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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…

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.

So I took today off. I was in a bad place. I was questioning myself and wondering if and how I was going to finish this thing. The day off proved to be very helpful.

I spent all morning working online and getting some stuff done on my blog and my website. I also ordered some more business cards as I ran out. My friend Kas messaged me and let me know that she had arranged for me to have a massage at 2 pm today.

I got ready for that and then took Uber to get there. Oh em gee!!! Best massage ever! If you’re in Kansas City you MUST go to her. Www.moonstonemassagekc.com Ask for Danette.

A lot of my anxieties went away during that session. I was able to truly relax and get some kinks worked out. I came back to the hotel to one of the most powerful moments that I’ve had on my entire trip yet.

Nikki had reached out to me yesterday saying that a friend of hers saw me on the news and told her about me. Nikki had just lost her sister, Brittany, to an overdose in April. We both lost our Brittanys. We arranged to meet up because how could you not!?

She was there with her husband and her adorable 17 month old daughter. We got through the awkward introductions pretty quickly and were pouring out our deepest pains to each other within a few minutes. I could tell that she really needed this and I knew that I really needed it too. I always hate to meet another person that knows my same pain but it helps so much to be able to relate to someone. One of those bittersweet kind of things…

She reminded me of why I’m doing this and I found the motivation that I needed to find. When she left I cried a little and felt like I was ready to run across Kansas in the blazing heat. I didn’t care what it took. This is exactly what I needed. 

The rest of the night went well too. I called a few friends and family to talk about meeting Nikki and that I felt better. I’m going to take one more day off tomorrow.

Once I was in my better mood I was going through my comments and messages and was very appreciative of all of the love and support you all have given me along the way. This walk isn’t exactly easy but I know that I will make it. And many people will know just a little bit more about the drug epidemic because of it. Someone may even be saved because of it. That’s why I will finish.

I woke up early and got on the road before the sun came up. I lost my flashlight the other night but I still have a headlamp and a red light for people to see me. It was bright enough outside because I was in the city. There were a lot of rabbits out and I let Domino chase them because there wasn’t any traffic where we were to start the day.

The sun came up and I was getting into a good rhythm. I was scheduled to meet up with a news crew to follow me around all morning. They were doing live spots every hour of their morning show. They met me and it was cool. Nicole was the reporter and Eli was the photographer. They were a good team. We talked and they asked questions out of their own curiosities and then we practiced an interview before going live.

We shot the first spot and then I walked some more only to be met by them an hour later. This went on all morning. It slowed me down dramatically but it was worth it to get the word out. This was a big one as far as people that I was reaching. They ran my story all day and many people were able to see it and hear my story about the walk.

After they left I decided to just stay downtown because there was a hotel where I could get a discount at. I called to see if they took pets but they didn’t. She was going to recommend me to another place but I told her that I was walking. She was like, “well we take service animals.” Kind of in a hinting way. I picked up on it and said that my service animal and I would be there shortly. She gave me her name so that I would ask for her when I got there.

Not only did she let all that go down but she gave me a ridiculously cheap rate. This is a very nice hotel by the way. I asked to stay an extra day. I need to get my head right. Something is missing.  I have to sort it out before getting back out. So I’m trying to get a grip on that. I’ll stay here for a couple of days and handle what I need to handle.

I  very thankful to have found this hotel and the woman who helped me. I want to leave the names out because I don’t want to get her in trouble. I’m going to be able to recharge mind and body here. I already know…

I took today off and was hoping to go to some museums. I slept in late and then went to a BBQ restaurant for lunch. I then went back to sleep and woke up around 4 pm haha.

A girl who went to the same high school that I went to and knew my sister had relocated to Blue Springs, MO. That’s right where I was. She invited me over to her house where she was having people over to grill out and hang out. I had a blast and felt like I was home again.

I had a great day and I was dreading getting back to the walk early the next morning.

I wanted to wake up at 2 but woke up at 5 instead. I slept great and didn’t want to get out of “bed”. When I got on the road it was already daylight. I knew it would be a hot one so I tried to get as far as possible before taking a break. There was a lot more traffic than I’ve seen in a while. I could tell I was in the suburbs now.

One of the mothers who had heard about my walk and had been following along saw me and messaged me on Facebook. She told me that she was going to come back with breakfast. About 30 minutes later she messaged again and asked where I was at. I was very impressed with her navigational skills as many times when a mother is trying to find me, they have no idea what “I’m walking west on the eastbound side of hwy 40” means. Traci figured it right out.

We met and I got to take my first break of the day after walking 9 miles straight. She was awesome and we talked about how she was affected by this epidemic and I tried to share some of my story that related to it. I will always remember Traci and thought it was so cool that she just happened to see me passing by.

I kept going and was trying to push because it gets hotter every minute. The sooner I got to my destination the better. People kept stopping me. I never mind talking to people. I always stop and talk about the cause when given a chance.

It started to get really hot out. I saw a shady spot under a bridge and took a long break. I only had about an hour left from there. So I took my time and got all the rest I needed to push through the last few miles. Me and Domino were just laid out under the bridge with people passing by. We probably looked crazy. I didn’t care. I don’t think domino did either.

I finally made it to the hotel after being stopped by a few more people and having to conquer a few big hills. I get to the hotel and they tell me that the rooms aren’t ready and I’d have to wait at least an hour. Cool. I laid on the floor in the lobby hoping that my crazy appearance in their place of business would force them to want to get me into my room quickly. It didn’t work. I had to wait there along with a few others.

We all talked and I spread the word about the drug epidemic. I finally got my room and I went in to shower and get ready for the Royals game. An employee with the Royals had heard about me and hooked me up with a great seat! I was very excited to go to a game and feel normal again.

I got there early and it was a bobblehead giveaway night. That was cool. I went to the team store and bought a few souvenirs and a scorecard. I got seated and enjoyed watching the entertainment. The people around me were great and the Royals were winning.

David, the Royals employee who got the ticket for me, came by to say hello. He sat down and let the fans around me hold his world series ring and take pictures with it. I got one too of course! That was pretty cool. So was David. He was my age and we had a lot in common. He offered to take me back to the hotel after the game.

I had a great time and a long day. Domino was all sprawled out on the king size bed and I could tell that she was perfectly content with me being gone for so long during the game. I took her out and then we both passed out.

I left the hotel at midnight, knowing that I couldn’t go back, and walked into the night. Nothing really happened. Pretty boring. I was listening to the radio and I had to scare off a few possums and raccoons. Nothing out of the ordinary…

It want until daylight came that stuff started to happen. I was scheduled to be on the Jack Daniels morning show on power 97.7 FM this morning and I was listening to it on my radio. They would amp me up by talking about me before they called. All morning they would play songs for walking and would keep mentioning that they would be talking to me later.

Later finally came. They called and I talked on the air about the cause and about the walk. It went well. A few people honked after it to show that they had heard it. I got a few nice messages from people thanking me for taking a stand to raise awareness for this epidemic.

22 miles and 9 hours later I come up to a KOA campground. I’ve never stayed at one of these before. They are very nice! Also very expensive when it comes to camping. They were nice and upgraded me to a cabin with AC though. I have been taking advantage of the amenities here. I have some BBQ food coming soon and a root beer float. After that I’m going to sleep all day so that I can walk all night again!!!

I’ll be in Kansas City in 2 days I think. I want to take one day off there to do site-seeing and another day off to do NOTHING!

I left the hotel at 12:30 am and got ready to walk at night for the first time. I put a flash light on the front of Lieutenant Dan as the “headlight” and I put a bright red light on the back as a “tail light.” I also had on a headlamp and an orange reflector vest for me and for Domino. I planned on staying on a service road that runs parallel to I-70. Very little traffic but right next to the interstate so I had all of the resources available at every exit just in case. Seemed safe enough to me…

So I leave and it was interesting. I couldn’t see the hills coming up ahead so one minute I’d be walking downhill and the next I’d be pushing everything uphill. I was making sure to stay on guard for any animals. I saw a possum and 2 raccoons the whole night. They all left me alone. No big deal. Domino wasn’t phased by them either.

I took a break at a lumber yard and while I was sitting there I was actually cold and thought about grabbing my jacket. Funny to think that in just a few hours life-threatening temperatures would be blazing through the area.

I kept going into the night and felt a little more relaxed now that I’d been out for a few hours. I turned the radio on and was listening to some music. A sheriff pulls up and asks me what I was up to. I told him everything that I was doing and he was understanding and helpful. He gave me tips on where to go ahead when the road turned to gravel for a while.

The sun started to rise around 5:30. I took a break at the top of a hill to watch it. Just beautiful. It was weird watching the sun rise and feeling so close to the end of a long walk. When the sun came up a felt a new burst of energy and felt like I could’ve gone all day. I could have too if the temperatures weren’t so high.

I was getting close to the area that I planned on stopping at and it was already warming up. It wasn’t even 8 am yet and it was in the 80s. A small boy about 9 or 10 years old ran me down in his camo pajamas and gave me a bottle of water. I have no idea where he came from. I talked to him about the walk. I left the drug stuff out. He seemed a little too young to handle all of that but I gave him a card and assumed that he’d give it to his parents.

I had planned on making it to an RV campground that I called and had said that they would let me set my tent up there. But when I got to the area I noticed a couple of cheap motels and opted for air conditioning. Today they had a heat advisory issued for the area and even in the shade, it would’ve been hard to sleep all day. So I checked in and that was that.

Now to sleep the day away haha. It feels so weird. I’m hoping that I won’t have to do this for a long time. Just a few days to see if this heat wave passes. I’ll be I Kansas City soon and I’ll be able to take some time off there and plan how I’m going to get through the next segment. I’m still highly considering sending Domino home. I’d love to keep her here but I’m just worried about my abilities to keep her healthy through the summer.

We’ll see..

So today was interesting. I woke up at 4 am from my cell phone alarm. I wanted to stay asleep but I knew I had to get going. It took a while to pack up but I was on the road and walking at 5:10 am. During all that time, I was feeling a lot better. I thought that it was so cool to be waking up at dark next to a corn field haha. No one was around. Just me and Domino. There were some big tractor trailers that were parked there and some were still running but the drivers were all away in their cabins.

The colors of the sky as the sun rose were stunning. The air was crisp and the temperature was perfect. Waking up early was definitely worth it. I went quickly up and down rolling hills for 6 miles until I found a gas station/fireworks store. I figured I’d stop by to use the restroom and grab a second breakfast. That’s a thing when you burn as many calories as I do…

I go in and do my thing and when I come out I find a woman taking a picture of my stroller and she was crying. She told me that she’d lost her neice to an overdose and it hit her when she saw my whip. We talked and I wished I could’ve said more to help her and her family with the loss but there isn’t much I could do anyways. I just sat there on the sidewalk and ate my banana bread and muscle milk :/

It was only about 7 am at this time and I could tell that it was going to be hot soon. I wanted to push another 4 miles to get to a truck stop that I’d spotted on the map. My plan was to get there and then set my tent up somewhere and sleep during the day so that I could keep moving at night. I was following a road that parallels I-70. It was perfect but it came to a dead end and then picked back up a few miles ahead. I could see that from my map. I chose to just get on the interstate and walk on the shoulder until I got to the other road. It’s illegal and not exactly the safest thing in the world but I could care less at this point.

I made it just fine without confrontations and was back on the small roads again. I saw a sign for the truck stop and it mentioned that it had a motel, a restaurant, and a convenient store. My eyes lit up as I didn’t know of this until then. I figured a motel would be a much better place to get some rest through the 100 degree temperature day.

I go inside the convenient store to see about checking in and the woman says that she would be happy to have me stay but that none of the rooms were ready and it would be a while before she could tend to it. She offered a ride 8 miles up the road to the next motel. It was 10 am and already in the 90s. I needed the rest. This was a ride I was willing to take.

There was a vendor for a chip company that was behind me and heard the whole thing. He said he was going there anyways and offered to take me instead. My stroller would fit easier into the large truck. I didn’t hesitate. I needed this. The heat had been wearing on me bad and I just wanted to get my head right. I was so thankful when I arrived and checked in. I got a great rate also.

I got some great rest and went through Lieutenant Dan to lighten my load a little. I’m STILL learning that I don’t need half of the stuff that I’ve been carrying all the way across the country.  I made my plans to walk at night again. There is an RV campground 18 miles ahead that I called and they said that I could put my tent up there. I am planning an getting there around 9 or 10 am tomorrow. I’ll find a shady spot and get some sleep and then do it all over again the next night.

I’m going to stick to this strategy for a few days and see how things go. I’m glad the way today worked out. I feel much better now that I’ve had a little rest. I feel like everything changed when I crossed the Mississippi River. The weather, the terrain, the people, me, everything… I have to somehow roll with it and figure out how to get through. One day at a time…

Worst. Day. Ever.

Not really… I guess. It was one of the hard ones though. I learned a lot though.

I left Pilot Grove around 8 am and got back on the trail for about a mile. I came to a small backroad that I planned to take instead of staying on the Katy Trail. It was a more direct shot to Kansas City, which is my next major destination.

I was happy at first. Feeling great about the change of scenery. And then the sun came up. By 10 am life was hell on earth. At my first breaking point, I was sitting under some shade off the side of the road, a truck pulls up to see what was going on. Harold and his son Will. Nice guys just checking on me. We talked for a while and Harold donated some money. It was a great time for good people to come by because I was in a bad place. I was so far from anything and had no choice but to push through the heat.

I went up and down huge hills. What the fuck Missouri!? You’re in the middle of the country, you’re supposed to be flat! Ugh. It was miserable. I ran into a work zone and the guys were questioning whether or not to let me through. Before I said, “I don’t care what you say, I’m going through” they let me go. Thank goodness. They were nice actually. Just trying to do their jobs. Blah.

It was way too hot. I started to question sending domino home or not. It may  be too much for her. I also decided that I am no longer going to walk between the hours of 12 and 6 pm. Just can’t be done. I’ll do more night walking now. Fuck it.

I was strolling along in absolute misery and I came to a road closed sign. I didn’t think twice. I just went around it and kept going. I figured I would deal with whatever obstruction I came to when I got there. There was no way I was turning back around.

I came upon a bridge that 4 guys were working on. They were cool about it. They didn’t want me to cross over the concrete they just poured so they helped me lift Lieutenant Dan around the section of fresh concrete. Shortly after that I found a shady spot and laid right in the middle of the road for about an hour. Road was closed so I figured it was safe. It was…

More hills and more heat. I only had about 5 miles to go but it seemed like I’d never make it. I had to stop every 20 or 30 minutes just to cool down. I finally got to my destination. It is a stop off of the interstate with a porn shop, a gas station, and a truck repair shop. That’s it. The gas station had a dairy queen. That’s what kept me going all day.

I went to the porn store first, just because I thought it would make a great story, to ask if I could set my tent up behind their building. Nope. Went to the gas station and ordered food. I waited for the customers to clear out of the gas station side and I asked the clerk and he said that it would be fine and told me where to do it. Now I could relax. I ate some food and some ice cream and came back out to give Domino a plain hamburger.

Went to set the tent up in the shade. It’s 6:15 now and I’m going to try to go to sleep and wake up extra early to get some miles in before it gets hot. Tomorrow it’s supposed to reach 100 and I’m not having that. I’m going to be sleeping somewhere in the shade.

Hope that I can figure this out. There’s no way I can go on with days like this…