Day 7, 9-5-10: Banning to Rest Stop at exit 113, on I-10

Good and rested after a nite inside. Up early and headed out for Cabazon. The weather was cooler so anticipated a nice walk. I had used Google walking directions to find a route because not many options other than the interstate. Google directed us to head east on Johnson Lane. We found the interstate, then John St., but no Johnson Lane. So called my son to have him look at it on Google, and he said it was right beside the interstate and south of a row of trees.

Well, there was a rock filled, dirt road, unmarked, and we finally decided that must be it.....which turned out to be correct. But just a warning about Google walking directions: they might be right, and might not. Maybe within a city they would most often be right, but we've come upon many unmarked roads, roads with locked gates, roads no longer passable, etc., from the walking directions. Because we have the cart, we need a good surface, so decided to stick with driving directions most times.

Johnson Lane finally turned into an un-maintained surface road with no traffic, so all went well the rest of the walk. I stopped at a drug store to get some moleskin.....several people mentioned it helps with preventing blisters, and it does. Very cushioning, and sticks like crazy.

How to describe Cabazon.......it's the Las Vegas of outlet malls. About 130 or so outlet stores of about any name brand you can think of. All in a very nice, upscale, setting. It has hotels, casinos, and dinosaurs! For some reason, dinosaurs are big out here. ( that's a pic of me holding one back while Alan escapes.) Both Alan and I needed another shirt, so we went to the Columbia outlet and bought those. Then to the food court for lunch, rested a while. I spotted a policeman and inquired about walking on I-10 for a short stretch of our route. "Sure, you can do that out here, it's only the congested areas that you can't." I asked would he give me a card I could show in case someone questioned us being on the highway. With that in hand, set out on a road that runs alongside I-10.

The road ran out, we jumped on I-10 and decided to spend the nite in a rest area. Couldn't wait to drink some cold water, but unfortunately, it was "warm and cloudy (Alan's description)." See, CA has this budget problem and many of their facilities have suffered. Thing break and not fixed, facilities unmanned, etc. But, there was a nice place to pitch a tent, and the restrooms worked. Another tent camper was already there and we pitched near him......although there was a sign saying "no campers." Interesting enuf, many cars come to the rest area and stay overnite, which is not allowed in many states.

Day 6, 9-4-10: CBJ Dairy Farm to Banning, CA

Got up early and washed some clothes, ate a little pizza, and soon we were on the road. 10+ miles from the farm to Beaumont.....all uphill and another 100+ day. We have started moving from the "low" desert, to the "high" desert. I just hoped there wasn't a "higher" desert, because these climbs in this heat are awful.

Finally reached Beaumont around mid-day, and stopped at a convenience store to refresh. A man and woman were sitting outside waiting for someone to pick them up......their car had gone kaput. They obviously had as many or more problems than us, but as we started to leave, the man said he wanted to help us. He reached in his pocket and pulled one of those small baggies, almost full of coins. Gave it to us, wished us well on our travels. What can you say to that? We need to spend more time out with people and less listening what the media tells us about them. Judge them by our interactions, not from what we hear from others. Then we could come closer as a nation.

Across the street to a Jack-In-The-Box.......I really like these places, and don't think we have any back East. Ordered our food, and while eating, up drives Chad from the dairy farm, just checking to see if we're ok. We must look worse than I thought! He brought a buddy with him, Ron, another dairyman. I'll tell you, Ron was so strong looking, if he wanted to get a cow from here to there, he could just pick it up and move it. And when we shook hands, mine got lost somewhere in his. We talked with them for a while, and they went back home. We had walked all morning to get to Beaumont, and they drove there in 10 or so minutes!

After resting for a couple of hours, we started out for Banning. The walk there was pretty much uneventful. It started to cool a little as the afternoon wore on. Banning is a nice little town, and has restored much of their old western feel. No camping areas close by, so we decided to stay at a motel. Checked in, rested for a while, went next door for a sub, ate, took a swim, and soon after that, fast asleep. Overall a good, but very hot day.

Couple of general notes: I changed to another pair of shoes and they seem to fit a little better, so hope that will help with the blisters. Also, when we get to a town, we usually stop the first place we can find. So, many times it's not until the next morning when we pass actually thru the town. I'll tell you, we really want to get those shoes off as soon as possible. More later.......

Day 5, 9-3-10: Perris to CBJ Dairy

Once again it appeared today was going to be a good walking day.....good roads and weather, but very hot predicted. We headed East to Sanderson Rd, approx 7 miles away (we thought.) After several hours of walking, we stopped at a convenience store to refresh and ask directions, and found out Sanderson was another 7-8 miles. We mis-read our Google directions and thought we were closer than we were. Sat down outside to rest for a while and a guy approached us and introduced himself as Little Feather, a full bloodied Navajo Indian.

We talked a while,took some pictures, and as he was leaving Little Feather handed us a bag containing 2 breakfast burritos. He'd made them for himself and a friend, but wanted us to have them. Very tasty. Set out for Sanderson Rd. After another couple of hours walking, sat down to rest and decided to look around for a place to stay the night. No way we'd make Beaumont today. Came upon the CBJ dairy farm, and there met the owner, Chad Spyksma. Chad's family has been in the business for many generations, and he also owns another farm in Texas. His son John is in college now studying agriculture. He agreed to let up put up the tents at the guest house, and said we could also use the bathroom, showers, washer/dryer, etc. Also would take us to a nearby town if we needed any supplies.

We set up the tents, and went inside to clean up, and there was a group of other dairy people who had gathered for a Friday evening of beverage drinking, pizza eating, and story telling. We were invited to join them, and quickly did so. Alan loved it, said it felt much like a pub in London. A great evening sitting around telling stories and eating pizza with Brent, Tracey, John, Bianica, and Marinas. And soon after that to bed

Some interesting things about the dairy farms out here: lots of Dutch people in the dairy business in this area; they don't graze the cattle like back east, instead have the hay brought in. But like most dairy farming, it's a 24x7 business. And they have the same problems as many cattle farmers, high food cost, low milk prices. Tomorrow, north to Beaumont. (BTW: another day in the 105-110 degree range.)

Day 4, 9-2-10: Lake Elsinore to North of Perris, CA

At the onset, this appeared to be a reasonably easy walking day. Good roads, not too far, and a bright, sunny, day. But for some reason, which I still can't figure out, everything went kinda dysfunctional. Although the road was wide and had good shoulders, it was just recently / still being paved. The tarmac (sorry, I mean pavement...I'm starting to get an accent) was so black and absorbing so much heat, it was slowly sucking the energy out of us. And then the day got hotter, over 100, and there was some humidity as well. By the time we reached a convenience store south of Perris, both of us were very tired.

After resting and refreshing at the store, I asked a beer truck driver directions to the place we planned to stay. In fact, asked him about 3 times, and finally thought I had it. We walked on to Perris and stopped at a burger place for lunch. Perris has a pretty, small, downtown. While waiting for our order, a woman walked over to us, introduced herself as MJ Heggeness, and talked for a while about our walk. Then as she turned to leave, wished us the best, handed us $10, and told us to buy some drinks or something. What can I say? It's not even unusual anymore for this to happen.

We got our burgers, and turned RIGHT on a street heading out of town. Walked about a mile in awful heat, and finally figured we should have turned left. So back in the other direction....but, before starting back, I saw a young man selling watermelons in his yard so walked over and bought one. We stopped one more time at a police station to ask directions, and headed on to the camping spot, Camper Resorts of America, on Ramona Expressway.

When we got there, I was totally out of it. Overheated, dehydrated, and bone tired......could not take another step. I am 99% certain if my vitals were checked, I would have soon been in an emergency room with needles in my arm. After locating the person, we were told that they don't allow tents. But, thank heavens she felt sorry for two pretty grungy looking guys. Crystal said she could not send us on our way, so called the manager of the park, Mike Weir, and he agree to allow the tents for the nite......thanks Crystal. As we were heading to the site chosen, Crystal drove up in a cart and said Mike called back and told her to put us in a cabin......air conditioning, showers, bathroom, fridge, beds(!), etc. Oh, and by the way, free of charge! I could hardly walk another step, so got into the cart with Crystal and header to the cabin. Soon, Crystal and her friend Joyce came back with towels, water, ice, plates and utensils, for us to use.

Well, I was still a little out of it, but told you in the first post on this blog that I was going to use common sense to get thru this walk. So, how to fix the dehydration and overheating? Oh yea, there's that watermelon. Did y'all know that one of the best ways to get hydrated (no official data to support this) is to eat watermelon? Before long I had my face buried in that watermelon sucking all the good tasting water out of it. Now the overheating. Crystal had given us a key to the pool. Before long I was in that cool water and my body temp was dropping. And not too long after that, we were sitting in a cool cabin eating pizza that Alan went to get. That boy can put away some food! Shortly after that, sound asleep on a nice bed.

Yea, we made a few mistakes today, but I'm sitting here writing about it. Sometimes we learn the hard way and this will better prepare us for the days ahead. Hope all are doing well, and keep following.

Animals Encountered Along the Walk

While walking this past week we have not encountered alot of animals but some of the ones we have seen we have never seen before. We have seen deer, hawks, weasels, different types of lizards and rabbits with big ears. Today we even saw what we think was a bobcat.

But the coolest animal we have seen is a roadrunner. And if you are like me I didn't know there was such a thing, I thought it was only a cartoon. Don't ask me if I got a picture of it because by the time I got my camera out and focused the roadrunner looked at me and said "beep beep" and was gone. Later I was talking to a policeman and he said there are many roadrunners in the area and they are very tough animals - they will even fight with a rattlesnake. How many of you have seen a real live roadrunner?

I guess the reason there are not more animals out here is because it is so hot and dry and there is hardly any water or food to eat.

In the upcoming weeks we will begin to add pictures to the link 'Walk Across America Pictures' so keep checking - they are on the way.

More Questions For Students

Dear Students, thank you for all the advice from my previous questions. I will listen to your advice and try the things you have suggested. Every day we are learning what it takes, how much food and water, to walk all day in this hot temperature.

Some of you have asked me what I am going to eat along the way, some days are different than others but this is what I had today: for breakfast I had two pieces of cold pizza and a coca cola, for lunch I had a breakfast pita, two packages of hash browns, strawberry-banana smoothie, and a large soda. For dinner I had a subway sub, potato chips, and a lemon aide. I am not suggesting that everyone eat this way but it was what I was craving today and we were near stores. I also drink alot of water and gator aid.

As you know, Alan, the man walking with me is from London. Sometimes he uses words that I do not understand. Maybe you can help me understand what he is saying.

Here are three words that Alan uses; lorry, plasters, tarmac. Can you help me understand what he is talking about?

Here are three more questions that you can help me with:

1. Why do you think the hot temperature bothers Alan more than it bothers me?

2. When we cross the desert, we are thinking of walking at night. Why do you think we are considering walking at night?

3. Although we both get tired after a long walk, it takes me longer to get rested than it does Alan, why do you think that is?

4. Alan started out on the trip to Perris with a black shirt. Was this a wise choice and what do you suggest that he be wearing?

Finally, I hope each of you will please, please, please learn how to give proper directions and how far it is between two places. Maybe sometimes during your studies you can pick two places and determine how far they are apart and how long it would take to get there. It is real important because we ask many people for directions and rely on them to give us accurate information. And someday you may encounter a walking man.

Thank you for all your help and support. Everyday I think about you and it gives me lots of determination to successfully complete this walk.

Your friend Jeff, the WalkingMan...........

Blog Master On Vacation

To all supporters and followers of this wall - the blog master, my daughter Julie, took a vacation without a backup plan for updating the blog. Because of that, the blog has not been updated the last few days. Lot's going on, currently in Banning Californina but will not be to long before we head out into the desert. Hot out here - over 100 and when someone says that "it is not the heat but the humidity" I can certainly tell them differently. Physically I am holding up well but my feet stay sore all the time.

The support and generosity of the people I meet everyday is overwhelming and I am sure much of the focus of future blogs will be my everyday encounters with the average american.

Keep watching and we appreciate your support. Follow us by using the link above "Where We've Been".

Be talking to everyone soon.........Jeff