On The Road Again!

On Sunday, July 15th, I'll spend the day at the beach with my friend Tom.  I'll probably find a campground and pitch a tent that night, then on Monday I'll start walking south again.  Finally, I'll be back on the road again.  I've enjoyed the visit with my family and friends, and the family reunion was great -- but I'm ready to get back out on the road again.

I've loaded up my backpack and made a couple trial runs -- or should I say tried to make a couple trial runs (and trials they were!)  The first try was hauling around 47 lbs. I didn't last a mile with that.  The next try was with around 40 lbs -- still too much.  So with a great sigh of defeat, I am back to pushing the cart again -- albeit with a much smaller load than I started out with!  I've eliminated quite a bit of gear, and have pretty much streamlined what I have kept.  I bought a new, lighter sleeping bag, but kept the same 7x7 tent.  Also, since I decided to push the cart, I added on my camping chair -- something I totally enjoyed with my cart, but eliminated with the pack.  And I did allow myself to keep a few toys with me, such as a puzzle book, my ipod, an electronic game, my camera, and my kindle.  And I've kept the Bibles I'm carrying, too.  All in all, the load is quite a bit lighter, but I'm still pushing the cart.  My back really likes that.

 Here in the Willamette Valley, it's been fairly warm, around 85. The other day, my friend Barb and I went to the coast to spend a day at the beach, and it was a good 20 degrees cooler. That was nice, and I'm looking forward to getting back to that. It's around 1,200 miles to San Diego, and should take me around 4 months to get there

Barb and I at the beach.

My dad and his siblings:  Boone, Joy, Monty and Doris.

Fenton gave us his all!

Uncle Monty and Krista.

Dad playing with his toy tractors.