Day 2: 19 miles uphill, with a full pack..........

on a twisty, dangerous, racetrack that they call Ortega Highway, all on a breakfast of a 20 oz Coke, a bag of Chips, and a piece of pound cake. And for what? A dinner of a bag of beef jerky, a can of pineapple, and a bottle of warm water ....What's wrong with this picture? I am going to have to go back and revisit my plan.

We wanted to reach a certain campground today. Since we had sent our cart ahead , we had to carry all our supplies in our backpacks. The campground was 19 miles from where we left, and most of those miles were uphill. It was like walking on a racetrack, cars flying by, but we made it.

But is wasn't all bad. Julie's friend Jennifer and her daughters Amanda and Autumn stopped by this morning to wish us well as we headed off. Before we had walked a mile, a guard in a booth outside a gated community ran out and gave us 2 bottles of water. We stopped after 3 hours of walking for lunch and met Larry Beesley, a park attendant at Casper Park, then shortly after the All Girls Highway Crew. We saw deer, a hawk, and some beautiful countryside. And we found pennies, nickels, and quarters!

Mr. and Mrs. Bouquet, Alan had a really great day. It was hard on him, but he hung in there and you would be really proud of him. It is hard for me not to like a guy who order a Coke with his breakfast.

Being able to complete 19 miles uphill, makes me feel more confident about our plans for the rest of the trip.

The All Girls Highway Crew

We were walking along and all the sudden a fence gate opened and out walked girl after girl. They introduced themselves as the "All Girls Highway Crew" (supposedly the only one in the USA). After telling us a little bit about themselves, they inquired about our trip and were surprised that we were walking all the way to North Carolina.

Then they wanted to take pictures with us and of course we had to get a picture of this famous Crew. They were very excited about our trip and promised they would follow our blogs.

Now, I know you probably see a guy in the picture. He walked in at the end and wasn't able to get a word in edgewise.

Thank you CA All Girl Highway Crew for your support!

Mike K, one of the really good guys.

Now settle down all you Dookies out there, this isn't your Mike K. This is Mike Killebrew , assistant city manager and goodwill ambassador for Dana Point, CA and just an all around nice guy.

Since Mike first heard of my walk, he called me up and offered to provide any support needed while we were in his area. He has more than lived up to his word. On our first day there, he called us up and arranged a tour of Dana Point. He took us by stores to let us buy supplies that we needed, rode us back to our hotel, and also had a great BBQ place to recommend. He also said that if we had any problems within a couple hundred miles of him, to not hesitate to call and he would be glad to help us out.

But the nicest thing he did for us was offer to carry our walking cart to Lake Elsinore and meet us on Wednesday afternoon. It would have been impossible for us to push the cart up the narrow, twisted roads we traveled on today.

It is hard to believe that someone you didn't know a few days ago would offer so much help. Thank you Mike, you helped us get over the hardest part of our journey!

David at San Juan Capistrano Best Western

We were concerned about our first two days on Ortega Highway from San Juan Capistrano to Lake Elsinore. I went to the front desk of Best Western this morning to speak with someone about this highway and it was there I met David. David told me that the highway had a lot of turns and traffic and it could be dangerous.

David offered to drive Alan and I up the highway at 7:00 am when his shift ended to let us see for ourselves and to also show us a few camping spots that were not marked on the map. The road was just as David described, so we decided for the first two days to not bring the cart, only what we could carry on our backs.

Mike Killebrew, the assistant city manager of Dana Point, offered to drive our cart on Wednesday afternoon to Lake Elsinore and meet us there.

This is the kind of support that we hope to get along our trip. Thanks to David and Mike for helping us get off to a great start.

Written by Julie , as told by Jeff