Day 103

I wanted to be on the road around 2 am but didn’t wake up until 4. I forced myself to get up and I was on the road at 5. It was still dark but the city lights were bright enough to see and be seen. It felt great to be walking through a city in the morning. I love exploring cities. Especially when there aren’t a lot of people around.

After I got out of the tourist section, I came into some really cool neighborhoods. If I lived in Kansas City, I would live in the area I walked through. It had a very high Hispanic presence and it looked like it had really good restaurants and chill spots. There was a food truck lot with a huge airplane sculpture above it.

I wasn’t paying attention and the Kansas state line jumped up on me. I almost passed by without even knowing it. I’ve been dreading Kansas for a while now. Mainly because people have brainwashed me into thinking that it is going to be awful. Well, I spent a few days off in Kansas City so that I could plan out my route and I’m actually looking forward to it now. I think there will be a lot of cool highlights in Kansas. I may even get to see a tornado! Haha

As I was entering Kansas, the sun was rising and the sky was beautiful! People were stopping me left and right and asking about my walk or saying hey because they saw me on the news. This happened all day. Traffic increased every hour as well as the temperature. I started late and was regretting it but at the same time, I handled it just fine. I made sure to keep domino and I hydrated and I stopped to rest if I got to warm.

I started calling domino ‘Toto.’ If I get the chance to see a tornado and survive it then I am definitely changing the name of my stroller to Dorothy. I kept myself amused with little things like that. I posted the ‘carry on my wayward son’ song by Kansas on my Facebook page.

So I have some sad news.. I am about 95% sure that I am going to send domino home. She has about a week left. It’s just too hot. She can come back when it cools down. She’ll definitely cross the finish line with me. I’ll miss her and I know she’ll miss me but she’ll be a good hands back home with my aunt and my cousins. My cousins are outside all the time and will play with her.

I stopped for a break in front of an office building and a guy came out that barely spoke English. We tried to communicate for a minute or 2 but it wasn’t working very well. His language class didn’t teach him the words for conversations about walking across America for overdose awareness. I asked him if his first language was Spanish and he said “si.”

I replied, “Bueno. Estoy caminando a través de los Estados Unidos porque mi hermana murió de las drogas . Estoy enseñando la gente de la problema en nuestro país. Empecé en Delaware y voy a San Francisco.”

We then started talking about the walk and about how I learned Spanish. We also talked about drugs and we both agreed that the Mexican Cartel was a big part of the problem. He was from Mexico and he had a hard time comprehending how I was able to do something like this. He couldn’t comprehend life without a job. I get that a lot actually.

I finally made it to the crappy motel that I planned on staying at for the night in Olathe, Kansas. There was a couple who pulled up in an old suburban full of stuff and they asked about the walk. They were touched by my cause and the guy pulled his money out of his pocket and said that he only had $22 to my name but he wanted to give me $2. I was amazed. They were living out their car and going through hard times. I told them to hang out for a minute and when I got my room that they could take a shower. Their eyes lit up and they said they would definitely do that.

I went to check in and it took a while because the hotel was going through a shift change. When I got done I couldn’t find the couple but figured I’d run into them later. I set domino up and left Lieutenant Dan in the room and walked across the street to Waffle House for a little taste of home. It was incredible!

I got back and still no sign of the couple. I was really looking forward to helping them out. They needed it. Nothing I could do now though. I went ahead and took my own shower and that was that. Gonna go to bed early and try to get an early start again.