I must admit I’m losing steam, and I’m limping along at this point. Both literally and figuratively. While I have every intention of finishing, I’ll say again:
This is not an easy undertaking.
My feet continue to pay the price of walking 15-20 miles per day, and I now have blue Leukotape K on eight of my toes.
This morning I hitched a ride down the hill with Carolina, a nurse from Indiana who’s staying at the motel. I then proceeded to walk to the Koolwink, a retro (but clean, bright, and airy) motel in Romney, West Virginia. I love it! Along with other cool features, it has a yellow and white bathroom with a bright yellow shower curtain sporting the Koolwink guy logo.
West Virginia is filled with friendly people. This morning I bought two egg salad sandwiches at a gas/convenience store (“They were just made yesterday”), ate one, and saved the other until I checked in at the Koolwink.
In spite of the beautiful scenery all around me, I still see the same stuff on the road that I’ve encountered from the Day 1—garbage, road kill, tools, vehicle parts, cans, bottles, and discarded plastic. I’ve heard that China has stopped accepting our recyclable plastic as part of the tariff war threats, so it’s beginning to pile up here in the US. Hopefully that’s temporary. If we can’t send our plastic trash to China, where can we send it? (I hope you get the irony in that last sentence.)
I was humbled to read this today on Facebook:
Our Temple Sinai congregant and friend Robert Schoen is nearing the end of his walk across America. Follow him to get daily updates and to give him encouragement. I am in awe of this human being!
The supportive comments I get every day do help me go on and boost my spirits. Thank you! That said, the person who posted this does things in her everyday life that I know I’m not capable of doing, particularly in her leadership role in the community. I could never navigate the political landscape she does, and for that alone I am in awe of her!
18 miles today.
@ Romney, West Virginia