After
leaving the desert I thought we were going to hit flat lands since we're
getting closer and closer to the sea...but I was wrong. We hit another mountain
range; another mountain range that I did not know even existed. My map decided
not to tell me they were there...amateurs. But that's okay; it brought us more
beautiful scenery!
Speaking of
scenery, by the end of our second day we got to this little town called Morella
and were totally surprised by its format. This town was inside a fortress with
a castle ruin on top of a mountain directly in the center. It was so awesome!
We were in so much awe that we decided to take a day off there. I mean,
seriously, who wouldn't stop at this town? It's right on our route! It would be
stupid of us to not enjoy it and explore the town and the castle. I have no
guilt J.
And, it was an amazing little town. We had so much fun there. I got to meet a
Romanian guy and his brother who moved here for work. I think that takes guts.
I was inspired by his determination.
Two days
later we stopped for lunch in a town called La Vall d'Alba, and we got a little
surprise. We noticed there was an abnormal amount of people in the streets so
we though it was some festival. No big deal. But what we didn't realize was
that they were having a "Running of the Bull" celebration and we got to see the
trail end of it! It was so cool! I would have jumped in there but I am too
close to the end and I don't want to risk having a huge hole in backside from
the bull's horn. I'd like to finish this week. But it was still awesome. I like
that tradition, its pretty baller.
Our third
to last day was when we finally saw the shore of the Mediterranean.
We got out of the mountain range and were about five miles from the shore by 6:00 PM. From Castellon (where we saw
the shore) all the way to Valencia
was non-stop city walking. I would say that Valencia is the "Miami" of Spain: cities all along the beach
with tons of hotels. Though, there were a few times that we walked through the
famous orange farms. These orange tree fields were endless, thousands of acres
of just orange trees. It was nuts. Too bad they weren't ripe yet or you better
believe I would have picked a few. It's kind of ironic that every orange I ate
on this trip had a sticker on it saying it was from Valencia, and my final destination
is exactly where those oranges came from.
Our last
three days weren't that bad at all. Though, we did a 55 kilometer day...yeah that
one hurt. We were just so ready to get there that we didn't want to stop. Not
much happened within those last three days by the beach. It was quite an easy
ending for this incredibly hard expedition. I was tingling when I got to the
beach in Valencia.
It was one of the most glorious and epic feelings in my life so far. I would
say that it battles the number one spot with graduating college. It's obviously
a completely different feeling and length of time, but still it felt so amazing
to finally be done. I don't have to experience the vulnerability, sleepless
nights, loneliness, exhaustion, or anxiety. But in the end it was all still
worth it. I'll keep my final thoughts for the "Final Thoughts" section below.
This was my first time to ever set foot in the Mediterranean
Sea. And I gotta say, it was incredibly clean and beautiful. Brett
and I swam, took pictures, and just relaxed for a few hours. Then we had our
celebratory dinner at Domino's! Woohoo! I know that sounds silly but I just
wanted a good ol' thick American pizza. And it was heaven. Now I get to finally
experience true rest again, physically and mentally; knowing that I never have
to get up early tomorrow morning and walk again. It's amazing how it changes
everything. I will get incredible sleep tonight. I can't believe I made it to
the end. God, it is because of you I made it here.
Final Thoughts
So here I
am, sitting...not walking, and trying to think about all the things I learned
from this leg of the expedition. That's a tough one because there were so many
things I learned about myself and about how life works. I could never go home
and forget what it was like out here. I remember going to camps, youth
conferences, mission trips, etc. but I don't remember a lot of it in detail.
But this, I will remember specific days, feelings, smells, people, and tastes
until the day I die. There was a bitter-sweet feeling to this entire journey.
From the beginning of it all way back in California
in January to now...my mind would explode if I thought about all that I just
experienced in the last 9 months. There were times that it hurt, times that I
was so lonely that I couldn't take it, and places and situations that were so
overwhelming that I felt so little. I felt unimportant and worthless. But I
realized that I did something so huge and so unimaginably difficult and yet it
was ultimately to try and provide the means for someone else, that I don't even
know, to have a richer and fuller life. And that is what kept me going all that
time. But I did see amazing things and met incredible people, and without that
it wouldn't have been as memorable. So I can look back and also remember the
awesome times.
I am
grateful to the Holy Spirit for really showing me who I really am in every
situation, whether it be stressful, pressuring, tiring, or enjoyable. I thought
I was a pretty nice guy and easy going, but out here I got a little frustrated
and critical at times. And I just want to thank Stacey and Brett for putting up
with it. If I would have met someone just like me, I'd probably fight him. But
Stacey and Brett were kind, loving, and gentle and I will never forget their
mercy. They and Daren are some of the only people that I know that can testify
how hard and painful this was, and not just a joyride. Thank you so much Brett
and Stacey for doing this with me. You are the best and I will always be there
for you since you were there for me! I also want to thank everyone who
supported me financially, prayerfully, and just with messages of encouragement.
Everything that you all did proves that I could not have done this on my own,
so I will not be arrogant about this in any way. WE did it. And now we are
finally finished with this leg. But we still have a lot to go. But for now, I'm
coming home...
This set of days definitely changed my emotional status in a good way. Lot's of crazy things happened to make this part more worth it. These past few weeks have been physically and emotionally draining and have put me in sort of a rut. I had many doubts and issues and even self-threats to quit. But I remember the advice that my uncle gave me right before we left from Le Bugue, "Even though it seems difficult and not worth it, you have to try and enjoy it as much as possible or you'll be miserable." And that lately is something that I have not been doing...until now. All I've wanted is to finish as soon as possible and anything that gets in the way is going to frustrate me and make me go crazy. And guess what? That's exactly what God did; he put people and situations in the way to slow us down. But this time, I was thankful because they were pleasant and fulfilling things!
Our first day back on the road was pretty good. We actually made a record distance of 46 kilometers! That's around 28.5 miles! And Brett has healed even more and was able to walk even faster now because of the day off yesterday. Other than the drunk guys at a bar who took a picture of us walking in Villereal, nothing much really happened today. The next day brought us more surprises though.
I woke up at 4:00 AM the next day from the torrential downpour of rain hitting our tent. It's extremely loud. But I was able to make it back to sleep for a few more hours. The only problem was that it didn't stop...all day. We had to wake up and break down the tent in the rain and walk all day in soaking wet clothes. It was one of the most miserable days so far. And when I say it was "raining" it was that incredible thick sideways rain. When your shoes, socks, underwear, skin, shorts, shirt, hat are completely soaked it's not exactly refreshing. But I knew I had to keep a good attitude through it and we finally got out of it in the late afternoon. We kept walking after dinner and came up to a very small village but it had a bed and breakfast in the town. Since today was so difficult and I had a little extra money I thought we could just get a cheap room for the night so we can try and recover from the day. So we got to the bed and breakfast and were immediately disappointed, not because it was a crappy place but, on the contrary, it was a huge chateau. We knew for a fact that we couldn't afford staying here. The owner of the chateau came out and greeted us and informed us that even though a night to stay was 80 Euros, all his rooms were full. We walked all this way to try and see if there was a place to stay and we failed...great. But he kindly granted us access to sleep on his nicely cut lawn, and since we had nowhere else to go we said "okay." So then he offered us some drinks and asked us to come in and sit at the dinner table with the rest of the guests. But then his wife, Sophie, began to prepare a full plate of dinner for us! And they served us as if we were one of their guests! So then for an hour and a half we sat with over a dozen people from France and Belgium (most of the spoke English) and had a blast talking about different stuff. It was fantastic! But THEN after dinner J.P. the owner offered us a place in his pool house! It was still on the floor but it was still a roof over our heads! It was so amazing! And that night we got to stay in the pool house of a massive chateau for free. I love God's style.
The next morning Sophie cooked us real French Toast! It was nuts! It actually caught me off guard when I asked what it was. She was explaining the ingredients and I said out loud, "hmmm, that sounds a lot like French Toa...OH! This is French Toast!" She laughed. And once we finally left that morning they sent us off without having to pay for any of the food! At that bed and breakfast every meal costs money and they gave us a free dinner and breakfast! They were awesome! But the blessings didn't stop there!
At 6:00 PM that same day once we walked about 30 km and trying to get to 45, God stopped us once again. We took a typical 15 minute break on the side of the road and the only place was the driveway of a beautiful house with a gate. But since there was a little shade and the residents couldn't see us, we thought it would be okay. But then a man named Rene came through the gate and asked if we wanted a drink and we said yes. When he came back he also brought his wife Michelle who was just the most joyful loving woman we've met so far. She came to us and notioned if wanted to swim in their pool. I was hesitant because I was still in the mindset of trying to get to the next day off ASAP, but I thought "well we can just take our dinner break now while we swim and we'll be okay." So I said yes. But even after that while we were swimming, Michelle came to us and asked if we wanted to stay for dinner and stay the night. Now I was really hesitating because I just couldn't get past the fact that we would be losing time. But something in me was saying "yes" and so I just took my uncle's advice and went for it. It turned out to be such an amazing night. We got to eat a two hour dinner with Rene and Michelle and learn about their life. They are such incredible people and extremely loving. I wish I could talk more about how they just blessed us so much but there is still a lot more that happened this round of walking. So the next morning she gave us a bunch of water, food, med supplies, and tic tacs and fed us a great breakfast. It was so great to meet them and we didn't even speak a similar language. We were able to communicate this whole time without speaking the same language. It was amazing.
We walked all day after Michelle's house and slept behind an abandoned train station and walked half a day more until we got stopped once again by another new friend. This time we had stopped under the only trees around for lunch to get out of the sun and it happened to be the driveway of a very wealthy farmer named Jan Joullie (pronounced "Yon"). He first asked if we wanted some water and then came back and proposed that if we needed a place to stay for the night we can stay as long as we wanted. I was shocked. God did it again! I thought, "Ah well we're already behind. Why not stop?" So we stopped walking after lunch and just hung out with his family. What we thought was going to be just half a day a turned into 2 and a half days. We were enjoying their company so much that we ended staying two more days there. We got to know their youngest son Theophille a whole lot. We hung out with him most of the time. We went four-wheeling, toured their farmland, went swimming and jumping off an old aqueduct in a river, watched some movies, swam in their pool, saw an old castle nearby, the whole bit. We even got to help with some of the work on their land. We felt like part of the family! They even had plans while we were there but they didn't care, they still wanted us to stay there. Nicole, the mother, was extremely loving and even took us into a big town to go shopping for food. I was just blown away by their love and kind hearts. We also met some of their friends who are actually moving to Dallas so that the father of the family will start his position as the senior curator of American and European Art at the DMA! What a small world! So taking a break here with the Joullie's has definitely been the most fun I've had in France. That was the condensed version of our glorious break but there was so much more. I can't explain it all though. You've just gotta trust me, it was amazing.
Our first day back on the road was good except I starting getting sick a lot. I felt horrible and the heat was not helping. We made it to nightfall about 50 miles from the border of France and met another great couple named Anthony and Denise who fed us a great dinner, let us shower, and allowed us to set up our tent on their beautiful lawn. France even has some southern hospitality. I didn't get this kind of kindness in the north; or at least this frequently.
The next day I wasn't feeling any better and all day I was having stomach problems. At our lunch break we met a British guy who works in Dubai. He was pretty cool. It gave us some entertainment during our lunch break. But by the time 7:00 PM rolled around, I couldn't go much further. I am pretty sure I got food poisoning from something I ate. I felt terrible. So Brett ran around in this tiny town to try and find a B&B or hotel or something and find some medicine but had no luck. So we just went to a house nearby and asked for help. It was this huge family and they had all gotten together here at their summer house for a few weeks. They were so nice and helped us tremendously. They knew a little English so I was able to tell them what we were looking for. They gave me stomach medicine and found a very cheap B&B nearby for us. It took them over an hour to find one though. Very genuine people. The funny thing was that the B&B was ahead of us and I told them that we HAD to walk to it. So they at least asked if they could take our bags ahead of us and drop them off there. We definitely took up that offer. So we got to walk 1 km without our packs and it was glorious. I can't believe how awesome people can be because of such little things like that. And so that night and the next day we relaxed, didn't walk, and Brigette, the owner of the B&B took care of us. It was such a great way to finish out walking through France by meeting all these great people that completely changed my attitude for this walk. Praise God for all that has happened. And praise God that we are only a day or so away from SPAIN!!!! I can finally speak Spanish soon!!! Woohoo!!!! I have long awaited for this moment.
Wow, I didn’t know seven days could
feel so long. I haven’t talked to anyone in a few weeks and it feels like
months. Don’t worry, we’re still alive. We made it a long long way and are
taking another day off in a town called Le Bugue. We weren’t able to get a free
place to stay this time so we got a cheap room at a small hotel. This is a great
little town and it has everything we need to rest, stock up on food, and wash
our clothes.
This week we functioned on a
different walking schedule that got us farther but still evened out the break
times. So that’s how we were able to get real far every day and not die. Brett
has strengthened so much this week. By the time we got to Le Bugue Brett was
keeping up with me and going the regular pace with no pain and no tiredness. I
broke him in Earth Expedition style. So hopefully these last three weeks will be
a breeze. And by the way, news update. We have decided to change the route in
order to conserve our resources since doing this kind of thing is rather
expensive. It wouldn’t be wise to go all the way to Portugal and then go back
the same way through Portugal, Spain, and France just to get to Italy. So I am
walking down farther into Spain and ending in Valencia and the next walker will
start in Rome, Italy and go north. This is a better route for the Earth
Expedition as a whole. Sorry all of you Portuguese fans that are following us,
but it’s just too far. We aren’t going through a lot of other countries in
Europe so it’s not just you. Don’t worry we still love you.
Something I definitely love about
this country is that everywhere I go I see these amazing buildings in random
places that are hundreds and hundreds of years old. They all must have so much
history and mystery and there are just so many of them! Churches, towers,
houses, chateaus, castles, monasteries, etc. It’s incredible! Most of them are
older than our country’s government! Also, most of the people I’ve met out here
are very nice. I enjoy that people are continually helping us no matter where we
are or what we look like. We had to go up to people’s house about 4 or 5 times
to ask for water since we were nowhere near a town or water source and every
time but once they all gave us water. One elderly couple flat out said “no” to
giving us water. I couldn’t believe that some people have no compassion to even
give walkers some cheap water from the faucet. But we found water right after
that, so it’s okay. It did get my spirits down a little though. A lot of things
can get you down out here. Even the weather can put off some negativity. When
it’s ridiculously sunny and hot I start to regret ever even being out here and
hate every step. But we’re slowing getting there, it just takes time. One thing
that I don’t enjoy about this country, simply because I am walking and need food
and water constantly, is the inaccessibility of simple items. Stores usually
close from 12:00 to 3:00 every day for a big lunch break and then everything is
closed by at least 6:00 or 7:00 at night. So if you need food or water between
those times, you’re just out of luck. We encountered that MANY times within just
seven days. So that’s why we had to ask people for water so many times. One
instance where we needed water, we were walking in the middle of nowhere and
Brett ran out of water completely and I had just a few sips left. So he stopped
and saw a house and asked if we could walk to it and ask for water. But since it
was in the other direction I was hesitant because I didn’t want to waste time
and I was hoping that there would be a house on the highway just up the way. But
I said okay and started walking down the little road. Right when we started
walking two guys on an ATV came down the other way and stopped at the
intersection and waved at us. I gave a wave of help and they drove over to us.
Luckily, they spoke some English and we asked them for some water. They told us
to walk down to their house which was a little down the small road. So we got
there and the father of the boys, Allard, came up and greeted us. We got some
water, talked a little bit, and kept walking. But it was just divine how we got
the water right when we needed it and God had this perfect plan for it. If I
wouldn’t have hesitated, we wouldn’t have seen the guys on the ATV. Stories like
that happened this week multiple times. Right before we got to Le Bugue, a
mechanic said hello to us and I said that we were out of water so he instantly
led us around the side of his shop and let us fill up our water. So God has been
taking care of us and it has been a blessing to know that he WANTS to help us. I
am glad that God is on our side for this. Sometimes the devil tries to convince
me that what I am doing really isn’t going to do anything for the kingdom of God
until I realize that God has his hand in this expedition sooooo much. So he
wants us to get to the end. I know we’ll make it but only through his power. I
couldn’t do this without him.
The days out here have blended
together and it’s hard to distinguish what happened one day from the next. There
is so much repetition and mobility that it feels like forever. Since we are
walking from 9:00 to 9:30 in the day and sleeping from 10:00 to 8:00 at night
and wasting no time whatsoever makes one day seem so long. One day when we were
walking around a city called Bellac, my emotions were going crazy and I was just
feeling so down. Earlier that day we saw a man drive by in a particular red car
with the bass booming. But then four hours later about 12 miles away, we saw him
again and this time we made eye contact and did a little “hello” with a nod.
Then an hour after that once we stopped for dinner, on the other side of the
road was that guy’s car! Two minutes later a little boy (his son) came out and
walked over and gave us a big bottle of water. This man and his son cheered me
up instantly because the love of God was in them and desired to help us. I was
moved. And then, the next day about 20 miles away, we saw him AGAIN! It was
amazing.
The tough thing about being out
here though is that all day long you walk by comfy houses and fast moving cars
and it makes you feel so helpless. There is no comfort in your life right now
and all you want to do is go faster, and you can’t. I wish I could feel warm and
relaxed in one of these nice houses or enjoy the convenience of an effortless
automobile. But if we lived like that then we wouldn’t be as strong of a voice.
I realized that most of the people we are fighting for in this expedition will
always live like that. They will never have a car and a lot of their homes are
not strong and cozy. Each day that I am out here builds my fierceness for
helping these people. I couldn’t imagine living all my life with so little and
there was nothing I could do about it. Blessed are the poor, because they rely
on God.
I went seven days without washing
any of my clothes. The bottom of my socks were black and I stunk so bad that
people did not want to be around me at all. It’s humbling. You should try it
sometime. The next break we have will be in Lannemezan, France. Pray for us!
Bless you!
Well, Brett made it through the first week of torment. I had empathy for every limp and moan that he had, because I was there at one point. But it was a good first week. We got farther than I expected with the fact that there were new feet involved in the walk. We are taking a day off now in a town called Chatillon-sur-Indre. It is a pleasant little town with everything we need to get by on a day off. Every night this week we slept in the tent. It is almost becoming a game to try and find the coolest place to camp out. Some nights we camped in the middle of farm fields, some in public parks, one beside an abandoned windmill that looked haunted, and some just right next to the road. Well, maybe it’s not so glamorous yet but we’re getting there. One of these days I would like to try and camp out on top of a water tower. It’s a lot harder to talk to people and ask them if we can stay with them because, you know, we don’t speak FRENCH! I wish I did. I’ve been getting better though, slowly but surely.
Right now I think I’m pretty much past all the pain. Nothing is really getting in my way physically. But Brett on the other hand, well…he is getting there. He’s had blisters, sore muscles, swollen ankles, sleep deprivation, etc. It’s almost like he’s pregnant. Cross your fingers, I hope he’s not. But after this day off he’ll probably be a lot better. This next week will probably be an even longer distance.
We caught a little bit of rain here and there but not too bad. What’s been the worst are the cloudless days with nothing separating us from the sun. I am half Cajun and half Caucasian. But luckily the temperature isn’t in the 100’s like it is back in
Texas . Usually it doesn’t get over the high 80’s but the humidity makes it feel like I’m on Mercury. A daily routine that we have been able to experience is river bathing. Every day we have come across a swimmable river and used it to bathe, wash our clothes, and just cool down. Thank God for that or we would have been suffering. The towns that we have passed through are very beautiful. I just wish we had more time to actually tour the town and visit the attractions. We only have enough time to walk straight through them and hope to see something along the way. Places like
Chartres ,
Blois , and Chateaudun have extremely beautiful churches and chateaus. You can see some of them in the pictures.
So as we were walking into Chatillon, we were assuming that there were some places to stay for the night like a hostel or something because all the other towns had a surplus of them. So when we got here we stopped in a bar and asked the bartender, Nicole, with what little French I knew where a hostel was. She told me there wasn’t anything in town, no hostel, no hotel…nothing. She then called the priest of the town because the church has a house that people can stay in if they are traveling through and are in need. But that was no longer in use either. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that the town we decided to take a day off in had NO accommodation. So I called my uncle, who speaks French, and had him talk to Nicole to try and figure something out. She said she would call a doctor in town who could maybe help. Well she finally got a hold of him and he said he could take us to a branch of his hospital to stay in a vacant hospital room. And when he (Michel) came to pick us up we found out he was also the mayor of the town and he spoke some English! So at first we had no place to stay and were sore from six straight days of walking, and now we have the mayor taking care of us and giving us a place to stay for free! How amazing is God’s provision. If it wasn’t for my uncle, Nicole, or Michel then we wouldn’t have received this blessing. Thank you, Lord. Now we are just relaxing on our day off, going to the market to stock up on food, and blogging it up at the town hall. What an amazing encounter. This day off will be very beneficial to us. Tomorrow we will be ready to go for another week without stopping. Wish us luck!
So the eight days of walking didn’t happen the way I thought. I began walking at 9:00 on Monday morning in Gournay. I was nervous about the loneliness but as I began walking I was actually excited about getting through this on my own. So I was able to walk 32 miles the first day and I felt pretty good. I stopped for a small lunch and dinner and didn’t stop for the day until 10:00 PM. It felt like the second longest day of my life (the longest one being the last day of the American leg – 52 miles of walking!). So I camped out in the middle of nowhere rather close to the road. I got some pretty good sleep that night. I walked until I couldn’t walk anymore. The next morning I woke up at 8:30 and got ready for another big day. I once again walked all day and took little breaks to try and make good time. I realized that I could accomplish eight days of walking in five and a half days. If I get to
Tours by Saturday afternoon, then I can get a train into downtown
Paris and get a free ride from Michelle since she’ll be in
Paris ! So I pushed and pushed and pushed all day long to try and make it. I would have to do 36 miles a day if I wanted to make it. But as I was walking in the afternoon I stepped down from the sidewalk and just felt a tear or something in my left foot. I limped in pain for the rest of the day. I went to bed that night and I was so exhausted; I felt sooooo horrible. So I woke up the next morning and I still felt terrible. I had no energy and usually I do at the beginning of a day. I didn’t know what to do. I got off to a late start, I was walking slower, and I was hurting really bad. I burned myself out. I wasn’t hurt severely, I just over-exhausted myself. It’s kind of like when a car overheats. The car isn’t permanently broken but it still can’t move. That’s kind of what happened to me. So I walked to the next town that luckily had a train station and I got a train back into
Paris . Luckily my uncle was coming back into town and I would be able to see him one more night before he leaves for his vacation. So I had to stop early…a lot early. But I was still able to walk 78 miles in two and a half days. So I’m not at too much of a set back. But I have to take a few days off and relax so I don’t get seriously hurt later down the road.
So on my few days off before Brett came I just relaxed around my uncle’s house. I went to the market to get some food, walked the dog a little bit, and hung out with my uncle’s neighbor, Michelle. We drove into
Paris and drove around just a little bit. Then Brett came in on Tuesday and we have been hanging out for the last two days. This is our last little break before the end. From here on out we don’t have another contact to stay with until the end, unless something happens and we meet someone who is nice enough for us to stay with them, which I wouldn’t be surprised. The most exciting day of the break was when Michelle took Brett and me to this castle called
Pierrefonds . It was one of the coolest attractions I’ve seen so far in my whole walk through
Europe . I love castles and I’ve always wanted to see one. It was one of the most incredible structures I’ve ever seen. I was even told that this castle was the one that inspired the setting of the Disney movie “Sleeping Beauty.” I put plenty of pictures up to show you how amazing it is. It doesn’t look exactly like the castle in the movie but that’s just what I was told.
I’ve very excited about this last section with Brett. What’s so crazy about a new person to walk with is that you never know what is going to happen. I had a lot of great experiences with Stacey and there were a lot of crazy things that happened to us that I didn’t expect. It was quite an amazing adventure. But a whole different area with a different person will be a whole new story. Unpredictability in these situations can either make a trip very exciting or very scary. So we’ll see how it goes! And, Brett is kind of crazy so I hope we don’t feed off each other’s craziness and get in trouble. Getting trouble in a foreign country is totally different from getting in trouble in
America . But I think we’ll be alright. He’s a cool guy.
I just have to say right now though that if my uncle wasn’t here in
France , I would be so lost and probably in trouble. I am so blessed to have him here so I can have a place to rest when I’m hurt, to show me how everything works in
France , and give me some good food! I really don’t know where I would be if he wasn’t here. It’s been such a better and more enjoyable trip because of him. And it’s so awesome that we haven’t seen each other in four years. It’s been a great time.
I don’t know when I will be able to update the blog next but I will try and find internet access. Have a great weekend!
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!
July 1, 2009 Bryan is 500 miles into his journey for Clean Water: Location: Horsham, England
Thursday 2009-06-18
This morning before we left, Bryan Jennings, the other person staying with Stephen prayed over us. It was very encouraging and it lifted our spirits before a big three days of walking. The day was great and not too difficult. The weather once again was clear and bearable. And as we got into Stratford-Upon-Avon (where William Shakespeare was born) we stopped at a Tesco gas station to look at a map. As I was looking the cashier asked if we needed help going anywhere. I told her that we were looking for a cheap place to stay (hostel) or a place to pitch out tent. She told us that there was a hostel outside of town but I told her that we would have to walk there (and it was kind of far away and in the opposite direction). So out of the blue she just said, “Well you can stay with me if you’d like.” I was still looking at the map and I looked right up with my mouth wide open and just yelled, “YES!” We didn’t even have to ask! Her name is Jane Ireland and she is such a sweetheart. It was perfect timing too because she was about to get off work and she even told me that she never works on a Thursday. But before we left the other two cashiers said that they wanted to donate over the website! It was so exciting! So Jane took us to her home and we got to meet her husband Patty and her two awesome dogs. They really are great people and so gracious. We just hung out, had dinner, drank so tea, and watch FOOTBALL! Patty is a huge football fan so he constantly watches. It was such a relieving night. Finding a place to stay with someone is always awesome. Thank you Jane!
Friday 2009-06-19
We ate breakfast this morning and walked back to Jane’s work with her. After that we parted ways and kept walking to Chipping Norton. As we got to Chipping Norton we stopped to have dinner at the Shell station, which was the only the around on that highway. So we sat down by the pumps and ate our PBJ’s and hopefully looked pathetic enough for someone to take us in. People talked to us but there was no one that wanted to help us out. So we just kept walking. But only 200 yards later I saw this little cottage on the side of the highway that I just had to try. So I went up and knocked on the door and a little man came out from behind the house. We asked if we could simply stay in his gated garden for the night and he said, “of course!” I was so pleased. He even let us come in and hang out for a few hours. They gave us tea and biscuits and let us take a shower! It was amazing. We talked about so many things. It’s amazing how much history they know about their little town. His cottage was built in the early 1900’s and it was a barn. He personally renovated it himself years ago. The building behind him was a church and a building down the road was a monastery. He said that when travelers would come, the church would invite them in and the monks would come down from the monastery and take care of them. That story sounded awfully familiar to ours at the moment. Though, he is now the one taking care of us. It’s cool how he unintentionally kept the legacy going.
Saturday 2009-06-20
Bert and his wife June fed us breakfast this morning. It was a very special morning for them though because on this day they have been married for 56 years! Someone came to their house and June got her hair done. She is so cute. They are so precious together and after 56 years are still in love and committed to each other. It’s really encouraging to see people like that. They took great care of us. I will never forget them.
We got into Oxford by 5:00 PM today and made it to our contact’s house. Alysen from Birmingham has a friend who lives here named Nick Ferriby and he is letting us stay with him tonight and tomorrow night. We got to his house a little early though so we had to weight until someone got there. About ten minutes later Nick’s roommate, Tim Martin, showed up and let us and let us shower and relax. Tim is a really cool guy and is very passionate for Jesus, which excited me. Once we got our showers he asked if we wanted to go to a barbeque. He said there would be food, games, and fun. I wanted to because there was going to be food, but I also wanted to see how a British barbeque went down. When we got there I realized it was pretty much the same as America, which is alright because barbeques are fun! I met a lot of AWESOME people who were very supportive of what we were doing. I also played nine games of volleyball for about two hours. So much for relaxing. But it’s alright because we won, hahaha. But it was so great just to relax with great people. Then I finally got to meet Nick. He showed up late because he was at a cricket match. Nick is such a stud AND he used to even be a professional cricket player. I couldn’t believe that I was staying in the house of an ex-professional cricketer! So I enjoyed myself. And tomorrow we have a day off! Woohoo!
Sunday 2009-06-21
We got up and went to church with Tim and Nick. They go to St. Andrews Church and it was pretty interesting how similar it was to church at home but still culturally different. I enjoyed visiting and worshiping with British believers J. After that we hopped on a bus to the city centre to go visit Oxford University. But as we got on the bus we ran into Tim’s mentor, John. Luckily, he didn’t have much going on so he showed us around. This is a good thing because Tim and Nick knew nothing about the history of Oxford, hahaha. So he showed us around a bunch of the colleges and a lot of historical places; some being the pub that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis hung out at, where the priests were burned on the cross, the guy who discovered Halley’s comet’s house…stuff like that. It’s so weird though because the university is set up a little differently. It isn’t just one big huge campus that is all connected. The university is broken up into 36 separate little colleges. So it was neat to see all the buildings and artwork.
In the afternoon a new friend named, Micah Steinwandt, came and picked me up in Oxford and took me into London to go to Hillsong Church at the Dominion Theatre. Micah works for Mildenhall Air Force Military Base as a missionary to the young airment. He is really awesome and extremely caring. I got to ride in on the Tube for the first time and he bought me dinner too. I felt so spoiled! The church was massive. The praise music felt like a rock concert. It was intense…but cool. AND, Micah had me fill out a prayer request for EE and every service they take all the prayer requests on stage and say a few of them, but not all of them. There were dozens and dozens of them, but he picked out mine and talked about EE in front of 2,000 people! It was incredible! Afterward Micah took me to meet some of his friends around the corner. I got to talk to a lot of different people about the expedition. It was like a cultural melting pot. I talked to people from about 10 different nations while I was there. It was pretty sweet. So, though it was a long day, it was definitely worth it. But now I have to get ready for another three days of walking. We’re almost done with England!
Monday 2009-06-22
Tonight we made it to the town of Nettlebed, England. This is the town that Ian Fleming, the writer of the 007 books, was born. I learn something new everyday! Today was kind of a boring walk but the evening made up for it. When we stopped for the night, I decided to sit and eat dinner in an area that was densely populated with people so someone might come up and talk to us. But after an hour of that, it didn’t really work. So I got up and walked up one of the residential streets and knocked on the first door I saw. A man named Dennis answered the door and two little kids popped their head through the door to see who it was. I began to tell what I was doing and asked if I could stay on his front lawn. He first directed me to the field that I was just on but I told him that the cars were loud and I wouldn’t be able to sleep. So he said yes and even told us to come in for a drink! I was excited. I then got to meet his wife, Phillipa who is just a sweetheart. Right when I sat down, she shoved drinks and cookies right in front of me and kept asking if we needed anything. We got to talking more and got more comfortable with each other. So then she asked if we wanted a shower! I didn’t decline. So she let Stacey take a bath in one bathroom and I took a shower in their bedroom. I couldn’t believe how welcoming they were. It was so amazing. A little bit later, as they were more comfortable with us (because that’s what it takes, just talking to them and getting to know them) they decided to let us just sleep in their lounge. What a blessing. So we fell asleep watching Forrest Gump. Go figure. Good ending.
Tuesday 2009-06-23
This morning before we left Dennis’ house, we showed his kids, Jerome and Tierney, how to set up the tent. They loved it. They are such adorable children. I am going to miss them. We made it to a quite larger town today, Bracknell. We were hoping there was going to be a cheap hostel in the city centre, since it was pretty big. But there wasn’t L. So we just kept walking and got to the outskirts of the city and started knocking on doors again, haha. But no one answered their door. We tried about half a dozen houses…kind of odd. So we just pitched the tent in this little patch of grass and trees in the middle of this neighborhood. I came to the reality that my view of God “taking care of me” is not the same as his. I think every single night he’ll find us a house to sleep in. But some nights I have to experience the outside, being dirty, and cold weather. Which really isn’t that bad. No one bothered us, I fell asleep quickly, and it was quiet. And we didn’t get arrested, that’s always a good thing. So I’m happy. Anyway, we get to see Micah again tomorrow!
Wednesday 2009-06-24
Today was a short day, 15 miles! It worked out well because we had to take a two hour train up to Cambridge to meet up with Micah. We are staying with him for two days before we keep heading south to the coast. And let me just tell you, that if it weren’t for the people that we have met so far (and are going to meet), then this trek would not have been as worth it, because meeting people like Micah is just so encouraging and exciting. This guy is so caring. Because we kind of had to make a trip out of our way to go visit him, he paid for our train ticket! Then when we got to his flat, he showed us our beds, bathroom, and food and said “make yourself at home.” We went and grabbed some great pizza from the Air Force Base and just chilled for the rest of the night. I can tell this will be a great break as well.
Thursday and Friday 2009-06-25/26
This break was sooooo amazing. It’s so funny how we did so much but still had a lot of time to just chill. He took us to the town of Ely to see the historic Ely Cathedral. It is so massive and beautiful. I am just so amazed that humans could make this stuff without cranes and concrete mixers. It’s funny because the town of Ely is really small but the cathedral just towers over everything and since the land around it is flat, you can see it from miles away. And an interesting fact about this church for all of you music buffs (Jeff Thorne) is if you look on the Pink Floyd album “The Division Bell” it’s the church on the front cover in between the two large heads. So that was pretty sweet.
We also went to Cambridge to see the famous university. The history here is amazing. This year they are celebrating 800 years of education. I can’t believe that. I also got to see where C.S. Lewis taught, which was awesome!
The rest of the time during these two days, we hung out with the Airmen at the base. It was so cool to see a group of people in the military that love God and are trying to be a light to everyone else on base. I met a lot of awesome people and we had a blast. On Thursday night we did this weekly fellowship thing on base where everyone gets together and hangs out, eats, talks, watches movies, etc. I had such a great time that I am going to come back once I’m done with the walk and hang out with the guys. I’m going with one guy, Reid Scott, who is a stud, up to Northern Scotland to look around. It’s going to be sick. We all went to see Transformers 2 as well, which was an awesome movie. It was cool to go with a bunch of Airmen because the whole time they would lean over and tell me every single plane or jet that was in the movie. It was funny. I had a great time with those guys. They really helped me spiritually (you know, that whole fellowship with the brothers thing).
So all in all, this break was amazing. I had a great time, got a lot of rest, Micah treated us like kings, and we got to meet and talk to a lot of people. It was such an honor to meet Micah and be with him for the short time that we could. I can’t wait to go back and see them all. There are some places out here that I just don’t want to leave. It sucks, but I have to keep going. Thank you Micah!
Saturday 2009-06-27 We made it to David Vincent’s town, meaning we only have one more day of walking in England!!! My friend, David, was in America for five months doing ministry and I met him through other friends. And it’s just funny how my route went right through his town. Small world, big kingdom. His parents, how are AMAZING, cooked us a delicious Louisiana dish. I had three full servings…I’m such a fatty. So once we get done tomorrow, we will spend a whole week with him and his family. We will hang out, go to London, and just detox from walking across the UK. Then France here we come. We decided to bypass the Netherlands and Belgium due to time constraints and what not. We have to be in Paris on a certain day to allow Stacey to fly home and it was just cutting it too close. But the original route was the long way. We’re just cutting straight to France which is still a good way. I am at peace about the decision and excited to walk through Normandy! I heard it’s beautiful there. I can’t wait.
Sunday 2009-06-28
We are done with ENGLAND!!! What a relief! I can’t believe we have made it this far! I think we are right at 500 miles completed now. We ended in the city of Brighton. It’s a very lively city. David and his dad came and picked us up. Today was really hilly and long but we got it done. I got a lot of great pictures of the countryside. It’s so beautiful and lush.
So when we got back to the house we had dinner and just relaxed. David’s parents are very godly people and loving. It’s amazing that they are going to let us stay with them for free for a whole week! That is such a great gift. We really need this break. It’s been tough and we haven’t been able to take multiple days off to recover from everything. But this will be perfect. It is an honor to be here. We have already had incredible conversations about different topics. David’s father is very wise and holy. I have a feeling this week will be a spiritual replenishing as well. I am excited! Thank you God for getting us this far!!!!
Our first walking day in England was quite successful, I might say. I am pretty sure that we walked over 20 miles today because it took us forever to find a place to camp out. We first stopped at a pub to eat some dinner at a place called the Black Dog. We met a few people that were entertaining while we ate our meal. I didn’t catch their names though, but they were pretty funny.
While we were walking through the beautiful hillsides of England, we saw a house with a big flat field in the back. When we went up to the house, we noticed it was a bed and breakfast. But that didn’t stop us. We met the owner of the house, Sally, and kindly asked if we could camp in her field. But she said that we could stay in her garden, which was even better than the field!We got to meet her son, Michael, and her dog, Holly (who was a very energetic dog, haha). She let us use her toilet and gave us tea! We seem to be taken care of by bed and breakfasts! I was amazed! Sally is a very nice lady. And it’s ironic because her daughter is gone just for a day doing a hike for a charity. How funny…
So today was overall a good day. I couldn’t be more pleased with how well Stacey did and we are now on our way to Birmingham!
Saturday 2009-06-13
I got ten hours of sleep last night in Sally’s garden…yes…She fed us a HUGE breakfast that was wonderful. We had fruit, cereal, bacon, sausage, egg, tomato, and mushrooms. Wow…She was so caring and encouraging. Thank you Sally!!!
We walked under some skydivers today. It was pretty cool.
So it was 8:30 P.M. when we decided to stop for dinner. An hour before we stopped I asked a random farmer where a place to eat was. He said that about two miles up on the right is a pub called “The Castle Inn.” So we gave it a shot. Once we got there we sat down and ate dinner in the corner of the restaurant. A few people came up and talked to us while we were eating while a few gave some funny looks from a distance. The wait staff was incredibly nice though. But one of the men that spoke with us asked where we were going to sleep. We said that we were going to try and convince the military men at the base at Ternhill a few miles up to let us stay with him. He said there is no chance we could do that. So he gave the suggestion that we just set up our tent on the front lawn of the pub. I originally didn’t want to because I thought I would never be able to get to sleep since there were people hanging out on the lawn. But I for some reason kept my mouth shut. The waitress came back to us and told us that the owner of the pub said it was okay for us to camp out on the front lawn. But then a few minutes later as we were getting ready to pay, the waitress came back and said, “I have another option for you. Our bed and breakfast was all full tonight but one couple didn’t show up. So you can either stay on the lawn or you can stay in our room for the night. And it’s on the house.” Our mouths dropped!!! We were in awe! I didn’t even try to ask for a place this time. They just gave it to us! God keeps proving to me that he will continually take care of us and that he is always with us. I can feel now that he walks right beside us, not waits for us at the end of the day. What a relational God! So we got an incredible shower and a comfortable bed for the night. The wait staff that helped us, Heather, Rachel, Dave, and Rob was so incredible! Bless you guys!
Sunday 2009-06-14
Today was another good day. Over 20 miles again. We are rockin’ it. It looks like we are going to make it into Birmingham a day ahead of schedule! So not much happened during the day. All the action seems to go down at nighttime around here. So we got to the town of Cosford and started to look for a place to stay. The fields were once again all wheat fields, so there were no flat areas. But then we came up to this very nice home with a big yard and though, “why not?” So we walked up to the house and noticed a guy in his courtyard and pleaded to stay on his grass. He was completely fine with it! I love it! Everyone that we have asked to stay either with them or on their lawn, they have said yes! His name is Tony Price and he is a very interesting guy. For about an hour before we went to sleep, he showed us around his house because his land has quite a bit of history. His next door neighbor’s house was a hospital in WW2 while his house was a prison for German POW’s. He has bricks in his barn that have the names of some of the prisoners on it. In his courtyard, there is a well that has a secret tunnel that leads about a mile away to a random field that was used to help priests escape during the English Civil War. You can also see on the side of his house where a Spitfire plane crashed into it during the war. He even has some cannonballs that were used on his home during the Civil War. I was so amazed! There is so much history here on his land! He even told me that you can see that outline of a Roman Road that went right through his field. That’s 2000 years ago!!! I couldn’t believe it. That’s what I love about this place. They preserve the history of their country here. So that was a good bedtime story before I went to bed. Good night!
Monday 2009-06-15
We got up a little extra early today because Tony had to feed the horses who were right next to us. Stacey got up and helped feed the horses while Tony and I talked more about English history. We didn’t leave for two hours! They fed us breakfast and we just couldn’t stop talking about history and politics. It was a lot of fun.
We got into Wolverhampton, a city outside of Birmingham, and stopped to have lunch in a public park. Well there just happened to be a massive public kiddy pool in the middle of the park. So what did I do? I jumped in and bathed!!! It was so refreshing.
We made it to the city centre of Birmingham by 7:00 P.M.! We officially made it from Liverpool to Birmingham in four days. That is over 90 miles in four days. That is amazing. We are taking two days off now and luckily we have a place to stay here. My friend from DCC, Thomas Loftus, just happens to be a missionary here! What a small world! So he is going to let us stay in the house that he is staying in. It’s very nice. The owner is a member of the church that he is the youth leader of. His name is Steven and he is very nice. His house has three stories and my room is a tiny 7x12 foot room in the attic with a skylight that opens. So at night I slept with it open and the night breeze filled the room and made the temperature perfect. I slept like a baby. Ah….two days off now.
Tuesday 2009-06-16
Today was a chilled day. We got up when we got up and went with Thomas to his church which is in a community center. It’s a beautiful building in a beautiful park. We got to meet a lot of people and the pastoral staff, including a woman named Alysen Merrill. The funny thing about this woman is that she went to college with Daren! I called Daren to tell him that I am with her and he just about flipped out! What an even smaller world! I love how I run into people on the other side of the world like this!
After that we just chilled at the house, at some food at a local diner, and played Scattergories with one of Thomas’ youth group kids named Andre. He is a riot. I love the youth here; very lively and kind. Not much else happened after that. Tomorrow we get to go into the city centre tomorrow and look around. Another long night of sleep! Woohoo!
Wednesday 2009-06-17
So Birmingham City Centre isn’t too bad. I didn’t get any pictures because it was raining all day. So we stayed inside and looked around in their shopping center called the Bull Ring. It was pretty cool, but it’s just like any normal mall in America. But I enjoyed going into the city.
Tonight we had dinner at Alysen’s house with one of her roommates Nikki. It was such a good dinner! Salmon, peas, parsnips, carrots, rice, and gluten free cookies with ice cream! Oh my goodness!!!!!!! It was so delicious. After that we just relaxed in their living room and talked about different things. It was so encouraging to be around them and receive so much blessing from them. They prayed for us and then Nikki said a famous traditional blessing for us, which was beautiful. I got a picture of it so you can see what it is. It is so encouraging and it is specifically for travelers. I was so joyful for the people here doing kingdom work for this country. I can see that this country is growing and slowly turning back to God. Ever since the 1960’s they have not been named a “Christian” nation. But because of the passion and zeal in the people here, I can see how that is slowly changing. So that is encouraging.
These two days off were very relaxing and much needed. I think we are ready for another three days of walking to Oxford. Alysen found us a friend that she knows who lives there! So we’re set! Woohoo! Time for bed though. Good night! See you in Oxford!
We busted out 24 miles today – our longest in one day so far!!! That day off sure did help a lot. The only thing was that the temperature was a lot cooler today and little windy. But we made it through it. We decided to stop for the night in a town called Banbridge. As we were walking toward the town centre an old lady came up to us and asked us how we were feeling. We only spoke for a few moments but she gave us some change which was very kind. But then a younger girl, named Debra, stormed into the scene. She just came right up to us and said “Hey I saw you guys on the motorway!” We got to talking about what we were doing and she was very interested in it all. After a few minutes, I dropped the bomb and asked if we could stay with her for the night. She wasn’t even hesitant about it! She said it would probably be okay. She still lives with her parents, but luckily her parents were out of town just for tonight and she let us stay in their bed! I don’t think they know still…hahaha. So she called her boyfriend who was staying with her that night to see if it was okay. He said alright as well. So we officially had a place to stay! Before we walked to her house we went to get some take-out because we were STARVING. But while we were walking through town she didn’t go one minute without yelling out someone’s name with a friendly hello across the street or in a shop. It was so funny! She knew everyone! And she is just a barrel full of fun. She is friendly, funny, and talks very fast, haha.
So we went back to her house, met her boyfriend, Gregory, and just chilled for the night. She let us shower, do our laundry, and use her internet. We were so happy to run into her on the street. This was such a treat.
By the way, there is a very ironic health code here in Northern Ireland. Lucky Charms are banned from the entire country because there is too much sugar in them. Lucky Charms…of all cereals. I couldn’t believe it. Hilarious.
Saturday 2009-06-06
Today has been our toughest day so far. It’s so funny how yesterday we covered the longest distance and then the next day was our worst. The days out here are so unstable! It was in the 40’s all day AND it rained non-stop. It was miserable. But, we crossed into the Republic of Ireland this afternoon so that was at least one good thing. So we finished the day in a little town called Jonesborough, Ireland. Actually, it wasn’t even a town, or a village in that matter. It was a highway intersection with a hotel…that’s it. So all we could do for the time being was sit in the hotel and get out of the rain. But we had no clue where to go and set up our tent. And another problem was that Stacey was feeling sick. So her parents decided to treat us to a room in that hotel. The great thing was that we got lucky with a Jacuzzi in this hotel. It was much needed. It felt soooooo good and relaxing. We got our bed and just chilled for the evening. I’m sure getting a hotel that nice for free won’t happen much, haha. I’m beat. Another day, another dog biscuit.
Sunday 2009-06-07
We woke up this morning at about 8:30 and took advantage of the free buffet breakfast. You better believe we gorged ourselves. Awesome. We stuck out from everyone else like a sore thumb. The Carrickdale Hotel was obviously a little more high-class than us. People were staring the whole time. I love it when that happens.
Last night we prayed and prayed that the weather would be better today. At the spa every person we spoke to told us that the weather will be horrible and there is no getting away from it. Well, I can boast in the Lord because they were all wrong. The Lord answered our prayers and gave us incredible weather today! Thank you everyone who was praying for us! It’s so encouraging that you all are fighting for us in prayer constantly. We had a good day of walking. We did between 18-20 miles and finished south of Dunleer, Ireland. Dusk was rolling and it was getting late and we needed to find a plot of land to camp out on. But unfortunately, there was nothing because we were in the middle of endless wheat fields. Luckily, I saw a little patch of grass off the road and decided to check it out. I noticed it was a part of someone’s property. So I decided to go up and ask the homeowners if we could stay in the yard (it was nowhere near their house). They answered the door cheerfully and invited us in. The couple was John and Marian and they were very kind. They gave us tea, spoke with us for a while, and let us use their toilet. I was so thankful. After that, we set up our tent and hit the hay. What a great day.
Monday 2009-06-08
This morning Marian fed us breakfast! It’s such a good feeling to get a big breakfast in you before a long day’s walk. Today was once again a beautiful day. The Lord blessed us with the perfect temperature and no rain again. I love that guy. Though, today was our first day of having hills in our route. They were a pain. But we made it through. Once we got into Naul, the craziest thing happened to us. We stopped in Naul to eat some food because we were pretty hungry. We chose the cheapest thing in the little village, which was a Chinese/Indian restaurant. So I got some chicken fried rice and Stacey got some green curry vegetable madness. As we were eating, Stacey started to get nauseous from the food. WELL DUH!!! It’s flippin’ Indian food in Ireland. It’s going to make your stomach toss and turn. But she looked passed the pain and we kept going. When we started walking I started praying to God to heal Stacey’s sickness and to find us a place to stay so she won’t have to be sleeping in the cold while being sick. After about 40 minutes of walking, Stacey told me that she needed to stop. Her sickness was getting worse and she didn’t know what to do. Luckily, right at the time she said that we were walking passed a small Bed and Breakfast in the middle of nowhere called “Hollywood B & B.” So I didn’t care about privacy and I just walked up to that door and asked the owner if Stacey could use her bathroom. A lovely lady named Margaret answered the door and kindly let Stacey use the restroom. While she was in the bathroom, I was speaking with Margaret about EE and where we planned on staying for the night. Once Stacey was done we just kept on walking down the road.
And then, the most unlikely thing happened. Margaret came rolling down the road in her car and caught up with us to ask if we wanted to stay at her B & B for free!!! We were amazed and excited and joyfully said yes!!! I couldn’t believe it! God once again fully answered our prayers! It was such a blessing to stay in that B & B and it was perfect timing for Stacey. She said that she was starting to feel like she was getting the flu. Which is not good for this type of lifestyle. So we got a nice shower and two nice beds and a wonderful night’s sleep. If I can’t rely on God to protect us and guide us by now, after all he has provided for us, then I am and forever will be hopeless. Thank you God and thank you Margaret.
Tuesday 2009-06-09
Stacey woke up this morning and felt fine! Woohoo! One night’s sleep out here can just reset everything back to normal. Thank God!
We only had to walk about 14 miles today to finish out Ireland. It was yet another gorgeous day and relatively easy terrain to walk on. We walked into Dublin and that was a beautiful sight. I like the vibes that Dublin give off and their river walk type area is really sweet. So we reserved a night at a cheap hostel and checked in around 5:00 PM. To celebrate we went and got something to eat and chilled in downtown Dublin.
Once we got back to the hostel, Stacey went to bed and I went downstairs and talked with a few guys from Canada, America, and Germany in the lounge. It was nice to sit around and talk to some guys about pointless topics. I haven’t had that yet. They were real cool. Other than that it was quite a simple day. Tomorrow we leave for England!
Wednesday 2009-06-10
We didn’t officially finish Ireland until today when we had to walk to the port to hop on the ferry. But Ireland threw us a big curve ball. We left for the port at about 8:15 thinking that it would take 30 minutes to get there, meaning we would be at the terminal an hour and 15 minutes before the boat leaves (the boat shipped out at 10:00). But for some reason it took over an hour and we didn’t get there until 9:40. I guess the port was a lot farther away than I though. So I thought we were still okay because it’s not 10:00 yet. But once I turned the last corner, the freaking ferry had already left the dock!!! I was so pissed! Fortunately, it only took me about 15 minutes to calm down from the whole dilemma. But then I realized we still had to figure out how to get over to Liverpool. So we had to wait for another ferry with a different ferry company until 2:30. But we still got into Liverpool fairly early, so everything’s cool.
Tomorrow is our official day off since we had to get up early today and travel all day. So a day off will feel good after finishing Ireland. Woohoo!
Thursday 2009-06-11
I slept in till 11:00 AM. Wowwwwwwwwwww. It felt so good, you don’t even know. Today was a fun day. I can say that Liverpool is probably my favorite city I’ve been in so far. We had a lot of fun in the city. We felt like going to the Beatles museum, which was very educational and entertaining. If you didn’t know, the Beatles are from Liverpool. That’s why there is a museum, silly. Stacey had some great comments about the experience that I thought would be good to put in the blog. I think it will give you some perspective:
“Liverpool – home of the Beatles. I like the Beatles; I always have. I learned a lot about them and have a new appreciation for them. However, at the end of the museum was a special exhibit for John Lennon and ‘Give Peace a Chance.’ It really turned me off to him. I mean, he honestly looked like a nut case, sitting in a bed, tossing around flowers while saying his belief is ‘don’t believe in anything but yourself’ and to ‘give peace a chance.’ I agree that peace and love are two great things and yes, everyone should give these two a chance. But I think he has a distorted view. Why can’t we have peace and still believe in something? You can love someone without having the same beliefs. In fact, some people find peace and love from what they believe. So why does God or Jesus have to be eliminated from peace or love? Isn’t Jesus one of the greatest examples of love that that ever lived? Doesn’t he promote loving others no matter what? And isn’t that what peace is all about? So now, so many followers of John Lennon think that you shouldn’t believe in anyone, that you should just believe in yourself. Which believing in yourself is a great thing and I think that it’s important. But it’s not the sole thing that will get you through in life. And in all reality, everyone has their own securities – even John Lennon. I just think he is putting out a false campaign about peace and love.”
Then we walked around in this area called Liverpool One, the newest shopping center of Liverpool. Though, I didn’t buy anything of course. But Stacey got a few presents for her family. And then we treated ourselves to another movie, “The Hangover.” Holy funniest movie I’ve seen a long time. I loved it.
So that was pretty much it – just a chilled day before a long trek through England. It will take us about 2 and a half to three weeks to get across England. I think we’re ready. This break really helped. Please give us great weather, England! God save the queen! J
People
always say that with any constant physical activity, the third day is the
hardest day. Well I believe them. Today was the worse day for me physically and
mentally. I was so tired all day and the sun never gave us a break. Clouds
never blocked the sun from sucking the energy completely out of us. I also have
gotten more blisters since yesterday which is always fun…NOT! Stacey did much
better than me today. She was very encouraging and helped me when I was feeling
a little sick around 5:00 PM. We’ve
run into some interesting weather around here. Typically in Scotland
it doesn’t go two days with raining. The day before we got here it was pouring
down rain. But once our plane landed it was bright and breezy. Ever since then
it has been sunny. Four days of no rain in Scotland!
That’s a miracle, so they say. And they say it won’t start raining until the
day after we leave this country. What a blessing that God has stopped the rain
from falling on us (at least for now). I can’t live a fantasy that we will be
able to walk the entire UK
without getting a lick of rain. So we’ll see.
We stopped
in a town called Stonehouse for dinner. We were planning on continuing after we
ate because today had been really slow. But once we sat down we couldn’t get
back up. We were just dead. We ate at this place called Mia’s Bistro. It was
tasty. But the perfect woman stepped into our lives right when we needed it the
most. Our waitress, Lisa, asked us about our walk and she instantly opened up
her home for us to stay tonight. It was such a relief. Like I said, we were
thinking about moving on but when she said she always takes hikers in, I
realized it was a good idea. So we ate our dinner and then she took us to her
place which was only right around the corner. She was also overly hospitable
and very loving. She helped us with laundry (we hang-dried our clothes!), gave
us drinks and food, she sewed up my shoulder strap on my pack, and she even
gave us HER bed and she slept on the couch. I was so honored to be her house.
So for the rest of the night we hung out with her neighbors Tin and Stewart and
talked about random stuff. It was really fun and relaxing. I am so glad we were
able to find a place to stay in a bed tonight because we really needed it.
Tuesday 2009-06-02
So as we
were getting ready this morning at Lisa’s house, Lisa invited two of her
friends over to meet the two crazy Americans that she hosted. It was really
funny. One of her friends (I forgot her name! Sorry!!) tried on Stacey’s
backpack. I wish I got a picture because this woman was so small that she could
actually fit inside the backpack.
We headed
out a little late this morning. But it’s okay because we made it at least 20
miles today! And that is officially our first 20 miler! Today was so much
easier. All you ladies out there, praise Stacey! She was awesome today. She is
the first woman to hike a significant distance of the Earth Expedition and she
is representing the female race quite well. There couldn’t be a stronger girl
out there I don’t think. She is only 20 years old! What a blessing she is to
have her out here with me.
We made it
into Hurlford, Scotland
for the night. We had no clue where we were going to stay so we thought we
might start asking people since we’ve had great “luck” the pass few nights
(thanks to God). So we idea farmed around on the streets and no one offered to
let us stay with them. So we decided to grab a bite to eat at this Chinese
restaurant called “Wild Blossom.” When we walked in, it was a little more
elegant than we thought. But fortunately, the prices were affordable for our
budget. So we sat down and began to order. And while we were eating, two
different groups eating in the restaurant talked to us! We told them what we
were doing and they were so supportive, which felt really good. Both of them
ended up giving us money for the journey, which was such a huge blessing!!!
Thanks guys! They said they would have let us stay with them for the night but
neither of the groups lived in town. They were both traveling through. What a
coincidence!
So we left
the restaurant still in need of a place to stay. So we went to an inn to ask
about how cheap their rooms were, to see if we could barter. But as we got in,
we realized the “inn” part of the name was just a name. It was a pub…But there
was a guy in there who wanted to help us and he told us that we could stay at
the caravan park that he lives in. His name is William and he lives there with
his wife Elizabeth. We were relieved. Though we had to sleep on the ground
after a long day, we didn’t mind it. So he showed us down to his site and we
got to pitch our tent in a nice, flat, safe area. He let us use his bathrooms
as well. He was very gracious and caring. So the night is over and it’s time
for some sleep.
Wednesday 2009-06-03
So sleep
this morning didn’t go as well as we thought. Up here in Scotland
the sun doesn’t go down till 11:00 PM
and the sun rises at 3:30 AM. So at 7:00 this morning these BLOODY SEAGULLS above
us were squawking like a bunch of cats in heat and the sun was beating down on
our tent. So we went ahead and got up early.
William and
Elizabeth were even more gracious today. They helped book a room for a hostel
in Belfast for tonight, they gave
us breakfast, and even sent us off with food (which we already ate)!!! We only
had to walk 10 miles today to finish up Scotland.
So we are officially done with Scotland!!!
We hung out in Troon for a few hours and then hopped onto the ferry to Belfast.
But good ol’ Northern Ireland
threw us a curve ball once we came into the port.
Our ferry
set off 10 minutes late which got us to Larne 10 minutes late. Well the last
train to go into Belfast left at 10:30 and we didn’t get in till 10:35. We missed the train by FIVE MINUTES!!
So we got some help from a man named Joe about how else to get to Belfast.
He said all the buses were finished for the night as well. We almost were going
to have to sleep in the ferry terminal until he found a number for a taxi. We
couldn’t stay at the terminal because we had a reservation for a room at the
hostel in Belfast, and if we didn’t
make it then we would get charged. So Joe was very helpful and even gave us
money for the taxi because he felt sorry for us. While we waited for the taxi
we talked about country music! A local Irish lad who is in love with old
country music. I was so happy. So the taxi came at about 11:30 PM and took us to the hostel. The taxi driver was
also very nice and we talked all the way to the hostel. We got to the hostel
and all was well. Tomorrow is our day off and we could sleep in! Woot woot!
Thursday 2009-06-04
Sleeping in
feels so good out here...well if you think 9:00
AM is sleeping in. But that’s plenty for me. We met a Canadian
named Dena at the hostel and we hung out with her and had lunch with her for
half the day. We just took it easy in downtown Belfast
for pretty much the whole day. We also treated ourselves to a movie, Angels and
Demons, which was entertaining. We picked up our groceries for the next few
days, got a map of Ireland,
and now we’re just chillin in a coffee shop. Hopefully Ireland
will treat us well. I already like this country. But that’s about it for now.
See ya!
Woohoo! We made it into Edinburgh! This is city is so beautiful! We got off the plane and it took us a while to find out where to go because I’d never been here. But we hopped onto a bus and went to the center of the city and grabbed a bite to eat at Burger King. Don’t hate, it was the only familiar place and we had to get something because we needed to find a hostel. Finding a hostel was a little difficult because, of all weekend, a marathon was going on and all the hostels were full. But we were able to find two beds at a place called Smart City Hostels. I was so excited because this is my first hostel experience!!! We met a guy there named Cody Marriott. He is such a cool guy and he decided to hang out with us tomorrow and walk with us for a little bit. We went to the grocery store (Tesco) to get some food for the next few days and that was fun. Then we went back to our room and talked with our roommates for a while. They are both French and they were both extremely nice. They also taught me some French phrases for when I have to walk through France. So my first hostel experience was a great one. I love the atmosphere and the people are so nice. I can’t wait to stay in more!! What a day!
Saturday, 2009-05-30
So before we started the actual walking, Cody, Stacey, and I went to visit Rosslyn Chapel. Rosslyn Chapel is the church that was in the final scene of the Da Vinci Code. There were other important reasons for its popularity but I forgot. I was just excited that I was in the same place that Tom Hanks was!!! Hahaha. We also got to see some ruins of an old castle near the Chapel. So technically after we saw that, we started walking from Rosslyn Chapel. So the European Leg began at Rosslyn Chapel…kinda cool. After that, Cody walked with us until about 4:00 and then parted ways. He was a great person to have with us. He was a lot of fun and very entertaining. He’s from Reno! Woot!
After that, while we were walking on an old bike trail that went outside of the city, I actually saw a friend that I knew back in the states! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I actually saw Russell three days ago in Dallas before he was about to leave to come back here. It was insane!!! I was so excited!
Once we got to a little town called Currie, we stopped to have dinner at a pub…the locals there were having an ale and they were giving us some pretty interesting looks. But they ended up talking to us and were extremely nice. So far, everyone we have come into contact with us has been very kind. I love the Scots! So that’s all for now. We’re setting up camp by a little river. Day one done! Another day, another dog biscuit!!
Sunday, 2009-05-31
Today was a little bit more difficult. About 30 minutes after we started, life threw me a curve ball…my bag ripped!!! Right at the shoulder strap where it’s the most important. Luckily, it didn’t rip all the way, but just one little pull the wrong way will completely dismember it. So I need to find someone that sews so it can be temporarily fixed. Please pray that it doesn’t rip because that would mean we would have to stop and actually find a store that sells these kind of packs.
I had my first authentic fish and chips for dinner tonight! We walked through a town called West Calden and there was a little take away food shop called “Chippy’s” that had a ton of food. I thought it was quite good. Today’s scenery was magnificent. The countryside of Southern Scotland is breathtaking. It made me smile just to see such a beautiful place created by God. It really does glorify him.
So we tried to set up camp again outside in this abandoned area at the end of an old little road. It was near train tracks and all around us was really marshy ground. What we didn’t see at first is that all around us, because of the marshy land, were hundreds of huge slugs crawling all over the place. And after about 30 minutes, bugs started to just linger around our campsite for some reason. After another 30 minutes, it was just too unbearable so we packed up all our stuff and got out of there. I didn’t know what to do now because as I walked down the road more, everyone around was the same marshy condition. So I just started praying intently for God to find us a place to stay. And about ½ a mile up the road was a little village with literally about 100 people in it called Bleich. And the first person I saw who was walking out of their house saw us and I walked directly toward him. I went up to and told him our situation and he kindly said that he didn’t have any room in the house but he would let us stay in his backyard. I didn’t hesitate for a second! So we went in to his backyard and were relieved when we found out there were no bugs! So he brought his wife and kind out to introduce us. Their names are Skid, Nikki, and his son is Presley. They were soooooo nice to us. They gave us any food or drink we need, they let us come in and relax by the TV, they showed were the breakfast food for tomorrow was, let us use their shower, and they even trusted us with a key to lock the door tomorrow morning whenever we leave! I was so amazed by their hospitality. What a blessing it was to run into them. So all in all, God immediately answered my prayer and found us great people to stay with. So we’ve officially made it two days through Scotland. Woohoo! Thank you God!
May 28, 2009 The Earth Expedition Launches European Walker
The Earth Expedition Launches European Walker "Bryan Schlackman"
I am leaving tomorrow for Europe! I can't believe it! It's finally here! I've been doing my best to get ready for the next leg of the Earth Expedition but it's been difficult. Part of me just wants to leave right this second, but then part of me wants to make sure that everything is in order before I ship out. The most common phrase that I got during this "limbo" time was "when are you going to get a job?" I guess some people were more concerned with me being "responsible" in the sense of producing income. I guess fulfilling the Great Commission and reaching out to others who are in need are not important to them...thought they claim to love Christ. So there have been times where I was discouraged and didn't feel that some people had my back. Sorry, I had to vent. But this is going to be the greatest adventure I've ever been on AND it's in the name of Christ. How amazing is that?!?! I am honored to be the European Walker for Active:Water - The Earth Expedition.
I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who donated and supported me financially for this next leg. Without you I would not be able to leave at this time. But to comfort you, I didn't just sit around and do nothing these past two months. In order to raise money I also worked odd jobs and did handyman work to fund myself as well. I'm not a mooch. But for those who are sending me with your prayers and money; thank you. I am forever grateful. And thank you so so so much sponsors for providing me the equipment necessary to walk across Europe. I will wear your gear proudly.
Now to inform you all of what my route is...I will be starting in Ediburgh, Scotland. From there I will walk west toward Ireland and ferry over. Then I will walk from Belfast, Northern Ireland to Dublin, Ireland. Then I will ferry to Liverpool, England and walk all the way to London. After that I will ferry one last time over to Rotterdam, Netherlands and walk south through Belgium, France, Spain, and ending in Porto, Portugal. Be sure to read my blogs and look at the pictures of the beautiful countryside!!! Lots of stuff will go down in five months! I'll try to get some crazy stories on here. In the beginning, my close friend, Stacey Blaylock, will be joining on the walk from Scotland to Paris, France. Then she will go back home and my other friend, Brett Vance, will walk with me from Paris to Portugal. I am so excited that these two are coming with me. But I hope some of you come on over and walk with us some! We would love it!
Also, I ask that you never forget to pray for our safety, effectiveness for helping the people of Zambia, and sharing the love of Christ with everyone we see. Put reminders in your phone, write a note, and tell others...because we need your prayers. Help us get across Europe safely and effectively.
I wanted to let everyone in on some news that you might not have heard of yet. The Earth Expedition is now underneath the umbrella non-profit organization called Active:Water. This new organization is a way to keep the cause going even when the Earth Expedition ends. Active:Water exists mainly in the athletic community and raises money for clean water all around the world by hosting athletic campaigns, which is exactly what The Earth Expedition is. If you have any questions on how you can be involved with Active:Water as well, don't hesitate to email (amie@activewater.org).
Here is the reason I am walking… to be a voice for these people. Thank you for your support:
Active:Water’s offical partners Blood:Water Mission and S.H.I.P. (Seeds of Hope International Partnerships) current work targets two of Zambia’s nine provinces, the Copperbelt province and Lusaka province (the main cities are Ndola and Lusaka). Within these two regions, the Mapalo communitity (formerly known as Chapulu Kusu) is the focus of Active:Water's fundraising work for 2009.
Mapalo is one of roughly 7 peri-urban slums on the edge of Ndola town and makes up a population of nearly 65,000 people. Prevalance of water-borne illnesses coupled with one of Zambia's highest HIV/AIDS population rates (resting at 23%), have given the citizens an average lifespan of 39 years. In the last three years, Mapalo has already received 7 community wells and over 800 biosand filters have been placed in village homes. This particular section of Mapalo has seen fantastic changes in health within this short time frame, especially in rainy season when most outbreaks occur. A huge milestone was passed this last year when a local clinic within the established project zone reported zero cases of cholera for the first time in living memory.
The water table averages 10-15 feet allowing easy access through hand-dug wells. However, unsealed latrines have turned the water into a dangerous cocktail of typhoid, cholera, and giardia that kills many people each year, especially children under the age of five. In fact, the death rate is so high that until recently, the Mapalo region was officially named by it's national government as Chapulu Kusu, meaning "Cursed Village" for it's deadly reputation. In 2008 the village formally requested a name change to Mapalo, translated as "Blessed Village", for the faith and hope that they have in their future due to recent water and sanitation projects being implemented in their village
This is why The Earth Expedition Exist. Thank you for following, the next time you hear from me, I will be in Scotland! Bryan Schlackman (European Walker) and The Earth Expedition Team
April 22, 2009 Getting ready for the european launch and result of the Myspace Impact Awards!
Hello Expedition Followers: Although we have not posted for a while doesn’t mean that we haven’t been busy! We are just getting geared up to Launch here very very soon.Here is some of what has been happening over the past month!
Myspace Impact Award!Hey everyone, Myspace has announced the winner for the Impact Awards and it's yours truly....The Earth Expedition!!!!
On behalf of everyone on our team, thank you soooooooooo much for all your nominations, daily votes, bulletin posts, blogs, arm twisting your friends, LOL...you name it! We know that without your help and encouragement, we'd never made it this far.
Our supporters are the best and we love you all!
Thank you for bringing us this blessing.
Because of your dedication, The Earth Expedition mission will continue on to Europe, hundreds of volunteers will be recruited to respond to the water crisis, and countless lives will be saved in Zambia through fresh water wells, hygeine training, and medical care!
The Launch to Europe:We are getting close to the Launch Date for Europe and we are still trying to raise just a little more support to Launch Bryan to Europe of the 1,800 mile section of Europe . We have raised $4,800 to date but need $7,000 before we can launch him which means we still need to raise $2,200 more.
I (Daren) have spent the last 3 months with Bryan as a teammate across the 2,000 miles stretch from California to Georgia. I am confident that Bryan has what it takes to walk the 1,800 miles stretch from Scotland to Portugal. I have seen him persevere through all types of obstacles over the walk across the USA and I also know his love for providing clean water for those in need. He has a heart of gold and loves people and he doesn’t know a stranger. He is the right person for the job. Please consider supporting The Expedition by Supporting Bryan.Below is some of Bryan’s Heart:
Dear Friends and Family,I just recently graduated from Dallas Christian College with a degree in Inter-cultural Studies. With that degree I desire to help change the world by sharing the love of Christ with the lost while helping to eradicate social injustices.
For the next year, I will be embarking on an incredible journey for the sake of the Gospel.A man named Daren Wendell has started a global campaign called The Earth Expedition as part of the non-profit organization, Active:Water. The Earth Expedition is an incredible 18,000 mile walk around the world by a small team of individuals who believe that clean water should not be a luxury, but the right of every individual. This organization works off of the premise that this small team is willing to surrender all of our personal comforts, finances, and time to strap on a backpack and literally walk thousands of miles around the world so that our story can be used to create a platform to increase awareness about the World Water Crisis. The Earth Expedition team visits schools, churches, youth conferences, cafes, and other public venues to educate listeners on the greatest healthcare issue the world faces, lack of clean water and sanitation. We compel our listeners not only to make a financial contribution to help organizations combat the issue, but to look within themselves and find how they too, can give of their time, talents, and resources to be a voice for the voiceless. We have partnered with Blood:Water Mission in building over 1,000 wells in over 1,000 communities across the continent of Africa. The Earth Expedition Team is changing lives both here and abroad through our story of finding "life to the fullest" through the pathways of sacrificial giving.
Daren was originally going to do this expedition alone but decided that it would be better to create a team of walkers to accomplish the goal. This is where I came in. I was introduced to Daren by a mutual friend and after about two weeks of getting to know each other, he decided that I should be the next walker for the expedition in Europe. My route stretches from Scotland to Portugal (Scotland, Ireland, England, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal). Daren also asked me to walk with him from San Diego, CA to Georgia. I said, yes!
We left January 6th and have completed the walk from San Diego to Georgia.It was a great experience.The generosity and loving kindness from strangers was amazing (stories on the web site).Now, I am preparing for my departure on May 18th to Scotland to walk my route. When I finish, the next walker (to be determined) will continue east toward Asia.
I hope that you will stay up-to-date with what I am doing as I walk. Our website is www.theearthexpedition.com. We have pictures, blog posts of the journey, a newsletter you can subscribe to and a GPS tracking system so you can find where we are on the route.Also, I am in need of personal financial support as I walk across America and Europe.
I ask you to pray that this organization grows in the direction that God has in mind for it, that the unclean water problem will be eradicated, that there will be safety as we walk, and ultimately that every life that we encounter will come to know Christ and live an abundant life in Him! I am so blessed that God allowed me to be a part of this awesome journey and I need everyone's help to do it. I can't do it alone. So join me and be with me in spirit as I try to do my best in this effort.
Thank you and God bless! Bryan Schlackman
Timeline of Events:
January 10, 2009 – March 21, 2009 – Walk American Leg - Completed.
March 22, 2009 – May 16, 2009 – Prepare for European Leg (collect funds,Presentations for The Earth Expedition, plan route, collect supplies, training).
May 17, 2009 – September 12, 2009 – Walk European Leg from Scotland to Portugal.
Send through mail to Active:Water, PO Box 37 Mattawan MI 49071. Make check payable to “Active:Water” (Memo: Bryan Schlackman)
P.S. If your church or anyone that you know would like to have us speak/present on the international water crisis, what the Earth Expedition is and how you can be a part of the movement, please contact Amie Hadaway at Amie@activewater.org or Daren Wendell: Daren@activewater.org
Active:Water: We are excited to announce that The Earth Expedition has partnered with the Non-Profit Organization Active:Water. Active:Water is a organization that uses the Athletic lifestyle along with Grass Root Campaigns to address the international water crisis all over the world. Active:Water is formally partnered with Blood:Water Mission and are working together to focus on water project on Zambia for 2009!
The Earth Expedition Benefit:
"It’s been about a month since we have finished the American leg of the expedition. I’ve had some time to relax, see some friends, and even make some money to save for Europe. But last night was a special night! Brett Vance (hiking with me in Europe) planned and hosted an art show to raise money for the Earth Expedition at Fat Straws! For about an hour and a half we showed the art and then had a presentation on the expedition for about 45 minutes. It was an unexpected turn out. I can’t even figure how many people showed up because it was about a three hour time period, but I would say at least 150 people came for the event. The art show made the night energetic and there were even people who brought instruments and had a little jam session. I got to talk to a lot of people one on one and the Fat Straws employees were very supportive. Because of the event we were able to raise over $350! Thank you everyone for supporting us and coming to the show! So it was a fantastic night and I can’t wait to do it again! I started training again for the European leg and it’s been pretty good. Obviously, running a few miles a day and lifting weights is a little easier than walking 25 miles a day. But still…it’s been good. So yeah…that’s it. I’m out." Bryan Schlackman (European Walker)
Thanks to all of you, we made it into the top 3 finalist round of the Myspace Impact Awards! Now we need you more than ever! Simply click on the banner or the link above and cast your vote for The Earth Expedition to win that $10,000 award! Voting only last from now until Wednesday at 11:59am and you can only vote once per day per myspace account. So please repost this voting plea to all your Myspace (and facebook) friends.
This donation and media exposure will do so much to assist us with launching our message with the European Leg of the Earth Expedition and our clean water projects in Zambia this year!
Dinner with Peak Axe: I love Days off…. Especially with friends…and especially with friendships that were made on the Appalachian Trail! There is just something about the bonds made on the A.T…. I guess it is the fact that no one else in the world has experienced what the two of you have experienced…. Unless you walk mountains, live in the woods, and drink from streams on a regular basis. I am going to guess that is not your traditional lifestyle…. But our time in Birmingham was great… “Peak Axe” (Josh May) really took care of us when we were there. Tonight he made for us Pork Tenderloin, asparagus, and rice…. This may be my favorite meal ever! Ahh… soo good… the conversation was also good…. I find my conversations with people always end up philosophical… which I don’t mind… it is great actually… but I consider myself a simple person so my philosophical thoughts are one liners…. I guess this past year has really simplified my thinking…. You know.. what is important and what is not important… what hills to die on and what to let slide…I look forward to processing all of this in about a week.
The Barking Cudu: Wow… I feel like today was a Appalachian trail Reunion! The first week of the Appalachian trail I met a guy named Mark…. I was still Daren at the time for we just started and was not yet “trail named” but after that weekI didn’t see him… I thought maybe he got off the trail which many do and I really never thought of it again… well… about 5 months later up in New Hampshire I was hearing about this guy named “Hangman”I didn’t know who he was for I didn’t know a “Hangman” well it turned out that it was Mark! It was awesome… and kind of surreal… I mean I barely recognized him and him me for none of us had shaved and looked like completely different people! Well we ended up walking through the White Mountains together and into the “100 mile Wilderness” where he slowed down a little because his ride was not coming in until a few days later. I never saw him again…. Well I turn out he lives in Birmingham! So we got a hold of each otherand all of us met at the Barking Cuda! Which is a pretty sweet hang out joint with live music… He was there with a girl he has been talking to and Bryan, Josh, and I met them... the night was great and filled with “Well What next?” and reminiscing of the trail and what each other have been up to. Through talking with Marks friend Anna I found out that she is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro for a charity here within the next year!It was a great night filled with a bittersweet goodbye and as usual I tell people that “if you are ever in Michigan you have a place to stay” I love meeting new people… .Their stories are incredible!
So today was a chilled day. We slept in and worked on the website a little. Then Kellet, one of Peak Axe’s friends took us to a local fast food place called
Milo ’s. It was tasty, although I couldn’t experience the fullness of the burger since I couldn’t eat the bun. But the meat was good…
We relaxed pretty much all day and then ate dinner at home with Peak Axe. He is a man of many trades because he is also an amazing cook. Then we went to hang out with a bunch of friends at a place called the Barking Cudu. I got to meet another friend of Daren’s that he met on the AT named Hangman (Mark). He was really cool. And I got to meet his girlfriend Anna who is hiking up
Mt.
Kilimanjaro in September. I am very impressed. So they’re good people. Oh yeah, and I saw a washout rock band of a bunch of guys in their 40’s trying to be young again. It was sad, but entertaining nonetheless. But that was pretty much it for the day. We have our last four days ahead of us. It’s almost over! CRAZY!!!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Daren’s Blog
8 hours of Water: Ok.. I thought we were going to make it across the United States very lucky walkers… well I was wrong. For the past 2 months Bryan and I never had to put on our rain jackets.. well… we made up for the two months today and by the looksof it we are going to pay for it for a few days.
Maramaduke: Over the past 2 months I have really have got used to all of the dogs that are not tied up. Most of the dogs come darting at you but stop right before the road... I usually yell at them “NO” or “SIT”and they get really confused or I raise my hand like I am going to hit them “Most dogs are familiar with this action” and they scurry away. I sometime walk across the road if there is little traffic as to lure them into the road….I should be awful about this but I don’t.I like dogs.. .not just the ones who want a part of my Achilles. Well today the fear of dogs have been restored… I was walking today and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a horse running at me! Holy cow! This dog was huge! It was a Great Dane and it was not on a chain and it didn’t care that I was luring it into the middle of the road… it came into the road and at that particular moment there was no car to come to my rescue… I thought aboutpulling my knife as I usually do but thought to myself.. “Yeah Right”this think was barking and frothing…not good… One thing that I learned when it comes to dogs that has worked for me is to never turn and run.. that is when you get bit.. so I face them and yell and kind of fake rush them… I have found they typically run away.. .I usually do this to dogs that are knee high.. . I have ever encountered one that was neck high. I walked backwards until a cars did come and then changed my walking to a brisk run J Safe!
10 Good People: Today was awesome!Since it was raining I had 10 cars stop and ask me if I wanted a ride!And as I always have done I say “I appreciate it but I can’t… I am walking for a charity and need to walk every step but thank you”right after I say that I think to myself (inner monologue) “you’re stupid Daren”
Rebecca and Carl: A few days back a lady by the name of Rebecca contacted The Earth Expedition. She found the expedition through following about 5 different links that lead her there but she and her husband offered their place to us when we came through. She didn’t know that we were about 2 days out! Which was a God thing for we didn’t have a place that night!But we connected and they ended upgetting us a hotel with a hot breakfast! So sweet after yet another rainy day! They then took us out to “Ryans” for a Buffet. They had contacted Ryan’s earlier that day and got Bryan and I a free meal compliments of Ryans!Heck Yeah!
Before we left Peak Axe’s this morning, he threw a bunch of his food in our car. It was awesome. What a nice guy. Then he took us to breakfast in downtown
Birmingham . We ate at the Original Pancake House. It was delectable.
But unfortunately, we ran into some bad luck. And it’s funny that it happened on Friday the 13th of all days. This entire trip we have not run into any hard rain. One day a sprinkle of rain for about 10 minutes came over us in
New Mexico , but that’s it. Today, it poured…all day. It never stopped. It was the most annoying and depressing day I’ve walked so far. We almost made it across the entire country without rain!!!! So yeah, it sucked.
But when we got into
Cullman, AL we got a little surprise! A random family (Rebecca and Karl Bartholomew) contacted us and told us they wanted to take us out to dinner and put us up in a hotel for the night! What a surprise! So we met up in Cullman and went to dinner at Ryan’s Buffet and had a great time. Before we got back to the hotel Karl and Rebecca gave us some home-made honey. One of Karl’s side jobs is that he owns a Bee Farm. That was a very generous of them. He said over 100 worker bees sacrificed their life to produce this bottle of sweet honey nectar. It was delicious!
I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow. I will cry if it does.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Daren’s Blog:
Radio: this morning my phone rang at 7:30… I went to answer it and just missed it.. but after I listened to message found out it was a radio station.. He told me that he was very interested in the story and was going to call me back in a few minutes to do a teaser.. and that he wanted us to come in on Monday to do an interview… we will see what pans out..
Another rainy day: All kinds of good media exposure are happening for the expedition! The majority of these opportunities comes all the way from Michigan when the director of development and communications for Active:Water (Amie Hadaway) spends hours contacting all kinds of media outlets forus! But a news reporter read the press release that she had sent out and wanted to meet us in the downtown area. He said he would meet us at“Jeffersons”Ok…. That sounded like a restaurant to me and I am always up for meeting at a restaurant! It was kind of a unique place.. there were colored 1 dollar bills all over the walls and ceiling and it was PACKED with people. I guess it is the place to eat… and man was it goooood. I rocked a Philly Cheese steak sandwich and some sweet tea. I figure I better get all I can get because I know when I cross north of the Mason Dixie line the Sweet tea ceases to exist! We then proceeded down the street after the meal and did the interview. CLICK HERE FOR THE INTERVIEW
Off to our Host Place: Earlier in the day a reporter that covered the story for the local newspaper came and met us at lunch! He brought us some fantastic Bar-B-Q. Bryan and I had lunch with him and devoured everything! I knew that I had an additional 12.5 to walk that day but the food was sooo good! He offered his place to stay that night. Bryan and I showed up late for we had the interview tonight that got us in late. But they were very good to us. We go there and ate again! At this point if you put food in front of my face I am not going to deny it! Andy’s wife also made a cake for us! Ohhh Sweet Nectar of Life! I have a whole ‘nother stomach for desert! She made coffee and I think Bryan and I was “food drunk” which a term that Peak Axe and I made up on the Appalachian Trail where you get goofy after eating a ton of food. I don’t know why this happens I just know it does! I am going to sleep really really good tonight! Good nightCLICK HERE FORTHE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
Rain again…I can’t believe it. All flippin day. I even woke up today feeling sick. I think I have a sinus infection. I’m pretty sure it’s because I was walking in cold rain all day yesterday…DUH!!! But only the weather and my sickness were bad. A man named Andy Powell who is a journalist for the Gadsden Times wrote an article on the Earth Expedition for today. And then he met us for lunch on the road and brought us some awesome barbeque! What a nice guy! Then when we got into Gadsden for the night another man named Phillip Swindall who works for the Gadsden TV news station met up with us and did a TV interview! He took us out to dinner at a town favorite called
Jefferson ’s. It was awesome. So the night ended well.
Then when drove to stay at Andy’s (the journalist) house for the night. His wife was more than kind to meet my needs for some medication for my sinus infection. So she gave me some strong cough medicine that had codine in it. Let’s just say I was all of a sudden a lot more chipper after that. I don’t know what happened J. So they were a lot of fun and were very hospitable. So now I hope for two things, that it doesn’t rain and that I feel better.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Daren’s Blog
GA Border, Half Day, a race for the interview: Today was the day when we cross the last state border. To be honest I have lost track of the total number of state lines to date but I do know it was the last! It was going to be a short day of about 18 miles each. We needed to stop because we have been planning on doinga “Century Day”(50 miles each) on the last day into Dahlonega, GA which is where I started 373 days ago. Crazy to think about.When Bryan and I met for lunch we realized that we were going to lose an hour when we crossed the border which was an issue because we had an interview with a radio station at 3:00 and we were going to be late if we walked the remaining 10 miles so we had a short lunch and figured out that in order to make it in time we need to run for 15 minutes and then walk 5 minutes and then back to 15 minutes of running and continue this for the remainder of the day! I am feeling that mistake right now.
Congratulations: I am already receiving phone calls today from friends congratulating me on the USA section of the USA. I love friends… and I have awesome ones!
CIY: I am just laying here waiting for the CIY guys to come in. CIY (Christ in Youth) Is an organization that…well they do a lot of ministry related work with youth. The reason I am waiting on them is they are flying into Atlanta today and then driving up to Rome, GA where we are at They are going to video the last day of the Expedition and shoot video tomorrow. They are going to be using the story in their summer conferences this summer. If you remember previous blogs.. this is the same organization thatflew me up to Joplin when we were back in Dallas.
Bryan is Zonked: I can’t sleep and Bryan is zonked out and it is 6:30!.. I am not going to lie.. I wish I could sleep right now as well. Grrr
50 miles each: Tomorrow is the longest walking day that I will have ever done in my life. Back on the Appalachian Trail I walked with 4 other guys a total of 42 miles. It took us 17.5 hours to do is as well and that was with a 37 lb pack on my back as well.. but in about 4 hours we will be getting up to do 50 miles into Dahlonega. We decided to get a good breakfast at Waffle House before the morning begins! We get up at 1:25pmI really hope I get some sleep!
Bryan’s Blog
Today was our short day before the beast-of-a-day walk to the end tomorrow. I still feel under the weather which concerns me because I…HAVE TO WALK 50 MILES TOMORROW!!! And it rained AGAIN! I’m glad it was a short day because I was going to start destroying things if it took any longer to finish. We stopped in
Rome, GA and had a radio interview with a local AM station. It was a lot of fun. That was another first for me.
I am going to try and go to bed right now…it is 5:30 PM. We have to get up at 1:30 tomorrow morning to get to Dahlonega before nightfall. Gosh, I can’t even imagine doing this. Pray for us!!!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Daren’s Blog:
VICTORYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
100 miles of rain: Ok…Wow.. this day will be a day to remember. We woke up at 1:25 am after about a total of 3-4 hours of sleep and headed over to the Waffle House. We ate $27 dollars worth of food… that is crazy for breakfast! Unfortunately rain is in the forecast for the entire day! BOOOO
Fell asleep walking: I had read a book about a year ago that a friend gave me called “Ultra Marathon Man” In that book he shares a story of how we fell asleep during running and would wake up in the middle of the road. I am not going to lie… I had a hard time believing the whole thing until today. It was about 3:30 am and I got no sleep last night …. It was pitch black on the road with the occasional semi-truck that would pass spraying me with water but other than that it was pretty silent. I my were closing on me and then I woke up and I was tripping in the grass… I had Fallen asleep! I couldn’t believe it…. I did it about 3 times over the period of the morning…. My legs would keep walking but mentally I was asleep. Muscle memory is crazy!
Friends:I was excited today for the last 12 miles of the day my friends Chris Dove (which is the same guy who started it with me) and Kelly Powe are going to walk into Dahlonega with me! I tell you what… I sure needed it… I was feeling like the bottom of a trash can but friends made the last part of USA leg just melt away. My friend Kelly wore Sandals and by the end of the 12 miles her foot was bleeding profusely! I thought about posting the picture but it looks pretty disgustingly awesome and didn’t want anyone to lose their lunch so I won’t JI promise
52 miles:I have to say that now that it is all said and done…. The 52 miles that I walked was not all that bad. I think I was distracted all day with the CIY guys pulling by my… setting up the camera… I would walk by, and then they would pass me and do the same thing probably about 15 times throughout the day. I did develop a pretty nasty blister but I didn’t care because I don’t plan on walking for about a yearJ . I have even been knocking around the idea of starting a new expedition called “The Couch Expedition”I think the tagline“Life to the Laziest” fits well but then I realized that I am pretty sure that over half the country is already on that expedition…. Ohh.. that felt a little harsh! Moving on… I am soaked from the day… and the day was pretty much the wettest and most dangerous days of the expedition. There were no shoulders all day long and being that we were walking in pitch black with headlamps on for a lot of time people were just not seeing us…add rain and people texting on their phones and it is a bad combination for Bryan and I.
Pizza: Bryan is pretty much allergic to anything flour.. so for the past month we have not been able to go to Italian restaurants to eat! Ahh… Which is not good for me for I have been craving carbs!!! And I love Italian. But Bryan had told me that he didn’t care he was going to eat a large pizza when we got done with the Expedition. Everyone who was there at the end of the expedition all went over to “Caruso’s” The Pizza place was only about .2 miles away but Bryan and I decided that we were going to drive J
What to think?:Wow… You know what….people have been calling like crazy today to congratulate meand they ask how I feel and what next?I got the what next down but I don’t have the how I feel down yet..I think it will take a few weeks to process all of it. It is hard to put 4,400 miles of walking over a period of 373 days in a one liner.Time will tell.
WE DID ITTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am alive! I have legs! I don’t hate my life! Woohoo!!!! Man, what a day. I didn’t know so many things could happen in one day. This might be a long blog.
We woke up at 1:30 AM to get ready and get eat a hearty breakfast at Waffle House before our 100 mile walk. I will just say this…there are some crazy, weird people out at 2:00 in the morning. So we ate as fast as we could and got out of there. We started on the west side of
Rome, GA and I began walking at 2:50 AM. We did 10 mile legs at a time and had a twenty minute break in between each one. So the first ten miles was in complete darkness the whole way (obviously). It went by rather quickly because I was scared for my life the entire time and I guess that makes time fly. It was dark, it rained AGAIN, there were weird sounds all around me that I couldn’t see, and I was tired. I was tired, but wide awake…you know what I mean? It was miserable. I can’t believe that it did not stop raining for the last four days of the trek. Man, what are the chances. But I was able to get through the first leg without anyone attacking me.
The second leg was by far the worst leg. My body got so used to walking in the dark so my mind finally relaxed. Which means I started getting REALLY tired. The sun didn’t come up until 7:15 so for about an hour and a half I was struggling with the worst case of fatigue that I have ever had. I am not joking when I say that I was dozing off while walking. Good thing I didn’t doze off into oncoming traffic!! Thank you God. So the only solution to staying awake was for me to run, which we promised we wouldn’t do for this day since it was so long. But we did anyway. So I made through the second one. Then
Eric, MD , and Daniel (from CIY) met up with us to start following us and recording some footage for their video.
For the third leg we continued to do some running because of two things. One, to stay awake because I was still tired. And two, because we got behind on time and we had to catch up. So we walked on the uphills and ran on the downhills. This leg felt a lot better and I started wake up. We stopped at the end of this leg to have a quick lunch and fill up on energy.
So the fourth leg we had to haul our butts to get to where Daren’s friends who were going to meet up with us and walk the last leg. So we did even more running to make it there. We walked for 10 minutes, and then ran for 10 minutes. It wasn’t as bad as I thought I was going to be. But you better believe that the rain was pissing me off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we got through it and were at 40 miles.
The last leg we took it easy because we had enough time to make it to the end before daybreak. I walked the whole way, through the tormenting rain and made it to 50 miles. So I drove up to Daren and parked it at the end of his 10 miles. But something was wrong. We mapped out 100 miles away from the end and somehow we were two miles off. So we had to walk an extra two miles to the end. I will be honest, this mistake made me angry. I was tired, achy, wet, and ready to be done. But we had to do 30 more minutes of walking. But we got into the college at Dahlonega and finally made it. It was glorious. I was so happy to be done. The CIY guys did a little interview while we were lying on the ground. Then they took us to a pizza parlor to gorge ourselves on carbs! I decided to eat bread this one time out of celebration but I paid for it shortly afterward. But it was sooooo good. I ate the whole 14” pizza by myself. We had a great time with Kelly and Chris (Daren’s friends) and Eric, Daniel, and MD. They were all extremely nice and it was an honor getting to spend the last day with them. And now the American leg is officially over! Thank God!!!
Daren’s Final Thoughts
I have journaled just about every day of the past 373 days. It was my intention to write a book of the travels, lessons, experiences and people along the way so that people could come along with me on The Earth Expedition.I have committed this year to doing just that. This year I will not be subscribing to get cable or Satellite TV and I will use that time to write. I could attempt to write some thoughts out right now but I would not be doing anyone any justice. I guess you are all going to have to wait J
Here in about a week or so we will be sending out a newsletter unwrapping all of the details of the developments of The Earth Expedition. This will answer all of the “So What’s Next?” questions.
After walking across
America , I have realized a few things. First, I love cars. Second, I met so many people on this trek who were nothing like me. And I realized that God made everyone differently for a reason. It’s easy to get along with people who are just like you. It’s even easy to love them. But it’s very difficult to try and care for others and put their life above yours when they are nothing like you, when you might not get along with them, or when they don’t even believe the same thing you do. But it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how they live their life or what they believe. I am called to love EVERYONE. Before I did this trek, I loved people who were like me way more than those who aren’t like me. And this trek helped me to love everyone no matter how different they are. There are so many people in the world who need community with someone. I met a lot of them. There is nothing more important than helping and caring for others. Third, I learned a lot about myself. When you are away from all the distractions and influence of others, you start to learn what your true colors are. I didn’t like what I saw on some things and some things I thought were beneficial. But at least I know now what I need to strengthen and even weaken to become a better person. Overall, this trip was brutal, difficult, and life changing. But it was worth it.
This set of days definitely changed my emotional status in a good way. Lot's of crazy things happened to make this part more worth it. These past few weeks have been physically and emotionally draining and have put me in sort of a rut. I had many doubts and issues and even self-threats to quit. But I remember the advice that my uncle gave me right before we left from Le Bugue, "Even though it seems difficult and not worth it, you have to try and enjoy it as much as possible or you'll be miserable." And that lately is something that I have not been doing...until now. All I've wanted is to finish as soon as possible and anything that gets in the way is going to frustrate me and make me go crazy. And guess what? That's exactly what God did; he put people and situations in the way to slow us down. But this time, I was thankful because they were pleasant and fulfilling things!
The next morning Sophie cooked us real French Toast! It was nuts! It actually caught me off guard when I asked what it was. She was explaining the ingredients and I said out loud, "hmmm, that sounds a lot like French Toa...OH! This is French Toast!" She laughed. And once we finally left that morning they sent us off without having to pay for any of the food! At that bed and breakfast every meal costs money and they gave us a free dinner and breakfast! They were awesome! But the blessings didn't stop there!
We walked all day after Michelle's house and slept behind an abandoned train station and walked half a day more until we got stopped once again by another new friend. This time we had stopped under the only trees around for lunch to get out of the sun and it happened to be the driveway of a very wealthy farmer named Jan Joullie (pronounced "Yon"). He first asked if we wanted some water and then came back and proposed that if we needed a place to stay for the night we can stay as long as we wanted. I was shocked. God did it again! I thought, "Ah well we're already behind. Why not stop?" So we stopped walking after lunch and just hung out with his family. What we thought was going to be just half a day a turned into 2 and a half days. We were enjoying their company so much that we ended staying two more days there. We got to know their youngest son Theophille a whole lot. We hung out with him most of the time. We went four-wheeling, toured their farmland, went swimming and jumping off an old aqueduct in a river, watched some movies, swam in their pool, saw an old castle nearby, the whole bit. We even got to help with some of the work on their land. We felt like part of the family! They even had plans while we were there but they didn't care, they still wanted us to stay there. Nicole, the mother, was extremely loving and even took us into a big town to go shopping for food. I was just blown away by their love and kind hearts. We also met some of their friends who are actually moving to Dallas so that the father of the family will start his position as the senior curator of American and European Art at the DMA! What a small world! So taking a break here with the Joullie's has definitely been the most fun I've had in France. That was the condensed version of our glorious break but there was so much more. I can't explain it all though. You've just gotta trust me, it was amazing.
Our first day back on the road was good except I starting getting sick a lot. I felt horrible and the heat was not helping. We made it to nightfall about 50 miles from the border of France and met another great couple named Anthony and Denise who fed us a great dinner, let us shower, and allowed us to set up our tent on their beautiful lawn. France even has some southern hospitality. I didn't get this kind of kindness in the north; or at least this frequently.
Wow, I didn’t know seven days could
feel so long. I haven’t talked to anyone in a few weeks and it feels like
months. Don’t worry, we’re still alive. We made it a long long way and are
taking another day off in a town called Le Bugue. We weren’t able to get a free
place to stay this time so we got a cheap room at a small hotel. This is a great
little town and it has everything we need to rest, stock up on food, and wash
our clothes.
Something I definitely love about
this country is that everywhere I go I see these amazing buildings in random
places that are hundreds and hundreds of years old. They all must have so much
history and mystery and there are just so many of them! Churches, towers,
houses, chateaus, castles, monasteries, etc. It’s incredible! Most of them are
older than our country’s government! Also, most of the people I’ve met out here
are very nice. I enjoy that people are continually helping us no matter where we
are or what we look like. We had to go up to people’s house about 4 or 5 times
to ask for water since we were nowhere near a town or water source and every
time but once they all gave us water. One elderly couple flat out said “no” to
giving us water. I couldn’t believe that some people have no compassion to even
give walkers some cheap water from the faucet. But we found water right after
that, so it’s okay. It did get my spirits down a little though. A lot of things
can get you down out here. Even the weather can put off some negativity. When
it’s ridiculously sunny and hot I start to regret ever even being out here and
hate every step. But we’re slowing getting there, it just takes time. One thing
that I don’t enjoy about this country, simply because I am walking and need food
and water constantly, is the inaccessibility of simple items. Stores usually
close from 12:00 to 3:00 every day for a big lunch break and then everything is
closed by at least 6:00 or 7:00 at night. So if you need food or water between
those times, you’re just out of luck. We encountered that MANY times within just
seven days. So that’s why we had to ask people for water so many times. One
instance where we needed water, we were walking in the middle of nowhere and
Brett ran out of water completely and I had just a few sips left. So he stopped
and saw a house and asked if we could walk to it and ask for water. But since it
was in the other direction I was hesitant because I didn’t want to waste time
and I was hoping that there would be a house on the highway just up the way. But
I said okay and started walking down the little road. Right when we started
walking two guys on an ATV came down the other way and stopped at the
intersection and waved at us. I gave a wave of help and they drove over to us.
Luckily, they spoke some English and we asked them for some water. They told us
to walk down to their house which was a little down the small road. So we got
there and the father of the boys, Allard, came up and greeted us. We got some
water, talked a little bit, and kept walking. But it was just divine how we got
the water right when we needed it and God had this perfect plan for it. If I
wouldn’t have hesitated, we wouldn’t have seen the guys on the ATV. Stories like
that happened this week multiple times. Right before we got to Le Bugue, a
mechanic said hello to us and I said that we were out of water so he instantly
led us around the side of his shop and let us fill up our water. So God has been
taking care of us and it has been a blessing to know that he WANTS to help us. I
am glad that God is on our side for this. Sometimes the devil tries to convince
me that what I am doing really isn’t going to do anything for the kingdom of God
until I realize that God has his hand in this expedition sooooo much. So he
wants us to get to the end. I know we’ll make it but only through his power. I
couldn’t do this without him.
The days out here have blended
together and it’s hard to distinguish what happened one day from the next. There
is so much repetition and mobility that it feels like forever. Since we are
walking from 9:00 to 9:30 in the day and sleeping from 10:00 to 8:00 at night
and wasting no time whatsoever makes one day seem so long. One day when we were
walking around a city called Bellac, my emotions were going crazy and I was just
feeling so down. Earlier that day we saw a man drive by in a particular red car
with the bass booming. But then four hours later about 12 miles away, we saw him
again and this time we made eye contact and did a little “hello” with a nod.
Then an hour after that once we stopped for dinner, on the other side of the
road was that guy’s car! Two minutes later a little boy (his son) came out and
walked over and gave us a big bottle of water. This man and his son cheered me
up instantly because the love of God was in them and desired to help us. I was
moved. And then, the next day about 20 miles away, we saw him AGAIN! It was
amazing.
Well, Brett made it through the first week of torment. I had empathy for every limp and moan that he had, because I was there at one point. But it was a good first week. We got farther than I expected with the fact that there were new feet involved in the walk. We are taking a day off now in a town called Chatillon-sur-Indre. It is a pleasant little town with everything we need to get by on a day off. Every night this week we slept in the tent. It is almost becoming a game to try and find the coolest place to camp out. Some nights we camped in the middle of farm fields, some in public parks, one beside an abandoned windmill that looked haunted, and some just right next to the road. Well, maybe it’s not so glamorous yet but we’re getting there. One of these days I would like to try and camp out on top of a water tower. It’s a lot harder to talk to people and ask them if we can stay with them because, you know, we don’t speak FRENCH! I wish I did. I’ve been getting better though, slowly but surely.
We caught a little bit of rain here and there but not too bad. What’s been the worst are the cloudless days with nothing separating us from the sun. I am half Cajun and half Caucasian. But luckily the temperature isn’t in the 100’s like it is back in 
So as we were walking into Chatillon, we were assuming that there were some places to stay for the night like a hostel or something because all the other towns had a surplus of them. So when we got here we stopped in a bar and asked the bartender, Nicole, with what little French I knew where a hostel was. She told me there wasn’t anything in town, no hostel, no hotel…nothing. She then called the priest of the town because the church has a house that people can stay in if they are traveling through and are in need. But that was no longer in use either. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that the town we decided to take a day off in had NO accommodation. So I called my uncle, who speaks French, and had him talk to Nicole to try and figure something out. She said she would call a doctor in town who could maybe help. Well she finally got a hold of him and he said he could take us to a branch of his hospital to stay in a vacant hospital room. And when he (Michel) came to pick us up we found out he was also the mayor of the town and he spoke some English! So at first we had no place to stay and were sore from six straight days of walking, and now we have the mayor taking care of us and giving us a place to stay for free! How amazing is God’s provision. If it wasn’t for my uncle, Nicole, or Michel then we wouldn’t have received this blessing. Thank you, Lord. Now we are just relaxing on our day off, going to the market to stock up on food, and blogging it up at the town hall. What an amazing encounter. This day off will be very beneficial to us. Tomorrow we will be ready to go for another week without stopping. Wish us luck!
So the eight days of walking didn’t happen the way I thought. I began walking at 9:00 on Monday morning in Gournay. I was nervous about the loneliness but as I began walking I was actually excited about getting through this on my own. So I was able to walk 32 miles the first day and I felt pretty good. I stopped for a small lunch and dinner and didn’t stop for the day until 10:00 PM. It felt like the second longest day of my life (the longest one being the last day of the American leg – 52 miles of walking!). So I camped out in the middle of nowhere rather close to the road. I got some pretty good sleep that night. I walked until I couldn’t walk anymore. The next morning I woke up at 8:30 and got ready for another big day. I once again walked all day and took little breaks to try and make good time. I realized that I could accomplish eight days of walking in five and a half days. If I get to 
So on my few days off before Brett came I just relaxed around my uncle’s house. I went to the market to get some food, walked the dog a little bit, and hung out with my uncle’s neighbor, Michelle. We drove into 
I just have to say right now though that if my uncle wasn’t here in 
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
This morning before we left, Bryan Jennings, the other person staying with Stephen prayed over us. It was very encouraging and it lifted our spirits before a big three days of walking. The day was great and not too difficult. The weather once again was clear and bearable. And as we got into Stratford-Upon-Avon (where William Shakespeare was born) we stopped at a Tesco gas station to look at a map. As I was looking the cashier asked if we needed help going anywhere. I told her that we were looking for a cheap place to stay (hostel) or a place to pitch out tent. She told us that there was a hostel outside of town but I told her that we would have to walk there (and it was kind of far away and in the opposite direction). So out of the blue she just said, “Well you can stay with me if you’d like.” I was still looking at the map and I looked right up with my mouth wide open and just yelled, “YES!” We didn’t even have to ask! Her name is Jane Ireland and she is such a sweetheart. It was perfect timing too because she was about to get off work and she even told me that she never works on a Thursday. But before we left the other two cashiers said that they wanted to donate over the website! It was so exciting! So Jane took us to her home and we got to meet her husband Patty and her two awesome dogs. They really are great people and so gracious. We just hung out, had dinner, drank so tea, and watch FOOTBALL! Patty is a huge football fan so he constantly watches. It was such a relieving night. Finding a place to stay with someone is always awesome. Thank you Jane!
We ate breakfast this morning and walked back to Jane’s work with her. After that we parted ways and kept walking to Chipping Norton. As we got to Chipping Norton we stopped to have dinner at the Shell station, which was the only the around on that highway. So we sat down by the pumps and ate our PBJ’s and hopefully looked pathetic enough for someone to take us in. People talked to us but there was no one that wanted to help us out. So we just kept walking. But only 200 yards later I saw this little cottage on the side of the highway that I just had to try. So I went up and knocked on the door and a little man came out from behind the house. We asked if we could simply stay in his gated garden for the night and he said, “of course!” I was so pleased. He even let us come in and hang out for a few hours. They gave us tea and biscuits and let us take a shower! It was amazing. We talked about so many things. It’s amazing how much history they know about their little town. His cottage was built in the early 1900’s and it was a barn. He personally renovated it himself years ago. The building behind him was a church and a building down the road was a monastery. He said that when travelers would come, the church would invite them in and the monks would come down from the monastery and take care of them. That story sounded awfully familiar to ours at the moment. Though, he is now the one taking care of us. It’s cool how he unintentionally kept the legacy going. 
Bert and his wife June fed us breakfast this morning. It was a very special morning for them though because on this day they have been married for 56 years! Someone came to their house and June got her hair done. She is so cute. They are so precious together and after 56 years are still in love and committed to each other. It’s really encouraging to see people like that. They took great care of us. I will never forget them. 
We got up and went to church with Tim and Nick. They go to St. Andrews Church and it was pretty interesting how similar it was to church at home but still culturally different. I enjoyed visiting and worshiping with British believers J. After that we hopped on a bus to the city centre to go visit Oxford University. But as we got on the bus we ran into Tim’s mentor, John. Luckily, he didn’t have much going on so he showed us around. This is a good thing because Tim and Nick knew nothing about the history of Oxford, hahaha. So he showed us around a bunch of the colleges and a lot of historical places; some being the pub that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis hung out at, where the priests were burned on the cross, the guy who discovered Halley’s comet’s house…stuff like that. It’s so weird though because the university is set up a little differently. It isn’t just one big huge campus that is all connected. The university is broken up into 36 separate little colleges. So it was neat to see all the buildings and artwork. 
Tonight we made it to the town of Nettlebed, England. This is the town that Ian Fleming, the writer of the 007 books, was born. I learn something new everyday! Today was kind of a boring walk but the evening made up for it. When we stopped for the night, I decided to sit and eat dinner in an area that was densely populated with people so someone might come up and talk to us. But after an hour of that, it didn’t really work. So I got up and walked up one of the residential streets and knocked on the first door I saw. A man named Dennis answered the door and two little kids popped their head through the door to see who it was. I began to tell what I was doing and asked if I could stay on his front lawn. He first directed me to the field that I was just on but I told him that the cars were loud and I wouldn’t be able to sleep. So he said yes and even told us to come in for a drink! I was excited. I then got to meet his wife, Phillipa who is just a sweetheart. Right when I sat down, she shoved drinks and cookies right in front of me and kept asking if we needed anything. We got to talking more and got more comfortable with each other. So then she asked if we wanted a shower! I didn’t decline. So she let Stacey take a bath in one bathroom and I took a shower in their bedroom. I couldn’t believe how welcoming they were. It was so amazing. A little bit later, as they were more comfortable with us (because that’s what it takes, just talking to them and getting to know them) they decided to let us just sleep in their lounge. What a blessing. So we fell asleep watching Forrest Gump. Go figure. Good ending. 
We made it to a quite larger town today, Bracknell. We were hoping there was going to be a cheap hostel in the city centre, since it was pretty big. But there wasn’t L. So we just kept walking and got to the outskirts of the city and started knocking on doors again, haha. But no one answered their door. We tried about half a dozen houses…kind of odd. So we just pitched the tent in this little patch of grass and trees in the middle of this neighborhood. I came to the reality that my view of God “taking care of me” is not the same as his. I think every single night he’ll find us a house to sleep in. But some nights I have to experience the outside, being dirty, and cold weather. Which really isn’t that bad. No one bothered us, I fell asleep quickly, and it was quiet. And we didn’t get arrested, that’s always a good thing. So I’m happy. Anyway, we get to see Micah again tomorrow!
This break was sooooo amazing. It’s so funny how we did so much but still had a lot of time to just chill. He took us to the town of Ely to see the historic Ely Cathedral. It is so massive and beautiful. I am just so amazed that humans could make this stuff without cranes and concrete mixers. It’s funny because the town of Ely is really small but the cathedral just towers over everything and since the land around it is flat, you can see it from miles away. And an interesting fact about this church for all of you music buffs (Jeff Thorne) is if you look on the Pink Floyd album “The Division Bell” it’s the church on the front cover in between the two large heads. So that was pretty sweet.
We made it to David Vincent’s town, meaning we only have one more day of walking in England!!! My friend, David, was in America for five months doing ministry and I met him through other friends. And it’s just funny how my route went right through his town. Small world, big kingdom. His parents, how are AMAZING, cooked us a delicious Louisiana dish. I had three full servings…I’m such a fatty. So once we get done tomorrow, we will spend a whole week with him and his family. We will hang out, go to London, and just detox from walking across the UK. Then France here we come. We decided to bypass the Netherlands and Belgium due to time constraints and what not. We have to be in Paris on a certain day to allow Stacey to fly home and it was just cutting it too close. But the original route was the long way. We’re just cutting straight to France which is still a good way. I am at peace about the decision and excited to walk through Normandy! I heard it’s beautiful there. I can’t wait.
We are done with ENGLAND!!! What a relief! I can’t believe we have made it this far! I think we are right at 500 miles completed now. We ended in the city of Brighton. It’s a very lively city. David and his dad came and picked us up. Today was really hilly and long but we got it done. I got a lot of great pictures of the countryside. It’s so beautiful and lush. 
Our first walking day in England was quite successful, I might say. I am pretty sure that we walked over 20 miles today because it took us forever to find a place to camp out. We first stopped at a pub to eat some dinner at a place called the Black Dog. We met a few people that were entertaining while we ate our meal. I didn’t catch their names though, but they were pretty funny.
I got ten hours of sleep last night in Sally’s garden…yes…She fed us a HUGE breakfast that was wonderful. We had fruit, cereal, bacon, sausage, egg, tomato, and mushrooms. Wow…She was so caring and encouraging. Thank you Sally!!!
Today was another good day. Over 20 miles again. We are rockin’ it. It looks like we are going to make it into Birmingham a day ahead of schedule! So not much happened during the day. All the action seems to go down at nighttime around here. So we got to the town of Cosford and started to look for a place to stay. The fields were once again all wheat fields, so there were no flat areas. But then we came up to this very nice home with a big yard and though, “why not?” So we walked up to the house and noticed a guy in his courtyard and pleaded to stay on his grass. He was completely fine with it! I love it! Everyone that we have asked to stay either with them or on their lawn, they have said yes! His name is Tony Price and he is a very interesting guy. For about an hour before we went to sleep, he showed us around his house because his land has quite a bit of history. His next door neighbor’s house was a hospital in WW2 while his house was a prison for German POW’s. He has bricks in his barn that have the names of some of the prisoners on it. In his courtyard, there is a well that has a secret tunnel that leads about a mile away to a random field that was used to help priests escape during the English Civil War. You can also see on the side of his house where a Spitfire plane crashed into it during the war. He even has some cannonballs that were used on his home during the Civil War. I was so amazed! There is so much history here on his land! He even told me that you can see that outline of a Roman Road that went right through his field. That’s 2000 years ago!!! I couldn’t believe it. That’s what I love about this place. They preserve the history of their country here. So that was a good bedtime story before I went to bed. Good night!
We got up a little extra early today because Tony had to feed the horses who were right next to us. Stacey got up and helped feed the horses while Tony and I talked more about English history. We didn’t leave for two hours! They fed us breakfast and we just couldn’t stop talking about history and politics. It was a lot of fun.
So Birmingham City Centre isn’t too bad. I didn’t get any pictures because it was raining all day. So we stayed inside and looked around in their shopping center called the Bull Ring. It was pretty cool, but it’s just like any normal mall in America. But I enjoyed going into the city. 
We busted out 24 miles today – our longest in one day so far!!! That day off sure did help a lot. The only thing was that the temperature was a lot cooler today and little windy. But we made it through it. We decided to stop for the night in a town called Banbridge. As we were walking toward the town centre an old lady came up to us and asked us how we were feeling. We only spoke for a few moments but she gave us some change which was very kind. But then a younger girl, named Debra, stormed into the scene. She just came right up to us and said “Hey I saw you guys on the motorway!” We got to talking about what we were doing and she was very interested in it all. After a few minutes, I dropped the bomb and asked if we could stay with her for the night. She wasn’t even hesitant about it! She said it would probably be okay. She still lives with her parents, but luckily her parents were out of town just for tonight and she let us stay in their bed! I don’t think they know still…hahaha. So she called her boyfriend who was staying with her that night to see if it was okay. He said alright as well. So we officially had a place to stay! Before we walked to her house we went to get some take-out because we were STARVING. But while we were walking through town she didn’t go one minute without yelling out someone’s name with a friendly hello across the street or in a shop. It was so funny! She knew everyone! And she is just a barrel full of fun. She is friendly, funny, and talks very fast, haha. 
Today has been our toughest day so far. It’s so funny how yesterday we covered the longest distance and then the next day was our worst. The days out here are so unstable! It was in the 40’s all day AND it rained non-stop. It was miserable. But, we crossed into the Republic of Ireland this afternoon so that was at least one good thing. So we finished the day in a little town called Jonesborough, Ireland. Actually, it wasn’t even a town, or a village in that matter. It was a highway intersection with a hotel…that’s it. So all we could do for the time being was sit in the hotel and get out of the rain. But we had no clue where to go and set up our tent. And another problem was that Stacey was feeling sick. So her parents decided to treat us to a room in that hotel. The great thing was that we got lucky with a Jacuzzi in this hotel. It was much needed. It felt soooooo good and relaxing. We got our bed and just chilled for the evening. I’m sure getting a hotel that nice for free won’t happen much, haha. I’m beat. Another day, another dog biscuit.
Last night we prayed and prayed that the weather would be better today. At the spa every person we spoke to told us that the weather will be horrible and there is no getting away from it. Well, I can boast in the Lord because they were all wrong. The Lord answered our prayers and gave us incredible weather today! Thank you everyone who was praying for us! It’s so encouraging that you all are fighting for us in prayer constantly. We had a good day of walking. We did between 18-20 miles and finished south of Dunleer, Ireland. Dusk was rolling and it was getting late and we needed to find a plot of land to camp out on. But unfortunately, there was nothing because we were in the middle of endless wheat fields. Luckily, I saw a little patch of grass off the road and decided to check it out. I noticed it was a part of someone’s property. So I decided to go up and ask the homeowners if we could stay in the yard (it was nowhere near their house). They answered the door cheerfully and invited us in. The couple was John and Marian and they were very kind. They gave us tea, spoke with us for a while, and let us use their toilet. I was so thankful. After that, we set up our tent and hit the hay. What a great day.
We stopped in Naul to eat some food because we were pretty hungry. We chose the cheapest thing in the little village, which was a Chinese/Indian restaurant. So I got some chicken fried rice and Stacey got some green curry vegetable madness. As we were eating, Stacey started to get nauseous from the food. WELL DUH!!! It’s flippin’ Indian food in Ireland. It’s going to make your stomach toss and turn. But she looked passed the pain and we kept going. When we started walking I started praying to God to heal Stacey’s sickness and to find us a place to stay so she won’t have to be sleeping in the cold while being sick. After about 40 minutes of walking, Stacey told me that she needed to stop. Her sickness was getting worse and she didn’t know what to do. Luckily, right at the time she said that we were walking passed a small Bed and Breakfast in the middle of nowhere called “Hollywood B & B.” So I didn’t care about privacy and I just walked up to that door and asked the owner if Stacey could use her bathroom. A lovely lady named Margaret answered the door and kindly let Stacey use the restroom. While she was in the bathroom, I was speaking with Margaret about EE and where we planned on staying for the night. Once Stacey was done we just kept on walking down the road. 
Stacey woke up this morning and felt fine! Woohoo! One night’s sleep out here can just reset everything back to normal. Thank God! 
“Liverpool – home of the Beatles. I like the Beatles; I always have. I learned a lot about them and have a new appreciation for them. However, at the end of the museum was a special exhibit for John Lennon and ‘Give Peace a Chance.’ It really turned me off to him. I mean, he honestly looked like a nut case, sitting in a bed, tossing around flowers while saying his belief is ‘don’t believe in anything but yourself’ and to ‘give peace a chance.’ I agree that peace and love are two great things and yes, everyone should give these two a chance. But I think he has a distorted view. Why can’t we have peace and still believe in something? You can love someone without having the same beliefs. In fact, some people find peace and love from what they believe. So why does God or Jesus have to be eliminated from peace or love? Isn’t Jesus one of the greatest examples of love that that ever lived? Doesn’t he promote loving others no matter what? And isn’t that what peace is all about? So now, so many followers of John Lennon think that you shouldn’t believe in anyone, that you should just believe in yourself. Which believing in yourself is a great thing and I think that it’s important. But it’s not the sole thing that will get you through in life. And in all reality, everyone has their own securities – even John Lennon. I just think he is putting out a false campaign about peace and love.”
People
always say that with any constant physical activity, the third day is the
hardest day. Well I believe them. Today was the worse day for me physically and
mentally. I was so tired all day and the sun never gave us a break. Clouds
never blocked the sun from sucking the energy completely out of us. I also have
gotten more blisters since yesterday which is always fun…NOT! Stacey did much
better than me today. She was very encouraging and helped me when I was feeling
a little sick around 5:00 PM. We’ve
run into some interesting weather around here. Typically in Scotland
it doesn’t go two days with raining. The day before we got here it was pouring
down rain. But once our plane landed it was bright and breezy. Ever since then
it has been sunny. Four days of no rain in Scotland!
That’s a miracle, so they say. And they say it won’t start raining until the
day after we leave this country. What a blessing that God has stopped the rain
from falling on us (at least for now). I can’t live a fantasy that we will be
able to walk the entire UK
without getting a lick of rain. So we’ll see.
So as we
were getting ready this morning at Lisa’s house, Lisa invited two of her
friends over to meet the two crazy Americans that she hosted. It was really
funny. One of her friends (I forgot her name! Sorry!!) tried on Stacey’s
backpack. I wish I got a picture because this woman was so small that she could
actually fit inside the backpack.
So sleep
this morning didn’t go as well as we thought. Up here in Scotland
the sun doesn’t go down till 11:00 PM
and the sun rises at 3:30 AM. So at 7:00 this morning these BLOODY SEAGULLS above
us were squawking like a bunch of cats in heat and the sun was beating down on
our tent. So we went ahead and got up early.
Sleeping in
feels so good out here...well if you think 9:00
AM is sleeping in. But that’s plenty for me. We met a Canadian
named Dena at the hostel and we hung out with her and had lunch with her for
half the day. We just took it easy in downtown Belfast
for pretty much the whole day. We also treated ourselves to a movie, Angels and
Demons, which was entertaining. We picked up our groceries for the next few
days, got a map of Ireland,
and now we’re just chillin in a coffee shop. Hopefully Ireland
will treat us well. I already like this country. But that’s about it for now.
See ya!
Woohoo! We made it into Edinburgh! This is city is so beautiful! We got off the plane and it took us a while to find out where to go because I’d never been here. But we hopped onto a bus and went to the center of the city and grabbed a bite to eat at Burger King. Don’t hate, it was the only familiar place and we had to get something because we needed to find a hostel. Finding a hostel was a little difficult because, of all weekend, a marathon was going on and all the hostels were full. But we were able to find two beds at a place called Smart City Hostels. I was so excited because this is my first hostel experience!!! We met a guy there named Cody Marriott. He is such a cool guy and he decided to hang out with us tomorrow and walk with us for a little bit. We went to the grocery store (Tesco) to get some food for the next few days and that was fun. Then we went back to our room and talked with our roommates for a while. They are both French and they were both extremely nice. They also taught me some French phrases for when I have to walk through France. So my first hostel experience was a great one. I love the atmosphere and the people are so nice. I can’t wait to stay in more!! What a day!
So before we started the actual walking, Cody, Stacey, and I went to visit Rosslyn Chapel. Rosslyn Chapel is the church that was in the final scene of the Da Vinci Code. There were other important reasons for its popularity but I forgot. I was just excited that I was in the same place that Tom Hanks was!!! Hahaha. We also got to see some ruins of an old castle near the Chapel. So technically after we saw that, we started walking from Rosslyn Chapel. So the European Leg began at Rosslyn Chapel…kinda cool. After that, Cody walked with us until about 4:00 and then parted ways. He was a great person to have with us. He was a lot of fun and very entertaining. He’s from Reno! Woot!
Today was a little bit more difficult. About 30 minutes after we started, life threw me a curve ball…my bag ripped!!! Right at the shoulder strap where it’s the most important. Luckily, it didn’t rip all the way, but just one little pull the wrong way will completely dismember it. So I need to find someone that sews so it can be temporarily fixed. Please pray that it doesn’t rip because that would mean we would have to stop and actually find a store that sells these kind of packs.
So we tried to set up camp again outside in this abandoned area at the end of an old little road. It was near train tracks and all around us was really marshy ground. What we didn’t see at first is that all around us, because of the marshy land, were hundreds of huge slugs crawling all over the place. And after about 30 minutes, bugs started to just linger around our campsite for some reason. After another 30 minutes, it was just too unbearable so we packed up all our stuff and got out of there. I didn’t know what to do now because as I walked down the road more, everyone around was the same marshy condition. So I just started praying intently for God to find us a place to stay. And about ½ a mile up the road was a little village with literally about 100 people in it called Bleich. And the first person I saw who was walking out of their house saw us and I walked directly toward him. I went up to and told him our situation and he kindly said that he didn’t have any room in the house but he would let us stay in his backyard. I didn’t hesitate for a second! So we went in to his backyard and were relieved when we found out there were no bugs! So he brought his wife and kind out to introduce us. Their names are Skid, Nikki, and his son is Presley. They were soooooo nice to us. They gave us any food or drink we need, they let us come in and relax by the TV, they showed were the breakfast food for tomorrow was, let us use their shower, and they even trusted us with a key to lock the door tomorrow morning whenever we leave! I was so amazed by their hospitality. What a blessing it was to run into them. So all in all, God immediately answered my prayer and found us great people to stay with. So we’ve officially made it two days through Scotland. Woohoo! Thank you God!
I am leaving tomorrow for Europe! I can't believe it! It's finally here! I've been doing my best to get ready for the next leg of the Earth Expedition but it's been difficult. Part of me just wants to leave right this second, but then part of me wants to make sure that everything is in order before I ship out. The most common phrase that I got during this "limbo" time was "when are you going to get a job?" I guess some people were more concerned with me being "responsible" in the sense of producing income. I guess fulfilling the Great Commission and reaching out to others who are in need are not important to them...thought they claim to love Christ. So there have been times where I was discouraged and didn't feel that some people had my back. Sorry, I had to vent. But this is going to be the greatest adventure I've ever been on AND it's in the name of Christ. How amazing is that?!?! I am honored to be the European Walker for Active:Water - The Earth Expedition. 
Now to inform you all of what my route is...I will be starting in Ediburgh, Scotland. From there I will walk west toward Ireland and ferry over. Then I will walk from Belfast, Northern Ireland to Dublin, Ireland. Then I will ferry to Liverpool, England and walk all the way to London. After that I will ferry one last time over to Rotterdam, Netherlands and walk south through Belgium, France, Spain, and ending in Porto, Portugal. Be sure to read my blogs and look at the pictures of the beautiful countryside!!! Lots of stuff will go down in five months! I'll try to get some crazy stories on here. In the beginning, my close friend, Stacey Blaylock, will be joining on the walk from Scotland to Paris, France. Then she will go back home and my other friend, Brett Vance, will walk with me from Paris to Portugal. I am so excited that these two are coming with me. But I hope some of you come on over and walk with us some! We would love it!
Here is the reason I am walking… to be a voice for these people. Thank you for your support: 
The water table averages 10-15 feet allowing easy access through hand-dug wells. However, unsealed latrines have turned the water into a dangerous cocktail of typhoid, cholera, and giardia that kills many people each year, especially children under the age of five. In fact, the death rate is so high that until recently, the Mapalo region was officially named by it's national government as Chapulu Kusu, meaning "Cursed Village" for it's deadly reputation. In 2008 the village formally requested a name change to Mapalo, translated as "Blessed Village", for the faith and hope that they have in their future due to recent water and sanitation projects being implemented in their village
Myspace Impact Award!
Active:Water: 
"It’s been about a month since we have finished the American leg of the expedition. I’ve had some time to relax, see some friends, and even make some money to save for Europe. But last night was a special night! Brett Vance (hiking with me in Europe) planned and hosted an art show to raise money for the Earth Expedition at Fat Straws! For about an hour and a half we showed the art and then had a presentation on the expedition for about 45 minutes. It was an unexpected turn out. I can’t even figure how many people showed up because it was about a three hour time period, but I would say at least 150 people came for the event. The art show made the night energetic and there were even people who brought instruments and had a little jam session. I got to talk to a lot of people one on one and the Fat Straws employees were very supportive. Because of the event we were able to raise over $350! Thank you everyone for supporting us and coming to the show! So it was a fantastic night and I can’t wait to do it again! I started training again for the European leg and it’s been pretty good. Obviously, running a few miles a day and lifting weights is a little easier than walking 25 miles a day. But still…it’s been good. So yeah…that’s it. I’m out." Bryan Schlackman (European Walker)
Dinner with Peak Axe: I love Days off…. Especially with friends…and especially with friendships that were made on the Appalachian Trail! There is just something about the bonds made on the A.T…. I guess it is the fact that no one else in the world has experienced what the two of you have experienced…. Unless you walk mountains, live in the woods, and drink from streams on a regular basis. I am going to guess that is not your traditional lifestyle…. But our time in Birmingham was great… “Peak Axe” (Josh May) really took care of us when we were there. Tonight he made for us Pork Tenderloin, asparagus, and rice…. This may be my favorite meal ever! Ahh… soo good… the conversation was also good…. I find my conversations with people always end up philosophical… which I don’t mind… it is great actually… but I consider myself a simple person so my philosophical thoughts are one liners…. I guess this past year has really simplified my thinking…. You know.. what is important and what is not important… what hills to die on and what to let slide…
8 hours of Water: Ok.. I thought we were going to make it across the United States very lucky walkers… well I was wrong. For the past 2 months Bryan and I never had to put on our rain jackets.. well… we made up for the two months today and by the looks
Before we left Peak Axe’s this morning, he threw a bunch of his food in our car. It was awesome. What a nice guy. Then he took us to breakfast in downtown 
CIY: I am just laying here waiting for the CIY guys to come in. CIY (Christ in Youth) Is an organization that…well they do a lot of ministry related work with youth. The reason I am waiting on them is they are flying into Atlanta today and then driving up to Rome, GA where we are at They are going to video the last day of the Expedition and shoot video tomorrow. They are going to be using the story in their summer conferences this summer. If you remember previous blogs.. this is the same organization that
52 miles:
