam, and Scott & Brenda. We both appreciate you all taking time to drive the 100 miles or so to see us.

I had a pretty good day walking. I got my 20 miles in and then had to hurry and clean up and drive from Muncie, IL to Covington, about 23 miles. I have been planning on getting into Indiana tomorrow sometime, and it’s going to be close. I believe I’m right at 20 miles from the state line, but US 150 and US 136 join up and do some funny things in Danville and I may waste some miles walking north and not make the state line. I’ll let you know in tomorrow’s blog.

The events in Indianapolis next weekend are pretty much set. The ‘Walk 10 laps for Cancer Research’ is set for 8:00 AM on Monument Circle (come rain or shine, Gustav), and the Bowl-o-thon is set for later in the day between 2:00 and 5:00 PM at the Beech Grove Bowl. By the way, there will be a fire engine from the Beech Grove Fire Dept. at the B.G. Bowl for the kids. There will also be some items raffled off and of course, there will be bowling, pizza, and drinks. Then on Monday night in Carmel, I will be speaking at a Xocai meeting at the Ritz-Charles Hotel on N. Meridian St at 7:00 PM. All these events are fund raisers for Gateway For Cancer Research and any donations to Gateway are tax deductible. There will also be another raffle held on Monday night. All three events are shaping up to be a fun time so plan on attending one, two, or all three.

Had I been one day ahead in my schedule, I would have walked in four states in August. Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois were all part of the month, and I missed Indiana by one day. I think that’s pretty good myself. When I get to eastern Ohio and go through W. Virginia and into Pennsylvania, I plan on being in three states in one day. Won’t that be a hoot if that happens.

The pictures are of me, Scott, Ron, & Don. Yesterday I walked through the University of Illinois main campus at Urbana, IL. The middle picture is of the President’s Walk (note my skinny shadow). The bottom picture is a structure I ran across today. I think it might have been some kind of silo, but I’m not sure. It was next to some abandoned train tracks and could have had something to do with the railroad. It was out in the middle of nowhere.

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 2,335
Money Found: $0.63
Total Found: $67.20

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 2,315
Money Found: $0.69
Total Found: $66.57

The title above says it all. On Sunday morning at 5:00 AM I will be on the radio in Indianapolis. I will also be on the Internet on a live stream, so everyone everywhere will be able to get up before the chickens and listen in. Afterward, I will be asking questions about the interview so I expect all of you to know the answers.

I had the radio interview with Kelly Vaughn this morning. She works for radio station B 105.7 FM and the interview will also be on stations 1070 AM The Fan, and 97.1 FM, Hank. These stations are in Indy. If you Google 1070 AM The Fan, you should get their website where they do live streaming of the radio show. Now, I haven’t done this yet and I’m not sure exactly what you do, but Kelly said to Google the info above and you should get the radio station’s website.

Today was a good day for walking. It was a bit warm and too humid, but I got the 20 miles in and am sitting in Mansfield, IL for the night. We should be in Champaign tomorrow evening. US 150 is a narrow road with no shoulders whatsoever. I have about twelve inches of pavement between the grass (weeds) and the white line. Thankfully it runs about a half mile from I-74 and there isn’t much traffic and no semi traffic at all.

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 2,295
Money Found: $0.38
Total Found: $65.88

Today was overcast from the get go and fairly pleasant temperature wise. The TV this morning said it was going to be in the mid to high 80’s with humidity to match. They got the humidity part right. It actually rained on us today, about 11:30 to around 1:00 and we weren’t sure if we were going to get the whole day in or not, but the rain stopped and I was able to get my 20 miles in with little to no daylight left.

Pete Koyak came and walked with me today and it was nice to meet him and his wife Merribeth.  Pete owns Four Winds RV in Decatur and East Peoria, IL. Valda got two new front tires on the RV today and it sure makes a difference in the handling. We thought we needed brakes, but the people at the brake place said they were okay for now.

I had an interview with Troy Semple of the Heyworth Star this morning. The interview will be out next week in that paper, but will run tomorrow in their sister paper, the Panagraph in Bloomington, IL. I want to thank Troy for the interview and the opportunity to tell about the walk. Troy also walked about a mile with me while doing the interview.

We are currently about 4 miles from I-74 and US 136. Tomorrow we turn southeast toward Champaign and then it is on toward Indiana and hopefully we will be there on Monday.

That’s it for now.

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 2,275
Money Found: $0.53
Total Found: $65.50

Well, I got over my ailments of yesterday, got a good night’s sleep and woke up this morning rarin’ to go. It’s amazing how you can feel so different from one day to the next. We are currently in McLean, IL and I’ve got just a short stretch to go on US 136 before I start another route change. I’m taking US 150 southeast to Champaign/Urbana and then east to Danville. This minor adjustment in my route will save me about 6.5 miles of walking according to my navigator and chief route plotter. We’ll see.

It was a pretty good day today, I did 21 miles and had great weather to boot. This particular section of the highway is between two Interstates and is heavily traveled with semi’s. I’ll be glad to get past the last Interstate.

Pete Koyak, Sr. of Four Winds RV out of Decatur, IL will be walking with me sometime this week, maybe tomorrow. Four Winds is one of my sponsors and currently has a sponsor’s promotion going on. I look forward to meeting Pete and walking with him!

Not much else to write about tonight. We are quickly moving on toward Indiana and I should be in the state on Monday. I’ll keep you posted.

Miles Covered: 21
Total Miles: 2,255
Money Found: $0.56
Total Found: $64.97

We are currently in Lincoln, taking a much needed break. I haven’t felt too good today and hope to get over whatever is making me puny. I want to let you all know that I am currently sitting at 52 pounds lost. I’m just 7 pounds away from my goal of hitting my basic training weight from way back in 1969. I’ll keep you posted when that happens 😀

I also want to thank Lois M. of Lincoln, who I met this morning in Cracker Barrel, for her donation to Gateway. Thanks Lois, it is much appreciated!

The top picture is of a field of grain sorgham, used to feed livestock. It is the first field of anything but corn and soybeans and hay that I’ve seen since before Nebraska. I wasn’t sure what it was but was informed by a farmer. Till later.

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

Today I crossed over the Illinois River at Havana on a bridge I was apparently not supposed to walk over. I did not see any signs telling me not to, and I would not have been any wiser if it hadn’t been for some guy in a truck stopping and informing me. I thanked him and kept walking. No problem. We got through Havana and stopped for the night at a really nice roadside park with a lot of trees. We are about 8 miles east of Havana and are 90 miles exactly into Illinois. What a week.

Valda bought a watermelon from a guy in a pickup truck today and we’ve been eating on it all day. She’s spied a roadside market with cantaloupe and will probably end up with one of those tomorrow. It’s hard to pass up all this home-grown produce.

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 2,214
Money Found: $0.27
Total Found: $63.15

Today I resumed my ‘shortcut’ and came back to US 136 at Table Grove. We then hooked up with Carol & Leonard S. who are Southern Cross techs working in Peoria. We met them over the Internet and on Saturday we met them for real. They came to walk with me and spent the whole day doing so. Valda & I want to thank them for their company, and for a couple of meals they bought but shouldn’t have. Personal to Snuffy & Illene – wish you’d been here with us. It was a fun day and we covered some 12 miles walking together.

Personal to Penny B: Good job getting people to sponsor you for your laps around the Circle. Penny has gotten pledges totaling $50.00 so far. Thanks Penny, it is much appreciated. Also thanks to Martha Ellen T. of Indianapolis for matching our ‘money found’ fund. It too is much appreciated.

Miles Covered: 17
Total Miles: 2,194
Money Found: $0.34
Total Found: $62.88