Trek Days 4-8

Crazy week.

But the trek continues. On Sunday, I walked 11,079 steps, or 5.2 miles. On Monday, I walked 10,850 steps, or 5.1 miles. On Tuesday, I walked 12,693 steps, or 6.0 miles. On Wednesday, I walked 10,744 steps, or five miles. Yesterday, I walked11,949 steps, or 5.6 miles. As of yesterday, then, I have walked 45 miles. The virtual me has walked through the Caldecott Tunnel, down past Orinda, Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Concord, and Martinez. I have crossed the Martinez-Benica Bridge, and am nearly reached Fairfield.

My plan was to comment on the places the virtual me was passing as I performed this walk. Unfortunately, this week did not allow me to comment on the most significant places in my life--Oakland, Orinda, Moraga, Lafayette, Walnut Creek, and Concord. However, I will soon have plenty of mountains and desert, and can make my comments about these places then.

I must say that I miss Ariel more than I thought I possibly could.

Seven days down; 575 days and 2866 miles to go.

Ariel RIP

Last night, we included the following on Dorey's Facebook:


RIP Ariel. We are sad to say that we had to let go of our beautiful greyhound Ariel this evening. The details: In July, Ariel started developing sniffles. We thought it was simply a cold. In August, she began having seizures, including a pretty ugly ...seizure one Sunday morning. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and put on phenobarbitol to control the seizures. She had about three good weeks after that, but starting having serious musculoskeletal issues about a week ago. Last night, despite the phenobarbitol, she had a seizure. She was also in constant pain. She stopped eating. Today, the vet gave her a morphine derivative, but the pain still remained. We decided that if morphine did not knock out her pain, she was not going to return to a quality life. So we let her go. She passed away at 6:30m p.m. this evening.

Now some would say that she was the most world’s obnoxious dog, but we prefer to say that she was just overly gregarious. So thanks, Ariel, for being a wonderful, if slow, walk companion, more interested in plants than even I am. Thanks for being so gentle with every person, and most dogs. Thanks for the grunt that you made at the end of the day as you settled into bed. Thanks for your smiles. Thanks for allowing us to hug you even when breakfast was waiting for you. Thanks for running so gracefully at the park. Thanks for greeting us, even when we did not kindly acknowledge your greeting. Rest in peace, our sweet old dog.

We take this time out from the trek to report on Ariel

Ariel, our nine year old greyhound, is not doing very well. Last Thursday, I could not sleep. So at about 4:30 a.m., I came downstairs and started to walk around the lower story to get a few steps in for the day. Ariel, as she often does, followed me downstairs. When she came downstairs, however, she stood like a statue, unwilling to move. She stayed in that position for about 20 minutes and then finally went back upstairs.

Over the weekend, she became increasingly weak. She stopped eating. She yelped from pain, even when she was laying on the ground. She had a lot of trouble walking up the stairs. We think that she might have had a seizure over the night.

We took her to the vet today. At the vet's, she had another seizure. The vet shot her up with the anti-seizure medication. The vet has given us some pain medication. The hope is that the pain medication will assist Ariel in eating and getting her strength back. If not, we are going to have to let her go.

We are preparing for the worst.

Alameda To New York, Days 2 and 3

The real me is in Alameda. The figurative me has moved from near the LDS church down to Webster Street in Alameda. I then turned right and walked through the Posey Tube into Oakland. I have now circled up onto the 880, and switched onto the 24 toward Walnut Creek. I will soon be at the Caldecott Tunnel.

As a kid, I always considered Alameda to be a ghetto--a poor navy town. I had some friends here, but spent little time over here. Even those guys that I knew were pretty rough. I would never live here.




Then, as we were looking for a place to live after the first year of law school, my father suggested that we look in Alameda. We went and found a lovely apartment in a fourplex on San Jose Avenue. Shortly after moving in, we knew that we had found our spot.

It is a nice compromise. There are lots of folks who have lived here for generations. Alameda thus has a small town feel. Dorey never goes to the grocery store without seeing someone she knows. At the same time, we are close enough to San Francisco that we can get the big city stuff when we want to.

We left Alameda for a couple of years to work in Los Angeles. We spend our entire time trying to get back to Alameda. Both our kids went through school here, although Christian started kindergarten in Los Angeles.




Another reason to love Alameda--the weather. It is usually between 50 and 70 here. Today it is probably 90, but that is only going to last for a few days, and then we are back to great weather.

We often say that we are going to move--but that would mean leaving Alameda.



The real me was actually in Oakland on the day that the figurative me was walking down the 24 freeway. We went with my parents to the Oakland A's game on Friday night. The A's played the Indians that evening. After the game were fireworks. The picture above is of fireworks.

So on day two, I walked 12,899 steps, or 6.1 miles. On day three, I walked 12,532 steps, or 5.9 miles. In three days, I have walked 37,431 steps, or 18.1 miles.
Three days down, 579 days and 2892.4 miles to go.

Day One--Alameda to New York

Dorey waves good-bye, and then tells me she hates the picture.

I have always loved Learian journeys. Lear, you will remember, goes to see his daughters to find out about himself. He may be a bit unsuccessful on his little trek, ending up blind and raging and often spitting his final lines all over the audience. Nonetheless, he apparently finds his answer.

I really don’t like the play very much,--at the end I just want to tell Lear that I have a headache and could he still stop yelling--but I love fictional adventures of folks trying to find themselves--Harry and Tonto, Away We Go, Flirting with Disaster, and On the Road all come to mind.

I am now going to start my own Learian fictional trek. I can’t take a real trek--mind you--work and family and home keep me close to this place. Further, I don’t have to find myself. But I have to keep walking, and I need some motivation to keep walking. I love to travel most of all, and travel will keep me walking.

Then the decision becomes where to go. All of the treks in Americana literature have the folks going west. My ancestors have always traveled west in their efforts to find themselves. So I should perhaps go west.

Unfortunately, as a result of my ancestors continual move west, I am about as far west as I can walk. The water west is about 800 feet from my house. And believe me, I have not worked out that walking on water thing.

I could go south--but south of me is Los Angeles--enough said. Ok, I could go north toward Seattle. Actually, I have no objection to that one, but it is not the direction I have chosen. Rather, I decided to go in the reserve direction of my ancestors and all the American literature and head east on my fictional trek. I have decided to walk to figuratively to New York City from my home in Alameda. Maybe by walking backwards I will lose myself.

According to Map Quest, it is 2911 miles from my house in Alameda to New York City. Assuming that I walk five miles a day, it will take me 582.2 days to walk this distance.

My route will mainly be on I-80, with a couple of changes. I am not going to take the quickest way out of Alameda, but will rather walk across the island, and through the Posey Tube. I will not pick up the I-80 until I reach Fairfield. Instead, I am going to take the 24 through the Caldecott Tunnel, and out through Walnut Creek and then across the Martinez-Benicia Bridge. I will then walk along the freeway until I pick up the I-80.

Along the way, I will write about my experiences with the place where I am walking. I have traveled along most of the I-80. There are several miles in the east side of the states, however, that I have never visited. On those areas, I will just yak away on whatever I want. Well, even in places I have been, I am going to yak away as I want to.

The journey began yesterday. I left my house, and walked out to the shoreline where I could see the million dollar views of San Francisco. On my mythical journey, I am really going to miss those views. In my real life, I will probably see them at least once a day, and probably more. I walked down to the Bay Farm Bridge, and walked under it. There were several folks fishing off the bridge, none of whom acknowledged my presence. These bridge fisherman have always been a surly bunch. I cross the bike bridge onto the main island and walked down to Lincoln Middle School. I turned down Encinal Avenue, and walk down to the church I attend, the Alameda Ward of the LDS church. I walk down a couple of more blocks, and stop for the day. On my first day, I have walked 12,000 steps, or 5.6 miles. One day down, 581 days and 2905.4 miles to go.

Second Million In The Books

Done. Fini. The second million is in the books. I finished it at 9:31 a.m. in the hallway right outside my office. Beautiful.

So, yesterday, I walked 12,713 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, September 16, 2009, I have walked more that a million steps in 83 days. (The picture of the pedometer is of the first million steps.)

Tomorrow starts the next million. It's going to happen with a twist.

Birthday Report

By the way, I had a wonderful 50th birthday celebration. Like the date of my birth, this year was on a Friday. However, the celebration actually started on Thursday night.

That night, Dorey took me to Angelas for dinner. Angelas was a small restaurant located in a grocery store shopping center. The site was deceptive, as the food was wonderful. When Alameda reopened the theater, Angelas closed in the shopping center, and reopened in a much bigger space next to the theater. We went to the new location about a month after it reopened, and were disappointed. The space was beautiful, but the food was mediocore.

We decided to give it another chance on Thursday. Angelas was back, big time back. The duck strudel was wonderful. The rack of lamb was terrific. The bread and pesto sauce--yummers. I was so happy. And it was a great start to a birthday weekend.

The next morning I taught my seminary class, and went home and pretended to work for a couple of hours. Then Dorey kidnapped me. We went out for lunch, and then to a movie. At the edge of our island is a fence where people put up birthday greetings. I could not see one for me. Why, Dorey, I said, you should know by now that my name is not Justin, and I am not 21 years old, no matter, you old cougar you, you would like me to be. She said, just wait. I did, and saw a sign up saying Happy Birthday Jonathan. Made my day!!!!

After lunch and the movie, we headed to Pleasant Hill for a dinner with the family. I sat next to Justin, who regaled us with stories about working for a Mexican airline. At the restaurant, I had to go to the bathroom. The mens room was flooded, and the manager directed me into the ladies room. "It's just the same," he said as I walked into the ladies room. On my way out, I had to tell him that he was wrong. "The wallpaper in the mens room does not tell me that I am pretty."

After dinner, we went to Jeff's house for cake and ice cream. Sophie is turning into a rather open two year old. She delighted everyone by making Gerry, her grandfather, get up and dance with her. When she wanted to go somewhere, she would grab Chelsea as an escort.

Saturday, as noted, was spent at Filoli Gardens. We then went to Fentons for a birthday shake. Finally home to watch the BYU stomping of Tulane.

The birthday weekend was topped off with a 49er win over the Cardinals. What more could I want. Good food and good company, and two wins for my teams.

Tomorrow I finish my second million. Yesterday, I walked 10,974 steps. As of this moment, 6:46 p.m. on Tuesday, September 15, 2009, I have walked 996,696 steps in 82 days.

I am getting close to my second million. I should be finished with it sometime on Wednesday. I am having a lot simpler celebration this time. I am treating it like, “this is what I am supposed to be doing” sort of thing. I will simply slap my hand, and then walk some more. Sort of like handing the ball to the ref after a touchdown. Act like you have been in the end zone before.



I am going to take a different approach to my next five and a half million steps. Wait and see, wait and see. Big announcement Thursday. But the only person who reads this without falling asleep already knows what the announcement is.

Now the stats: Yesterday, I walked 10,797 steps. As of this moment, 7:21 p.m. on Monday, September 14, 2009, I have walked 985,191 steps in 81 days.

Rick Wise and Filoli Gardens

Today is Rick Wise's birthday. Rick Wise was a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies several years ago. His baseball card was in the first packet of baseball cards that I ever purchased. Because his card was in that pack and because his birthday was two days after mine, I became a Rick Wise fan. I remember one summer being in Salt Lake City and reading in the paper that Rick Wise threw a no-hitter.

I sort of lost my luster for Rick Wise, though, when he went on a head-hunting expedition against the San Francisco Giants one Sunday. I continued to follow his career, but nope, it wasn't the same. According to Wikipedia, Rick Wise is now retired after spending years as a minor league pitching coach. So, Happy Birthday, Rick Wise.

As part of my birthday weekend, Dorey took me walking through Filoli Gardens yesterday. A nice trip. And then home to watch a BYU win against Tulane. And today, a Niner win. A great birthday weekend.

Anyway, on Friday, I walked 13,510 steps. Not a bad birthday walk. On Saturday, I walked 11,843 steps. As of this moment, 5:21 p.m. on Sunday, September 13, 2009, I have walked 974,436 steps in 80 days.

Happy Birthday To Me

Why, you are a marvelous person. All the best wishes on this, the most special day of all. And many happy returns, my good man.



Come get me, ladies--Birthday special. Three days only.

And, oh yes, the stats: On Wednesday, I walked 11,018 steps. Yesterday, I walked 11,444 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 4:51 p.m. on the 50th anniversary of the date of my birth, I have walked 950,133 steps in 78 days. Why, how did you get to be so very wonderful?

Tahoe/Reno The End

So we changed, checked out, and then headed off to Virginia City. I have been to Virginia City on a couple of occasions. The first time was when I was eight. We were on our way to Utah for a vacation. I remember little about that visit, other than we passed a theater which was showing Marilyn Monroe's movie, The Seven Year Itch. I asked my mother if we could watch it. She said that I wouldn't understand it. Having seen it several years later, I still don't understand it.



Dorey and I went to Virginia City on our honeymoon after I recovered from the stomach flu. Nothing sticks about this trip. Then we went several years ago when we met Dorey's sister and brother-in-law in Tahoe. Christian and Kate panned for gold. Since I was in Tahoe, I was starting to become ill, and that evening, I was running a 103 temperature. So my recall of Virginia City is limited.

Now I have been and can recall, Virginia City ain't much. It's full of really pretty rough folk, and folk dressed up in costumes. There were also some folks in civil war attire, creating a discongruity in the town. We walked up and down the streets of the town, and took a short tour, ate lunch and left town. Never have to go there again.



We headed to Truckee, where we had a work party. And then home. Trip report mercifully done.

What I learned on this trip:

1) Arts and craps fairs are bad the world over, even in South Lake Tahoe.
2) Work parties are a good excuse to get out of town.
3) Sparks is a growing town, but walking in the industrial section is pretty boring.
4) It's nice not to have a plan, but I need a plan.




Now the stats: On Friday, I walked 12,818 steps. On Saturday, I walked 11,362 steps. On Sunday, I walked 10,731 steps. On Monday, I walked 16,943 steps. On Tuesday, I walked 10,909 steps. As of this moment, 6:29 p.m. on Wednesday, September 9, 2009, I have walked 926,758 steps in 75 days.

Tahoe/Reno Part Three

Other than nights at Tahoe, I have spent about three nights in my life in Northern Nevada. The first time was outside of Carson City. I was about 8 years old. We were driving to Utah, and stopped to camp. Coyotes barked all night. My father talked about a guy he knew who was on the FBI's most wanted list. My father said that the guy was probably living out there in the desert. Between the coyotes, worrying about a murderer, and the general misery of camping, I don't think that I slept that night.

The next time was right after I graduated from college. We were driving a U-Haul across the desert as we returned to California from Utah. We hoped that we could make the drive in one day, but we were simply too slow. So we stayed overnight in a Motel Six in Reno. All I remember about that night after taking a shower, I lied down on the bed before getting dress. The next thing I knew I was waking up naked on the bed the next morning.

The next time I stayed overnight in Northern Nevada was last Saturday night. We picked a Fairfield Inn in Sparks. The motel is located in an industrial part of the town, but is otherwise a nice place for a Fairfield Inn. Plus, the staff was great--terrifically helpful with advise for dinner spots and directions. A very pleasant stay.


We went to an Italian restaurant in South Reno for dinner. You walk into the bar. The bar tv was tuned to the Niner-Cowboy preseason game. There were only 40 seconds left in the tied game. The Niners had the ball at the Cowboy 7. The waitress wanted to seat us. I told her to hold off for 30 seconds. The next play, the Niners scored. Ok, it's only preseason, and my third team can beat your third team sort of thing, but it was fun to watch the Niners win, even in preseason.

The game was better than the food. I had a ravioli dish which was only so-so. The ravioli were pasty and chewy. Oh, well...

The next morning, Dorey and I awoke to go on a walk. We walked through an industrial park, racking up about 5,000 steps. We would have walked more, but we wanted to get to church.

OK, here's a dilemma. Do you get blessings if you try to get to church, but miss it because the information on the Internet is wrong. Before our walk that morning, we checked the lobby Internet for a local ward starting time. We were told 9:00 a.m. Beauty. We could attend Sacrament meeting, and then go back to the motel to change and check out. We rolled into the church parking lot at about 8:55, just in time to slip into the back of the chapel for the start of Sacrament meeting so that we could just as easily slip out at the final amen.

As we walked into the building, however, we found that the chapel was full, and the speaker was half-way through his sermon. Obviously, we were late. Dorey wandered down the hall to see if this building had two chapels. She found some brother, who said that just the last week, they had moved another ward into the building. To accommodate the four wards in the building, they had to change the start times. The first ward began at 8:00, and the next ward at 10:00. The person looked very embarrassed, as if it were his job to make the changes of the start times on the website. I figured we tried, and listened to the end of the sermon, and left to change and check out.

Anyway, on Wednesday, I walked 12,498 steps. On Thursday, I walked 11,352 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 4:44 p.m. on Friday, September 4, 2009, I have walked 863,704 steps in 71 days.

Tahoe/Reno Part Two

We have been to Tahoe on numerous occasions. As a kid, we would go there to play in the snow. We had several church youth ski trips there over the years. However, in general, my trips to Tahoe as an adult have not been positive.

We went on a honeymoon there. We climbed the hill in a blizzard. I was the leader of a long pack of cars. I kept wanting another car to go around me to take over the lead, but none would. Twenty-seven years later, as Dorey and I drive to Tahoe on Highway 50, we still remark about that miserable Saturday night in Tahoe.

That ride in the white out did not end the misery of that particular trip. The next day found me with my face in the porcelain God, paying my tithe. I figured that if Dorey could still love me after spending two days of our first days together cleaning up my vomit that this marriage thing might stick.

(I note that this is something of a family tradition. My great-grandparents Farr took a ship from Los Angeles to San Francisco on their honeymoon. Grandfather Farr recorded in his journal that his new wife spent her time on the boat feeding the fishes).


So the first trip to Tahoe as a married couple did not go well. Nor did the second. Well, the trip went well, but on the afternoon of our return, we were in a fabric store. All of a sudden, my back twinged and knotted, and I was out of it for two days. I have always blamed Tahoe.

The next trip was one in which we met Dorey's sister and her husband. After they left, I became very ill, running 101 temperature.

After this, we have been nervous about trips to Tahoe. The last few have been uneventful.

The trip on Saturday was no exception. We drove into South Lake Tahoe, and parked in the Mont Bleu Casino parking lot. An arts and craps show was being held there, and we wandered through it. We bought a small present for Kate for Christmas (if you read this, Kate, act surprised). Since we don't gamble, and because I don't like outdoor activities on warm days, we walked down to the movie theater to get out of the heat. Actually, Tahoe was nice in the shade, and only slightly warm in the sun. But because I don't want to be in the sun at all. So we saw "Taking Woodstock." A bit too many naked people running around, but otherwise ok.

After the movie, we walked to the Hard Rock Casino to buy Christian a t-shirt from that shop. At that, I was ready to flee South Lake Tahoe before the curse of the lake made me ill.

And the stats: Yesterday, I walked 11,207 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 7:54 p.m. on Wednesday, September 2, 20099, I have walked 841,794 steps in 69 days.