Day 122 – 24 miles – 1,605 total

I was woken up from a deep sleep to flashlights shining on my tent and the words “police department” being yelled. I calmly told them that I heard them and that I was getting up and coming out to talk. I asked for a second as I had just woken up and they were understanding.

I got out and talked to them. Walmart had called on us. There is a high homeless population in the area and they didn’t want them getting too comfortable. We had to pay the price. The officer was helpful when we told him what we were doing and just passing through. He went to go ask the manager if it would be ok for us to continue to stay the night and leave in the morning.

He came back and sad it was no problem. Very glad they were helpful to us. I hated that we put ourselves in that situation. Normally what we did is totally acceptable but the guards were up due to a strong homeless presence in the area. I asked the police officer what time it was. It was around 2 am.

They left and since I was already out of my tent so I took a leak and let domino do the same. Then we went back in and I was able to go back to sleep pretty quickly. No harm done.

We woke up with the sun and starting packing up. Once I had everything packed up, i went in walmart to use the bathroom while Stick finished packing his stuff up. When I came back out I could see Stick arguing with a woman in the parking lot. What in the world is happening now?! Lol

I hurried over and instead of being a voice of reason I came in like Will Ferrell in The Other Guys when he played bad cop bad cop. She was homeless and was yelling at us for taking that spot. Apparently they have a whole system going on and we were ruining it for the rest of them. Well I hate that but we had permission and they didn’t. Nothing else to say about that. She was being ridiculous though. She eventually went her way and we went ours. It didn’t really bother me but it was getting to Stick. He was angry.

We walked about a half a mile up to a breakfast diner and things started to get better quickly. Food helped and the staff was very friendly. We met a friend of a friend from North Carolina. Nicole came to join us for breakfast and bought our food. It was great to have the company and a kind person after such an eventful few hours.

We started up our walk with full bellies and hopeful hearts. We grinded up and down hills all day. It was never flat. We had a good shoulder though. We walked along Hwy 40 and enjoyed the scenery as we moved by at 3 mph.

It got hot in the afternoon and we were dripping sweat and nearly overheating. The hills were brutal. We actually missed Florida a little because it was so flat there.

About 18 miles in we got to a place where a friend from Facebook works and we popped in to say hello. They had lunch and snacks for us. Britney is involved with an organization called Voices of Hope for Cecil County. They do so much in the area that we were walking through today. It needs it too. There is a really big problem here. There is a bad batch going around and we keep hearing of more and more overdose deaths as we walk through.

We ate lunch in the A/C and Domino got to play with the staff. It was a really nice break as it was during the hottest part of the afternoon. We made plans for Britney to help us get our support vehicle later that evening. Then we kept on walking.

Another 6 miles of hills and heat and we were at a hotel that a friend from back home, Colleen, booked for us. We really didn’t want to do the homeless turf war again so it was great to have a door that we could lock. The room was perfect after a long day of walking.

We showered up and then headed to a nearby Oxford House where they were having Taco Tuesday. It was fun to be with people in early recovery and try to deliver our message of hope and inspiration. Our friend Jen was the one who set it up for us to be there. She came over too and it was good to be able to hang out with her some. I think we’ll see her again tomorrow.

We left the house around 9:30 and then back to the hotel where we zonked out.