Well y’all, this thing is actually coming to a close. Three more days of travel and I’ll hit the Pacific Ocean and have completed a roughly 3180 mile trek from sea to shining sea. This week saw a massive downturn which could’ve derailed me mentally, but also saw me meet my first 11W member (that I didn’t already know) in person, and ran into a second OSU Alum. Got interviewed by a small paper also.
Welp, here we go for the last full week recap:
Day 183- Covered 18 twisty, and up and down miles from Pollock Pines to Placerville. Placerville was the site of the first hanging from crimes committed during the Gold Rush. I was in awe of the apple orchard traffic on the roads I traveled and missed a big turn, and this added three miles to my day. Californians take orchards serious, as every one was PACKED. Once I got into town the Mountain Democrat did an interview with me. Got to the Best Western and went into crash mode.
Day 184- This day was a big kick in the groin. It started out with a lot of zero shoulder roads, blind corners, and some deceptive elevation gains. Not long in distance but significant enough in their grade to piss me off. After shipping some things home, and clearing the Sierra Nevada foothills I thought I was in the clear. Until late in the day I had to climb up and over the El Dorado Hills. Once I got to the top it opened up some fantastic views of the Sacramento Valley. The Hampton Inn in Folsom have a discounted rate for the night. I showered and went across the street to Mikuni and absolutely smashed some sushi. Covered 20 miles but man I felt it.
Day 185- This was another 20 mile day from Folsom to Sacramento and the Motel 6. However less than a mile into the day, tragedy struck. StrollHall 2.0, suffered a broken front wheel. This time it was completely irreparable. So I ended up pushing the stroller on two wheels the whole way to my hotel. They had no first floor rooms so I also had to drag everything up the stairs on two wheels. Once I got to the room I had to re-inventory everything and decide what was necessary as I’d be backpacking the remainder of the trip.
Day 186- Covered 17 miles from Sacramento to Davis. The first day without StrollHall was weird. I put up a semi-joking video with pictures of the stroller set to “Memories” by Maroon 5, and it was weird but I legitimately missed that thing. My feet were getting beat up, wasn’t sure if it was my shoes (the first kind of Altras I didn’t really 100% enjoy) or the shifting Of weight to going straight to my feet rather than pushing the weight. I essentially took all the weight I’ve lost and put it all on my back, and directly down on my feet. Got to the hotel and met up with CalPoppy. He took me to Fleet Feet where I grabbed a new pair of shoes, and then he took me out for some delicious Mexican food and conversation. CalPoppy is a hell of a guy!
Day 187- Today was a LONG one. Especially with my beat up feet. Knocked out 24 miles, Poppy came back out and joined me for about 2-3 miles after I carbed up with some Panda Express. About an hour after Poppy left to pick his daughter up I ran across OSU alum Mark Chupka who’s friends with Poppy. Got a photo by his Escalade with the custom “Ohio St” Cali plates. Got to the hotel and got off my feet as fast as possible. The dawgs are crying.
Day 188- 18 miles today. Relatively flat from Vacaville to Cordelia. Spent some time on bike trails as well as regular roads. My pack, which despite being big enough for carrying the gear was not designed for “wide body” folks. My shoulders are bruising now from the shoulder straps grinding into my shoulders. Threw my last load of laundry in for the walk as well. It’s crazy how wistful I guess I’m getting over even small things at this point.
Day 189- A super short day today, only 15 miles from Cordelia to Vallejo. A friend of mine who’s a UM fan donated the room tonight, he told me he couldn’t donate Sundays room because it’s Hate Week, and I totally understood. There was a little bit of climbing, and I was on the Solano Bikeway and when I crested a hill, I could see the San Pablo Bay, and it was weird to know that that’s a sign of how impending the end of this walk is. I had another person who follows the Facebook Page donate the room for tomorrow night in Point Richmond. One night left, waiting on my teammate from HS, an OSU grad, to come through with his Marriott points for Monday nights stay.
This whole thing is coming to a close. I’m legitimately worried about it. I’ve been able to heal a lot on this walk (or so I think anyway). It’s been so beneficial to me, and I hope to others. I’m worried about getting home and regressing into the guy I was before. The guy who only lived to work. Who made no time for friends (or pursuing any potential romantic relationships). I want to write a book, I want to start a nonprofit, I want to help people, somehow. But I’m worried about how or if I’ll be able to pull it off. I’m anxious about going back to “the real world”. My whole life has been the walk for the last 6+ months. I dunno. I’ll keep fighting though.
Thank you guys who’ve donated money, rooms, followed along and otherwise supported me. A friend of Jaxons grandmother shared the post someone made about the walk earlier this week on Facebook. It was so weird to see it sorta come full circle.
Three more days. Then I’ll be done.
Love you guys!
Go Bucks!
-Joe
