Foot Injury

I was nearing my 9,000,000th step when I felt a pull in my left foot. I finished my walk, and went home and put my foot up. The next morning, I was in a lot of pain. I decided to give it a couple of days rest. A week later, with no long days, my foot was still killing me. I went to the doctor, had a couple of x-rays, and learned that there were no breaks. I stayed off it another week, and only started walking yesterday.

So what good did I do in my down time? Not much. I sat on the couch. I I watched tv. I read books--started Shogun. I played endless Spider Solitaire. I am an embarrassing sloth.

Yesterday, I started walking again. My foot did not fall off. It did not all off this morning when I woke up. With any luck, I will finish my 9,000,000th step this week.

If my foot does not work out, I am going to hire the above burro to pack my fat, old body around.

Up In The Air

This is supposed to be a blog about walking, but it rarely is. In fact, when I go up in the air for a few hours, the whole world changes.

In March, Dorey and I rode the 10 and an a half plane ride to London. At the immigration desk, we overheard one agent tell the other agent about the earthquake in Japan. We and the agents discussed this for several minutes, while several folks trying to get through immigration looked angry at us for wasting their time. But the agents looked like they could use a break, and didn't seem to mind talking to us.

I was in Minnesota last weekend. Dorey and I had different schedules, and we were taking different flights. I flew out of Minnesota at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday night. I had to fly through Phoenix. A crowd of people were huddled around the television set in the terminal. I heard a voice on the television say that people were converging on the White House, and were waiving American flags. I walked through the terminal to the next television set. While a smaller crowd, all eyes were glued to the set. I then heard that bin Laden had been killed by US Seals. Once again, a big deal happened while I was flying.

We are flying in July. What is going to happen then?

Just a blog about nothing.

I reached my seven millionth step today. On my walk to New York, I have walked 5,000,000 steps. I have passed South Bend, Indiana.

Out of Nebraska Almost to Des Moines

The figurative me has walked 1,774 miles. I have moved beyond Nebraska and have moved into Iowa. I am just a few miles from Des Moines.

I have a very soft spot for Des Moines. We wandered through its streets on an early Sunday morning in April 1982. It was so beautiful on the empty streets that I also wanted to return. Then I thought about winter, and said forget it.

The Big Read

I have been walking. The figurative me as walked 1591 miles since leaving my home in Alameda. I have walked at least five miles a day since my eye surgery on May 13th. I am 28 miles from Lincoln, Nebraska. What I haven't been doing is writing here.

I don't write often because my time is otherwise occupied. Beside walking five miles a day, which takes about an hour and a half, I am reading. Right now, I am in the middle of four books--Nicholas Nickleby, War and Peace, It, and Lorna Doone. I read at least one chapter of each of these books per day.

Why? In 2003, we went to England and Wales. On our first night in Wales, a Saturday, we watched a program that called the Big Read. Someone had picked out the Britain's 200 best loved books. It amused me no end--the British love lists, even more than I do. And they love game shows--a lot more than I do. So they combined the best loved books and the game show, and had a contest over several months for best loved book. They made little short films summarizing the books in the top 20 of the best loved books. The folks voted for the best loved book.

The next Saturday night, we were in London, and it was the last night of the Big Read contest. Lord of the Rings won, although the commentators guessed that not that many people had read it, but many probably had seen the movie (the third movie installment had opened that week in London). Pride and Prejudice was second. Some VA Andrew's book was number 200.

We left England the next day. I made a vow to read all 200 books on the list. I have read quite a few of them over the year as my interest in the project waxes and wanes. Some have been great--the horrific but wonderful "Trainspotting" has been one of my favorite. The horrific and awful "American Psycho" has been one of my least favorite (How anyone can say that they loved this book is beyond me). I have read the wonderful A Fine Balance, introducing me to the Indian novel. I have read my first and last VA Andrew's book. Same for Nicholas Sparks. And I have tried, my I tried, to read Lord of the Rings. It is terrible on so many levels. I will get through it, though, so that I can complete this project in the next couple of years.

Beside reading these books, I read the scriptures every day. I also spend some time learning the French that has escaped me since my mission 30 years ago. So I don't write here. One project had to get left by the side, and this is it. But I still am walking, even if I am not writing.

The pictures do not depict flowers in England, nor do they depict flowers in Paris. Either of these might be appropriate for this post. Rather, they reflect flowers in Red Wing, Minnesota. About as far away from England and France as one could get and still be on the same planet.

Nebraska

I have to date walked 1483 miles since leaving my home in Alameda, California. The figurative me is out in the middle of Nebraska, about 54 miles from Grand Island. The figurative me is sweating, is bored, and has a general mad on. Sort of like the literal me sitting here in California.

Nebraska

The figurative me is headed through the Great Plains. I have walked 1277 miles since leaving my home last September. I just entered Sidney, Nebraska.

My quick internet research indicates that Sidney is one of the top 100 rural communities in the U.S. What makes Sidney so, well, great? The website was a little vague. Lots of development, for one thing. Plus it was the considered the frontier capitol of Nebraska's high plain region. I don't know about you, but to me, that is pushing it a bit to find some significance to Sidney. But the figurative me is glad to be here nonetheless.

The literal me went to Minnesota over the weekend, probably flying right over Sidney. Dorey had gone to see her mom, and I went to spend the weekend with Dorey. We went to the Twin Cities on Saturday morning.