Day 16 – 07/17/22 – America First!

Today’s plan was to end up at Cold Springs Station which is about a 13-mile walk from Middlegate. That being said, early on in the livestream I said that I was going to listen to my body since its still in the conditioning phase of this new long-distance walking regime. I’ll take shorter interval breaks, as needed, and stop walking when my body tells me I’m done.

I woke up feeling great with no pain and the blisters seem to be getting much better. Ryan, the Marine veteran I met last night at the restaurant, had given me some salve that he said really helped heal the blisters he had gotten on his feet while serving in Iraq. The stuff really worked…it made a big difference! Thanks Ryan!

I want to mention right off the bat, that my Walk and my complete focus is centered around America first. I am aware of the global issue and I support efforts to make freedoms ring around the world because we’re all suffering from the theft of our freedoms. But my efforts have to be laser-focused on America first, my country first. I feel the pain for other countries…of course I do! They’re going through the same things that we’re going through. Some of them even have it worse than we do, but my focus is right here. My focus is waking up Americans. If my efforts here help the citizens of other countries to wake up, then I’m humbled and I’m honored. But again, I have to concentrate on America. I can support and get behind other efforts, but this is where my focus needs to be right now.

Here’s a story that I heard when I was in the second grade.  It’s about a man and his three sons. He was holding a bundle of sticks tied together with string. He said “He who breaks these sticks shall inherit my riches when I pass.”  The first son tried to break the sticks, but kept hurting himself. The second son, trying to break the sticks using his knee, couldn’t break them either. The third son took the bundle of sticks and set them on the table and untied them. He took them and broke them one stick at a time. It’s kind of a reverse analogy. But as one voice, once stick, I can be broken. But the many sticks together cannot be broken. They are much stronger. And that is EXACTLY what is running through my mind here. My singular voice is nothing when it’s alone. But the more people that I can bring to bear, the more we’ll have a singular, unified voice. A “bundle” of sticks. When we’re all on the same page and saying the same thing, we are powerful!

“The Shoe Tree” along the Loneliest Road in America, aka US Highway 50 in Nevada.

I stopped for a bit at the local landmark called the Shoe Tree. Rumor has it that a young couple, on their wedding night, were driving along US Highway 50 while having an argument. They pulled over and the wife got out of the car and told her husband she’d rather walk home than drive with him. He angrily grabbed her shoes and threw them up in one of the trees. He then went to the nearest bar and was chatting with the bartender who convinced him that it would probably be a good idea to go back and pick up his wife. The man agreed and went back and reconciled with his wife. Rumor has it that they lived happily ever after and would return to the tree every year on their anniversary. Each year, they would throw another pair of shoes up in the tree which symbolized their unbreakable love for one another.

A bit later, I saw someone coming towards me riding, what I thought, was a bicycle. Turns out it was a young guy riding a unicycle. Yes, you heard me right, a unicycle! He pulled over when he saw me and we had a quick chat. Turns out he started riding his unicycle from somewhere in Michigan and was heading to Reno, NV. Talk about inspiration! One of my mods did an internet search to see if maybe there was a story about him. We’re not 100% certain because I didn’t get the young man’s name when I met him, but we think it may have been Christian Hisler who did a similar trek this time last year for charity.

By mile 8, mile marker 76, my body told me it was done for the day, so that’s what I did. I marked the spot in my log so I could return to the exact spot in the morning to continue my walk. Tom and I drove the extra few miles to Cold Springs Station Resort which is an R.V. Park.

I was greeted by the owners, George and Barbara. To my surprise, George said he’d been expecting me. Apparently, he’s been following me. He even told me the restaurant serves tater tots, which is what I had ordered at the restaurant at the last location while I was still livestreaming. I got a kick out of that! They also graciously gifted us a two night stay there!

Stay tuned for tomorrow. I met someone here who is thinking about walking with me tomorrow. Wouldn’t that be awesome!

Love to all!

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