I didn’t sleep well at all but we were up early anyway and ready to walk. It was Stick’s birthday so we definitely wanted to have a good day. Weather looked like it was going to be great for us.
We drove out to our starting spot and grabbed breakfast at a Taco Bell. We loaded up our carts and started walking. It felt great to be back on the road after so many days off. Walking with a purpose.
We were on a busy highway but there was a large shoulder. We had no problems navigating through all the traffic as we’ve learned strategies for placing ourselves in the best part of the lane to be visible by the drivers, yet still be out of the way. My motorcycle training has helped me with this too.
Stick was happy as could be. 60th birthday. We saw a lot of geese and goslings early in the morning. They had a little field that they were calling home for now and the older geese were looking after the babies. It was neat to watch them in action. Maryland is an interesting state. When you look around it seems like the country because of all of the farmland but it has so many people that you’d think it was a big city if you were judging by the traffic. People are always nice to us though so no complaints here. They all drive like crap but that’s everywhere lol.
We got a message from a friend who lives nearby. I’ve been looking forward to meeting up with Tim since I planned to walk this route. He came out to meet me on my last walk in Annapolis. He is a person in recovery and is kicking butt at it. He came out to meet us and help us move our car. That car is a pain in my neck but we really do benefit from having it. We are able to do way more on the off days with it. We have been able to reach a lot of people because of that car so we are trying to keep it. It’s just hard when you don’t have a driver.
It was very helpful for Tim to help us with the car. We talked for a while and then made plans to meet up with him in a couple of days. Awesome stuff.
Not much longer, we were walking down the highway and it was a section with red lights so a lot of the traffic was stopped or slowed down. We were getting a lot of smiles and waves as we walked by which lightened our feet a little bit. A smile sure does go a long way. We made sure to return one to them. Then a saw a woman come running out of a gas station and screaming at us.
Not in a bad way, she was trying to flag us down. She wanted to come shake our hands. Wow. Never in my life would I think that I would ever do anything to where people would come running towards me to shake my hand. I was in tears. I knew my sister would’ve loved that woman. She was so nice and kept saying how we made her day. No, definitely the other way around.
Then we hit our 1,500 mile mark. A big milestone. Well over halfway at this point. We felt pretty awesome for making it this far and still knowing that we have plenty in our tank to finish this thing. We cheered for ourselves, each other, and all of the people who have helped us get here. We have reached so many people with this. I feel honored that I can walk these steps carrying my sister’s love. It’s all so crazy. I don’t even know what I am doing. It’s all happening as it is supposed to I guess.
We made it to our car, where Tim moved it to, and we were done walking for the day. We ended at a post office just before it closed. Which worked out great because I had two packages that I had to send. We did that and then started to search for where to spend the rest of Stick’s birthday.
A great friend back home and fellow teammate, Benjamin, offered to get a room and dinner for Stick. We got a nice room at a Hilton Garden Inn. I called to make sure the hot tub was working. Yep. Boom. We went to check in and got settled. Then headed to Outback Steakhouse. Stick hadn’t been there in a long time and that’s where he wanted to go. We ate a ton of food and waddled out of the restaurant back to our car.
After letting the food settle some, we went down to the pool area and did the hot tub and pool. It was great. Stick needs to turn 60 more often. We were really grateful for this night. We would’ve been in the woods eating ramen noodles if I had anything to do with it haha. So this was a huge upgrade. Stick loved it and had a great birthday.
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