Milestones and records continue to fall at a not-so-breath-taking rate. Each day I take another step I set a new personal record in ALL aspects as I have NEVER done anything like this before!!!
When the day was over I had walked 23.2 miles (37.4194 km's), used 46,711 steps and found $0.11 in change. Findings of the day: 1 Stanley flat-head screwdriver, 1 large socket extension, 1 socket reducer, medium to small, 1 dog-tag #21511242 "If Found Go To: www.GETMEHOME.com (sans the dog), 1 Power Rangers Super Samurai Happy Meal toy, 1 dime and 1 penny.
I was joined at the outset of the day by Steve C from the RV park. He is from North Dakota so we had the nasty cold weather, Devil's Lake and Minot in common. It was nice to have a fellow traveler along and to hear his story. Thanks for the several miles, Steve. All the best to you as you transition into an RV park kinda guy. In spite of what we had today, not quite as brutal as North Dakota! At approximately 3:55 PM Central time your favorite walker crossed over into Louisiana and left the freezing rain of Arkansas behind. Now being in the Deep South I expected that the sun would shine, but NOOOOOOOOOO what did I find? More freezing rain AND an extension of the Ice Storm Warning from today at 6:00 PM to Wednesday at 6:00 PM!
Oh, well, I am going south AND it is a stiff tail-wind. The wind plus the cold temps makes me walk just a wee bit faster. A stop in Eudora, Arkansas to attend to a call from Mother Nature found me in conversation with a couple of locals, Wayne Edwards and his cohort, LeRoy. Wayne runs a wrecker service to which I responded that I trust he and I shall NEVER meet again unless it is in Key West on a beach! They did offer to buy me lunch, which I graciously declined as I wanted to make it to Louisiana by days end. I did take them up on the HOT cup of coffee, which as it turns out was pretty tasty for convenience store coffee. It washed down the peanut butter sandwich rather nicely. Thank you, gentlemen, for the pleasant conversation, for the kind offer of lunch and for the hot cup of coffee. If I am any judge of character I would have to say that both of these gentlemen ARE a couple of characters AND their kind offer to me was by no means out of the norm. There are 7 billion of us crawling around on this planet, if we just did one little kindness for someone else each day where would we be!?!?!? Perhaps peacefully sharing a bowl of humus, a plate of hog jowls or a dish of curry with one another and NOT attempting to blow each other up or condemn one another for our particular (or lack thereof) religious beliefs. Peace, love, harmony and joy, YES folks it IS attainable WHEN we choose for it to be so. Several miles outside of Eudora on a rather desolate stretch of road a car stopped me with a young man driving and an elderly gentleman as passenger. It was raining and windy. The driver asked me if I wanted a ride (talk about a segue!!!). I explained to Toby A. what I was doing. He indicated that today was a milestone for him in that he was just released from jail. Of course I was unable to let THAT one go and started chatting about second chances, no choice in awakening and ALL choice IF we awake. I thanked him for his kindness, my best wishes to you Toby, for your second chance. Again, how we use the time given us is of choice, how much we get is NOT in our hands, let's make each second count. Tame the ego, look inside, what can I do to make the world a wee bit more pleasant for the other 6.999,999,999 billion? Move forward. How did I (did I say "I"!?!?!?) create this situation?...What is MY (did i say "MY"!?!?!?) lesson to be learned from MY choice?...and where do I (did I say "I"!?!?!?) go from here? Three rather simple yet VERY profound questions one must ask at EVERY juncture in ones life. Thank you Wayne and LeRoy, thank you Toby, thank you Steve and thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU Valerie for making this time in my life possible in this particular manner!!!...CHEERS!!!