|
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Bryan’s Blog:
I cannot believe everything that happened today. Loyal and Donna Wiens got our car checked and got a new battery, gave us money for a new brake job later down the road, took us out to breakfast and dinner, and then bought us groceries for the trip. I was so shocked. And now we have the end product of the new Black Beauty. Its not so black anymore. It has Earth Expedition decal on the back and sides of it. We also got t-shirts and business cards all thanks to Jeff and Charlotte Burris who owns Group Imaging. This was an amazing day. We also picked up Daren’s friend Alex from the airport. He is really cool. He will be a good addition to our crew. He has a good collection of facial hair like Daren and I so he will fit right in. As we drove to Globe, AZ the temperature dropped 30 degrees. FINALLY! Okay, time for bed.
Album of the Day – “The Slip” by Nine Inch Nails
1.20.09: Globe, AZ-Bylas, AZ
Daren’ s Blog
Wow…this past couple of days have been crazy! We have been all over Phoenix getting ready to leave again to start walking. We have met so many people that I hope to meet again in my lifetime. Jeff Burris from Group Imaging, The Group Imaging Crew, Donna and Loyal Wiens, Zac Parsons, Randy Reifel, and I cant forget my girls in south Phoenix who have been good to me for the past month now. I love you and will miss you all.
 Car Wrap and such: Well thanks to all of the people listed above we were blessed with a new battery, taken out to eat multiple times, our car was wrapped with Graphics thanks to Group Imaging, we have T-shirts for the Expedition as well as business cards to hand out along the way. We then opened out car last night and there were about 5 bags of groceries that Donna and Loyal generously gave to us! We were blessed! Thank you!
Back out on the Road: Today Bryan and I started back out again with Alex Christiansen, Alex has been trying to get out and joint The Earth Expedition for a while now and had some time and will be with us until the 30th! I am excited about that… now I can have someone to actually talk to when I walk.. it is nice to see a friendly face. It is pretty awesome because we are walking together and we have people honking and screaming out for us! It is really fun. I think a lot of them see Bryan about 10 miles ahead of us and then they see the car all wrapped somewhere along the road and then they see us and think it is some race across the desert. There were a lot of people cheering us on today. It was nice. Walking was great…. It is definitely colder for we are in the mountains now and it is no longer flat but it is nice to have the scenery. I think I saw some light snow on a neighboring mountain…awesome!
Sardines: Now that there are three of us our sleeping arrangements have changed……now the tight squeeze of just Bryan and I is now shared with Alex. You couldn’t fit a greased pig in the back of that Blazer now…..we tried J
Off The Grid: Today we were able to do about 43.4 miles which landed us about 5 miles from Bylas, AZ… We decided to drive in to Bylas to find a place to park and sleep tonight. We parked at the only grocery/gas station in this town… if you want to call it that…. We are the minority in this town for we are on an Indian reservation! We were asking the store clerk for permission to stay out here but I guess it doesn’t work quite like that on the reservation. He told us to talk to security when they come by and ask them… we might need a permit! I am not paying for a permit to sleep in our car… that is ridiculous!
Laundromat: Alex is folding clothes, Bryan is texting his sister and journaling and I just finished my journaling and I am just about done blogging for the night and it is time to get some grub. Thank you for following friends! Keep us and our vehicle in your prayers! “Life to the Fullest” Daren daren@theearthexpedition.com
Bryan’s Blog:
If anyone has seen the movie “Trimmers” then you might have a good picture of what the town looks like that we are in right now. We over-walked today which is a good thing. These
Arizona miles are getting annoying. The quicker we get out of here, the better. But we are in a town of 3,000 called Bylas, AZ. Very small, old, with absolutely nothing in it except for houses and a convenient/grocery store. Kind of like the same set-up in the town of
Perfection in “Trimmers.” Seriously, I feel like a gravoid is going to come up from the ground and eat the washing machine. We are in the Laundromat washing clothes, eating dinner, reading, and journaling. It’s our hang out spot in this town. The janitor of the store, who is very nice, talked to us for a while about the earth expedition and helped us pick out some good cheap food to eat in the store.
Today’s walk was great. We walked 43.4 miles total. I walked 23 of those. Because of this great cold/cool weather, I was able to run 80% of the time and walk 20%. It felt great. We played banana baseball at lunchtime with some old rotten bananas from last week. There was a horrible three hour long gust of wind that hit us like a ton of bricks. Wind really makes you tired when it’s going against you. But we still came out on top at the end of the day.
A nice man named Vernon Poncho came up to us right when were getting ready for bed and asked if we wanted to sleep in his church. We accepted the invitation immediately. Its difficult sleeping in the blazer with three guys now. It lacks the room for three sets of broad shoulders. So we are going to shoot for trying to get a place to stay every night. Our car and business cards make us more legit. Hahaha. Goodnight!
Album of the Day – “Game Theory” by The Roots
1.21.09 Bylas to Safford, AZ
Daren’s Blog:
Last night: Last night was awesome….AS we were sitting outside of the Laundromat a man pulled up and walked over to Alex and I am pulled out some oil and anointed our hands… then he walked into the Laundromat to where Bryan was Journaling and anointed him as well… then he took the next the 5 minutes telling us his testimony of how he used to be a Meth Drug Dealer and how Jesus changed his life. He asked us if we needed any money and then he left. Pretty neat experience.
After the “Anointing” All three of us went to the Blazer to get ready to move all of what is in the back to the front so all three of us can sardine in the back. Bryan got out the guitar and I got out my harmonica and as we were playing a white truck pulled up and asked us if we wanted a place to stay tonight. We were like heck yeah…. He was the pastor of a church down the road and he opened up the church for us to stay in as well as take showers… It was awesome! We popped in a movie and all of us kind of dozed off after the long day….
Today: Today was a normal day.. I didn’t feel safe til I left the Indian reservation… but the walking was actually kind of Beautiful in its own way. The wind was kicking up all day as well as overcast so I kept my jacket on all day. When all three of us stopped for lunch the pastor of the church who helped us out stopped. (Read Bryans Play by Play in his Blog) it was an awkward moment in time. We are now in Safford and found a church that has WIFI and a coffee shop… the pastor came out and talked to use and invited us to stay… so I think that we are….so I have my bottomless cup of coffee just waiting for the service to start…
Blisters: I am doing much better than the last start… I have a lot more time and medical supplies to work on them …so that is good. I have a few but they are not deep. Alex on the other hand has a couple doozies from yesterday. He took the second shift off today and drove the car and waited for me. It was a good day but I am already super exhausted.
Daren@theearthexpedition.com
Bryan’s Blog:
Another day in the bag…40.4 miles! Woot woot! Today was good. The land was flatter and the town we camped in is much bigger than yesterday. We chilled at a church/theater/coffee shop and were invited to the Wednesday night service. We met a lot of great people who just talked to us and loved on us, which is much needed after a long week of walking. After that, we scored a place to stay! It is the church’s old building before they moved into the theater. It’s kind of creepy though because it’s near a bunch of old run down warehouses and train tracks. Eek! But that’s okay. It’s just great to sleep inside somewhere with heat, shower, and space and not next to two sweaty dudes. Praise the Lord! Man it’s late. Gotta go to bed. See ya.
Album of the Day – “Relationship of Command” by At the Drive-In
|
