I know it’s been a while since I last blogged but it’s been a crazy two weeks. The first week wasn’t crazy because Stacey and I finally got a whole week off from walking our first 500 miles. So that was a must. David and his parents were very hospitable to us the whole week and we had a blast. But I feel the week went by way too fast. It felt like I was there for only a day. I think it’s because out here when I’m walking, so much happens in one day. And when I finally get a break, it goes by really fast. I don’t know, but it was fun nonetheless. We went into
London for a day and toured the amazing city until nightfall. I saw Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, the big abandoned factory that’s on the Pink Floyd album, and tons of other awesome stuff. It was fantastic. What a world class city.
Other days we just hung out, went into Horsham (David’s town), walked around, saw a movie, played some music at his studio, and visited with the family. It was such a great and restful week. Another man named David Gilburt stayed with us as well who is a South African missionary to
Russia . He was very nice and had a lot of great stories. I will be forever indebted to the Vincent family for what they have done for us. Every night they cooked us dinner and did our laundry and just treated us like we were their own. It was quite amazing. Thank you again Vincent family!
So on Monday we sailed out from Newhaven to
Dieppe, France for the beginning of our Tour de France. This is our own little tour and more manly than those sissies on the bikes. Just kidding, they’re pretty studly. We got into
Dieppe around 2:30 PM and just started walking. We ran into a little problem though because I couldn’t find the road that we were supposed to take. So I found a little map to try and find my way but it just didn’t help. So I decided to take a road that led in the direction that we needed to go. And all day long we had no clue where we were. We ended up stopping that night still not knowing where we were. I was struggling mentally that day. I had a rough time getting around the fact that I had no idea where I was and that I might be wasting time going in the wrong direction. And to make it better, there was a big fight in a house right across the street from where we set up our tent. It sounded like people were killing each other. But we survived it. All is well…
Tuesday wasn’t too bad. In the morning it started raining while we were packing up but then a lovely old lady came over and started to speak to us in French. I had no clue what she was saying but I could tell she wanted to invite us in for coffee. So we accepted and went in until the rain stopped. She also fed us crepes and told us where we were and gave us a map! It was a great little encounter that lifted my spirits a lot. It’s so amazing how we could communicate but not even speak the same language. So we left and walked through rain pretty much all day. But we still progressed a very long way, which is fine by me. We camped out in a random field off the road. It was actually pretty comfy because the grass was tall and made it like a natural mattress.
Wednesday was Stacey’s last day, unfortunately. We had to stop a little early because she had to get back to start school. But she still made a great distance and stuck through it like a champ. I am very proud of her and she did an amazing job of encouraging me and keeping me company. You rock, Stacey! So we only had to walk about 12 miles to get the town we needed to stop in. She leaves tomorrow and we don’t have enough time to get all the way to
Paris . So we’re taking a train in. But the people that helped us yesterday said there was a train station in Gournay, and they were wrong. I was shocked. We got to a gas station and sought out help to find a way to get into the next town with a train station. I very nice man who knew some English helped us out. We ended up having to take a taxi, which cost a poop load. Then we had to get a train from
Beauvais to Creil, and then a taxi from Creil to my uncle’s house. It was treacherous. And even when we got there, we had to find the neighbor who had my uncle’s key, because he is out of town right now. Well when you live in a little village of all French people where none of them speak English, it’s a little difficult. I was able to speak to a family in Spanish while they spoke in Italian. It was wild. But finally the neighbor that had the key came home. Her name is Michelle and she actually knows some English. I was happy. So she let us in and we got to relax in my Uncle’s pad!
Stacey left on Thursday and I just got to hang around my Uncle’s house alone. In the afternoon Michelle took me into town and we went shopping. She taught me some French, I taught her some English…it was fun. My uncle came in on Friday and that’s when the party began. I’m not going to start walking again until Monday because Brett doesn’t get in till the 21st and I can’t walk almost two weeks by myself. That’s crazy! So I’ll start Monday and walk until the 21st. But man have we had a blast. We’ve been watching Seinfeld, going into town, went jogging a few times, met some friends, etc. It was awesome. One couple that I met named Gerrit and Anne from
Belgium were so much fun to be with. I went over to their house and I will say that this was by far the coolest house I’ve ever been in. The living quarters are built within the walls of a 700 year old castle. They fed us a French meal that was basically different seafoods. It was an interesting but fun experience. They are great people. I will never forget them! I haven’t been able to see my uncle in almost four years! And now I get to see him in his hometown in
France . It feels so surreal! I am so happy to be here with him. But tomorrow I start walking…alone…for eight days! Pray for me and think about me in that time! I guess I’ll see you all on the other side! Bye!
I know it’s been a while since I last blogged but it’s been a crazy two weeks. The first week wasn’t crazy because Stacey and I finally got a whole week off from walking our first 500 miles. So that was a must. David and his parents were very hospitable to us the whole week and we had a blast. But I feel the week went by way too fast. It felt like I was there for only a day. I think it’s because out here when I’m walking, so much happens in one day. And when I finally get a break, it goes by really fast. I don’t know, but it was fun nonetheless. We went into 
So on Monday we sailed out from Newhaven to
Wednesday was Stacey’s last day, unfortunately. We had to stop a little early because she had to get back to start school. But she still made a great distance and stuck through it like a champ. I am very proud of her and she did an amazing job of encouraging me and keeping me company. You rock, Stacey! So we only had to walk about 12 miles to get the town we needed to stop in. She leaves tomorrow and we don’t have enough time to get all the way to