ok, been a long time since i’ve updated my daily progress…. so here is a catch up entry.

day 5 of walk:
slept the night before day 5 next to a porta-potty in an ally behind a bar.  roosters, some sort of heavy machinery and dave’s snoring were all in competition for loudest sounds at 5am.  couldn’t sleep and had sore feet.  packed up and made it to a diner across the main road when i had brakfast and contemplated having andrea  (friend in berkeley) pick me up.  after putting sme sort of ice/heat wrap around my left foot and downing a handful of pills i conferred with the boys and decided to give the day to chance.  i set out before them to digest the decision and the delicious omlette i had just eaten.  somewhere in lockford where i took my first break, i decided to adjust my pack (as i was walking in pain, i realized that little weight was hanging from my shoulders and most of the pack was resting on my hips and consequently my lower body).  an immediate improvement.  i felt like any of those characters from the red bull ads.  i set out toward lodi with a renewed spirit.  while getting a snack i ran into claire and noel who were in rapture at my story and told me lodi, pronounced load-i, not load-e, was in a creedance clearwater revival song.  i called my dad to sing me a few measures and forced the tune upon the boys when we met shortly after.  onto lodi.  learned there that the lodi from the song was from some other town.  ate taco bell for the first time in 15 years while we charged various items that needed charging.  dave laughed at the way i asked if they had soft corn ortillas instead of flour (a side story that will need it’s own entry).  had to make it to the junction of the 5 and the 12 to get a room for the night so we could watch the sox.  along the way we tasted some wine and picked up a good zin for the game.  had perhaps the worst chinese food of my life at a truck stop (ok, probably not the place to order chinese – but we get sick of the same thing over and over again).  popped blisters and went to bed.  (not to be disgusting here, but i had a blister that when relieved, resembled a citrus fruit being ripped apart, spraying it’s victim.  fortunately the victim wasn’t me but dave’s forehead.  sorry dave).

day 6 of walk:
more confident.  level roads.  great weather.  started the day at a diner.  again more laughs from wts when i asked for real maple syrup.  stu asked if i had ever been to america.  apparently they are not allowed to make adjustments to menu items in england/europe.  blister areas throbbed after stopping for a snack; i intended to push it out of my mind.  also developed a pain in the tendons on the tops of my feet.  we got directions that took us off the major road and put us along some delta canals during sunset.  beautiful.  another adventure that took us through fields and by lots of boat houses/stores/restaurants.bars.  we ended the day at sunset in a park near a canal.  some stoners that were jumping into the water asked our story and didn’t belive stu when he delivered.  later at the camp site they came around and we chatted a bit.  nice kids from concord.  one of the girls told us she loved us.  a policeman came around after that and let us stay put although we weren’t supossed to be camping there.  he was hoping not to get called to help with the wildfires in southern california as he was hoping to visit his family in seattle.  i hope he got to see his family.

day 7 of walk:
woke to a gorgeous sunrise.  my left little toe was killing me.  walking out of the campsite had me thinking about how i’d make it through the day.  a couple of hours later i was in my foam shoes (crocs) and looking for a post office from which to mail my boots home).  made it to antioche and to a roach motel by the afternoon.  had a turkeyburger for lunch and a chocolate milkshake.  then dq a few miles later.  i like being able to consume anything.   dave and stu found barbers and i found some extra wide trail runners for the low low price of $39.  and a tripod and a 2 gig sd card for my camera.  had much better chinese for dinner (delivered).  the office and family guy.

day 8 of walk:
so we could meet with the daughter of a cyclist wts had met a few months earlier (to stay at his place which was nearby while he was out of town) we had to deviate from the path a little.  and by a little i mean a lot.  more gps issues led us to dead ends up giant hills and private properties that if tresspassed upon was punishable by death (or so it seemed).  we managed to get somewhere – concord – where we waited for the lovely and most hospitable melissa to retrieve us from the oddities of the previous town of pittsburg (see stu’s entry).  we had a great dinner, some pool at the round up, and a great night’s sleep in lafayette.  (while playing pool, an old man with ear plugs wouldn’t move from where he was so that i could attempt a shot and told me to “figure it out”).  had the best night’s sleep so far on the trip.  we had dave sleep in the seperate room.

day 9 of walk:
got dropped off where we were picked up and headed for the hills.  needed passes so we had to pick some up for the low low dailey rate of 2.50/day/person.   more gp issues.  tresspassed only to end up making a circle through a cemetery.  we walked by some street cleaners twice prompting one of them to say, “your brothers just walked by”.  after chatting for a few moments and talking about not working, one of them said “looks like i’m the richest man in the cemetary”.  found the entrance to briones park and hiked through.  a man walking 7 dogs gave us some directions.  it was un uphill battle that was easily the best workout i’d had so far.  legs and feet working in unison.  beautiful view at the top.  on the other side of the park we took a break to discuss the rest of the day.  the sun was descending and we thought about hiking the rest of the way to berkeley.  it was a full moon afterall.  chris pulled up and offered us information and we ended up putting our bags at his place just a mile away and joining him in berkeley while he played ultimate frisbee.  andrea, porter and rose met with us and brought us dinner and wine.  thank you andrea!  you are awesome!  made it back to chris’s place where we talked about all sorts of things including school systems and soccer.  chris happens to be from chevy chase md, a few miles from where i live.  small world.

day 10 of walk:
walked from chris’s place through another park (more passes at 2.50 per/day/person) toward berkely.  walked the inspiration point trail.  ran across a snake then walked in perfect time to get it together by the bestie boys.  one two one two keep it on……  lots of uphill until we reached berkeley labs (uc berkeley).  the hike down from the berkeley hills was intense.  we were all sore in the feet at the bottom (of the hills) and extremely hungry.  ate lunch and waited for andrea.  at simon and andreas, we waited for simon (friend from way back, andrea is his wife and porter and rose are their children) and dave’s mates from UK.  showered and drank beer.  when we were all together we made it out for pizza and beer.  good times catching up and meeting new folks.  tomorrow stu’s birthday – happy birthday stu!

Dave                                Have a comment? Please sign the guestbook