Day 104

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So I couldn’t sleep last night and around 10 pm I got a YouTube and found a sleep hypnosis video. I do that from time to time and omg it is crazy how well it works. I woke up 8 hours from a deep sleep. I noticed light peering in through the window  curtain. I knew I slept in way too long but I didn’t care. It’s always good to catch up on sleep when you can and the forecast today is not as high as it has been.

I went to WaHo for breakfast and the cook saw my water bottle with a “stop heroin” sticker on it. He asked about it. He is a recovering addict with 1.5 years clean. He’s using suboxone and is scared to try to get off of that. I told him to do whatever he has to do to stay alive. I left there and was on the road at 7 am.

Around 8 a woman pulls over and asks about the walk and took some pictures. She said that she is very active on Twitter and she’d try to get the word out for me. I’ve run out of cards so I have to keep asking people to take a picture of my shirt so they can go to my website. I ordered more and they should be here in a week or so.

Anyways, it was looking to be a nice day. People were friendly and I had a sidewalk to walk on.

Like all good things, the sidewalk came to an end. I was on a very busy highway with a very little shoulder. Awesome. Most people were being courteous and I was trying my best to race through the bad part. I knew that somewhere up ahead was a larger shoulder. One woman almost crashed into a car who slowed down for me. The tires screeched and everything. I was really stressed out and rushed to the better spot. I finally made it.

Right around that area a woman was in her yard and saw me go by. She darted off running after me and came to give me a big hug and Domino some good pets. She had seen me on the news and was thrilled that I came by her house. She has lost 2 friends to overdoses 🙁
We talked for a few minutes. There was a car with two nice ladies in it that pulled over too. We all talked and took pictures and then went our separate ways.

I was coming into the town of Gardner and there was one little quarter mile stretch of road with no shoulder. Luckily, for me anyways, the police had someone pulled over and he helped me get around so that I could get to the intersection ahead that led to a sidewalk that continued through the rest of town.

I stopped at a Sonic and ate lunch. I was getting a lot of attention there because of the news. I made sure everyone that I talked to knew about the drug problem in our country. I called the Edgerton City Hall. It’s the town about 5 miles ahead that I planned on camping in for the night. I was hoping that they could help tell me where I could set up my tent. They didn’t care about the walk or anything else. They said no and there was nothing they could do about it. I thanked them anyways hoping that being nice may change their minds. Nope.

I decided that I’d just go there anyways and figure it out when I got there. I knew I could always find a place in the woods as a last resort. I had a few spots in mind from looking at googlemaps. I was pretty confident that I’d find someone nice enough to help though.

Somewhere between here and there a man pulling a big trailer behind in his truck drove by and the gate had fallen down and was dragging on the road. He pulled over and was rigging it up when I walked by. I offered him a bungee cord. He thought about it but he didn’t want to take something from me I think. He asked about the walk because of the signs on the side of Lieutenant Dan (my stroller). I told him what was going on and he was blown away. He went on ahead and not too far up the road I noticed him pulled over again.

This time he got out and gave me his name and number and told me that if I needed anything while I was in the area to call him. Nice guy. Total cowboy. He said he was Cherokee Indian and shoed horses for a living. As he was getting back into his truck another vehicle pulled over to say hello…

This man gets out and tells me that he’s been following my blog and asks to pet domino. He knew her name. He introduced himself and told me that he is a recovering alcoholic with 14 years clean. He said that he drove down to come find me. He told me that just this morning,  he mentioned my name in a group meeting when the topic of motivation came up. He is trying to help others with their recovery and he says that I am helping him with his. I think I teared up a little. He was the kindest man in the world and very genuine and compassionate. He gave me an envelope with a very generous donation and his business card. He also offered to be a friend to me as I continue on this journey alone. Mr. Phil Rogers I am honored to have met you.

I went on and my whole mindset had changed. I felt like I did when I first started this walk. I’d lost the excitement somewhere between the heat and the pain. He helped me find it again. And no kidding, not too long after that, another truck was pulled over to the side of the road waiting for me to get there.

He was a kid in his 20s with a cool truck and a nice dirt bike in the back. He said, “are you seriously walking across america?”

Haha I laughed and said yes and we started talking for a while. He insisted that I take $20 and a friend of his pulled up too. We talked for a few minutes and then they offered to buy me dinner later. We exchanged numbers and I said I’d let him know when I figure out where I’ll be staying.

I got into town and I could tell that people were friendly there. I walked over to a park by a lake to sit in a picnic Pavillion. I’ve learned that they are quite valuable to a homeless person like myself. Especially when they have an outlet for my cell phone charger. I was resting and charging and I get a text from the kid saying that he’d love to host me and Domino tonight. I gladly accepted as I still hadn’t figured out the sleeping situation and rain looks inevitable.

I hung out in the picnic area for a while and waited out some rain and then he came to pick me up. Drake is 20 years old and lives in a duplex right behind a Casey’s general store. His place was exactly like a 20 year old guy’s place would look like. Sink full of dishes and mismatched furniture all set around a nice TV with video games. I felt right at home. Drake was cool as hell and really nice. His friend Hunter came to hang out and we all went out to eat.

Hunter picked up the tab and we were all full as hell. We got back and another friend, Matt, came to hang out also. We drove over to meet Drake’s parents. They had a lot of cats and dogs so domino was having a blast. I told a few stories from the walk and tried not to look like I was about to die. I am very allergic to cats but I was enjoying the company so much that I didn’t care.

We left from there to go meet Christy. She has been following my walk since April. It was crazy how Drake picked me up and when he told his mom about it, she knew who I was because of christy. She has been affected by my cause. We talked about that and my walk and everything else. I felt right at home with them. I could’ve hung out all night but it was close to midnight and I was about to fall asleep standing up.

We went back to Drake’s and I crashed on the spare mattress he had in the spare bedroom. I said goodbye to drake then because I knew I’d be leaving early in the morning. I was out in less than 5 minutes after laying down…

3 comments

  • Keep it up Brett. I have been following you since day 1. I am in recovery for 24 years. Lost many friends and a stepson to this disease. Your journey is important!!

  • So glad to see you’re making your way across Kansas. Abbie and I prayed for you this morning and will continue to do so. You are doing wonderful things to honor your Brittany. My Brittany would have been so stoked to meet you.

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