June 1, 2004 – Tuesday -- Walking Day – 11.5 + 3508.2 = 3519.7 Total Miles to Date

K 92.3 Total FL Miles – Day 8

Total Miles for Week – 30.0

Today we slept in a bit and then headed out to get to our start point. We stopped in Starke at the Madison Ave. Baptist Church first to place Memorial Stone #252. We talked to a lady at the church and gave her our card which she was going to give to the pastor. It was about 9:30 when we finally did get started walking.

Our walk took us along Hwy 100 to Keystone Heights. On our way there we stopped once to put Cassie in the car, and once at a convenience store to buy our drink of choice at this time -- a V-8 each -- ummmmmm. As we entered the town we walked past a place where some people were standing on the other side of a fence talking. They waved when they saw us, and then two of the ladies came out from behind the fence to find out who we were and what we were doing. They were Mary Elisabeth Baker and Brenda Trent and they both live in Starke, FL. Brenda went back and got us each a cold bottle of water, and Mary gave us a small donation. These things may seem small to some, but to us they are so meaningful. After hugs we said good bye and continued on. We met Ronni and Cassie for one of our short breaks, then we continued on through Keystone Heights – another one of those places with wishful thinking in their name, Heights????. It is a very pretty place.

Continuing on we could see a lake off to our right. It looked quite nice. Homes were all around it, and many were for sale. Then as we walked Joni suddenly stopped and said that one of her blisters on the bottom of her feet had broken. It soon became too painful for her to walk, so we called Ronni and stopped walking for the day at the White Elephant. We drove back to Starke to get our mail and leave our forwarding address. Then we went to Wal-Mart to get a couple of things, and then to Wendy’s to eat some lunch. After that we headed back to Lake City and our motel. Since we were quitting early in the day I suggested we take another way back to the motel. Using the map and my sense of direction we headed back. It was a fun route and may have taken us less time than what we did to get to our start this morning.

Back at the motel we got Joni in and on the bed. Ronni and I brought in a few things, then I took off for the Health Store to get a couple of my supplements. After that I got gas at $2.07 a gallon. Then I went to the Lake City Wal-Mart (much bigger than the one at Starke) and got a few things, and returned a water sprayer that didn’t work (we kept the one that does work). We decided that we really only needed one between the two of us since we are always together and one can easily spray both as needed. My last stop before going back to the motel was at McD’s to pick up salads for all of us.

We enjoyed our dinner, read our mail, did our journaling, made phone calls, showered and went to bed. Dave told me that he had received a letter from a couple in Pollard, AR who found our Memorial Stone #152, took a picture of it and sent the picture with a note saying they wished they could have met us. Joni and I remember the place – the City Limit sign was on the edge of their property, and that is where they found it. Neat! Well time for me to take my shower and get to bed. Tomorrow is moving day!

*GAJ BIT = Great American Journey Bible Inspiration Time

June 2, 2004 – Wednesday -- Moving Day – + 3519.7 = Total Miles to Date

K 92.3 Total FL Miles – Day 9

Total Miles for Week – 30.0

We have had an extremely interesting day today. It began with sleeping in a bit (6:45 for me). Once we were all up we got busy packing up, then took a break to go to the breakfast area and eat. Then we loaded the car up and checked out of the motel and the town of Lake City. This was a good place and we enjoyed both the town and the motel. But now it’s time to move on.

Joni drove and I navigated. We took the freeway (I-75) to Hwy 236 and Hwy 18. But as we got to Hwy 301 we noticed a lot of smoke. We headed toward Keystone Heights, but got turned back at the Hwy 100 turnoff where we had walked just yesterday. There’s a big forest fire right in that section. They rerouted us back down on 301 to Hwy26 and across. We then came up to Keystone Heights on Hwy 21 and were allowed to go southeast, but not northwest. We were able to place our Memorial Stone at Keystone Heights (#253) then continue on to Palatka where we stopped for a late lunch. This is a very nice little town with some beautiful murals, and a wonderful bridge over the St. John’s River.

After lunch at Wendy’s – I had a cup of chili and asked for cheese and onions on it. The gal looked at me as though I were crazy. ( It didn’t take me long to figure out that they never eat it that way, but she was ever so sweet and said she’d get the cheese for me along with some onions. The onions weren’t chopped, but they did okay. I suggested to the nice gal that waited on me to try it sometime. She said she would. ( I left a comment card saying how nice she had been. – We continued on our way to Bunnell where we hoped to get a motel, but the one possibility didn’t have a supervisor available to okay our dog that was over 10 lbs. Chris gave me his card and suggested I call back in an hour so he could have time to talk to the supervisor. Chris was very nice and I’m sure was going to go to bat for us. Meanwhile we continued down the road to Ormond Beach to check out the possibilities there. Super 8 had a definite 10 lb limit on dogs! Scottish Inns and Days Inn were right next to each other, so I took Scottish Inns while Ronni went to Days Inn. Scottish Inns will take any size dog, but only for one night at a time – that won’t work. Ronni had better luck – the manager was more than willing to work with us – good rate with the promise of a refrigerator, microwave and roll away bed. We looked at the room and took it – very nice. Pritti is the manager, this is she and her husband’s first experience at motel managing, and they are hoping to be able to visit India (where they come from) next June or so. Pritti was very interested in our Journey. She used to live in San Francisco (7 years of her schooling was there).

We got everything into our room and organized the way we want it. Then we watched some TV, and made a few phone calls. All of a sudden we heard a loud explosion and after a second realized it was thunder. Soon it was raining – VERY HARD! We had thunder and lightening and heavy rain for the rest of the evening, and understand we will get this quite a bit. Very interesting.

I talked to Dave for awhile. Then I finished my journal and got ready for tomorrow and for bed. It was a good day, and a good move. GOD has been good at providing motels that are nice, but not super expensive.

June 3, 2004 – Thursday -- Medical Day Off – + 3519.7 = Total Miles to Date

K 92.3 Total FL Miles – Day 10

Total Miles for Week – 30.0

I woke up early this morning quite concerned about Joni’s feet knowing that we had stopped early on Tuesday because she just couldn’t walk any further, and yesterday her feet were still VERY sore (she has blisters on the bottoms of her feet that burst and were bleeding and sore). I lay in bed praying about what to do for a bit and felt quite strongly that we shouldn’t walk today. So I stayed in bed and had my prayer time, then did my *GAJ BIT partly by flashlight. Joni woke up at about 6 AM and asked what time it was, so I told her then we were going to take the day off to rest and heal her feet. She said her feet were killing her at that time – and she was still in bed, so I know this was a good decision. By now it was light outside so I moved to a chair by the window and opened the curtain enough to give me light to finish my *GAJ BIT.

When I finished my *GAJ BIT I did some calculations on all the mileages we recorded yesterday as we drove to Ormond Beach. Then with the mileages Dave gave me I’ve calculated that we should finish at Key West sometime between July 8 and July 22 walking 5 days a week at 15 to 20 miles a day. Lately we’ve been doing 18 miles + a day on a pretty regular basis, but I tried to account for some shorter days and for the possibility of days like this where we need to take off for medical or other reasons (this is VERY rare).

By the time everyone had gotten up I had made a list of things I wanted to do, and we added what the others wanted to do and soon we set out to get started on them. First we ate breakfast here at the motel, then we headed for downtown Ormond Beach to find a place for Ronni to get her hair done. After dropping her off Joni and I went on to find a doctor to clean the wax and dirt out of my ears – I was tired of feeling like my head was in a bucket all the time. I had found a clinic in the phone directory that advertised that walk-in patients were okay. So that was where we went. We had to wait a LONG time, but it was worth it. They finally called my name, and Joni and I both went in. The doctor we saw was Darwin Caraballo, MD. He is from Puerto Rico, but has lived here for several years. When he first came in and talked to us and found out what we were doing, he said, "We have to take good care of you because you are doing this for my country." What a delightful doctor. He said my ears were really bad (I knew that ( ), and had the nurse flush them out (it took quite a bit to get them clean). Afterwards Doctor Caraballo checked to make sure there was no infection in the ears. He said they looked great now. We also talked to him about Joni’s blistered feet and the insect bites that both Joni and Ronni are having trouble with. He was able to give us some very good advice for both.

When we left there Ronni wasn’t ready yet, so Joni and I went to Wendy’s for some lunch, then to Eckerds (like Walgreen) to get some stuff for Joni’s feet, and more medicine for the insect bites, etc. We also went next door to Publix (a grocery store) for bananas and such. When we came out the thunder and lightening were starting and then the rain. When it rains here it REALLY rains! We drove to ACE Hardware to get the car key copied (Ronni’s got lost). I ran in through the rain drops and got the keys, then back out to find it a steady heavy downpour. We waited for the rain to slow down a bit, then drove to pick up Ronni. She had gone from the place where we left her, so we called to see where she was. She was across the street now getting her nails done (, and expected to be another half hour. We drove over there and saw a bakery, so went in and got chocolate eclairs. We went in to the nail place to let Ronni know we would be waiting in the car outside. It was about 45 minutes later when she came out. Then we went to the post office to get our mail, and back to our motel.

At the motel Joni soaked her feet in Epsom salts, Ronni read, and I made phone calls and did my journal. I called two people in Florida that I’m hoping to get together with sometime while we walk by their area. Shawn and Bev Cunningham of Winter Garden are going to try to come meet us as we walk through the Mims to Merritt Island area. I’ll call them when we get closer. Then I called Scott and Kathy Stauffer of Coral Springs who will try to meet us someplace from West Palm Beach or south a bit if we get there before they leave on vacation. Anyway I enjoyed talking with Shawn and Bev and with Kathy on the phone for awhile.

Then I finished journaling, we watched the TV news, and went to get some salads for dinner. It was hard not walking today, but we did accomplish a lot anyway. Joni’s feet are still pretty sore, so we’ll wait and see whether we walk tomorrow or not. But I’m okay with it knowing we have a pretty good time frame for finishing now using a variation of daily mileages. I really want Joni’s feet well before we walk.

June 4, 2004 – Friday -- Walking Day – 18.7 + 3519.7 = 3538.4 Total Miles to Date

K 111.0 Total FL Miles – Day 11

Total Miles for Week – 48.7

Well we got a pretty good start from here today, but we had a long drive to our start point. It still wasn’t bad timing though. We walked a mile with Cassie, then Joni and I walked on until about noon when the day’s storm came in. We decided to go ahead and take our long break even though we only had 8 miles in already. So we drove to Palatka and ate lunch while we sat looking at the St. John’s River, then went to Wal-Mart to do our shopping. That went quick, and the storm was soon over so we headed back to our start point.

Walking on we noticed that traffic had really picked up – it’s Friday and it was about 3 PM. The rest of the day was a constant stream of traffic, but it was an incredible bunch of people for the most part. They actually seem to come in groups – one group will all wave enthusiastically while the next group might totally ignore us. It’s kind of funny – especially knowing they have no idea what the person in front of them did. Anyway, we just walked straight on through the day – with maybe two brief stops. During our last section we heard a siren behind us and got way off the road so that cars coming our way could pull over. The policeman whizzed on by. Then a bit later we saw a bunch of police cars coming back our way – including a SWAT team. We’re wondering if they’re on their way to a drug bust. The thought occurred to us that they might turn into the little side road where Ronni was sitting and think she was waiting to make a drug sale. We figured that Ronni would be able to handle it easily if that were so – but, alas, it wasn’t so. Ah, yes, we do have vivid imaginations sometimes when we’re walking. (

Ronni met us at 18.7 miles and we called it a day since Joni’s feet were starting to really ache. Joni had done very well today. Her feet are greatly improved, tho’ not completely healed yet.

We drove back to our motel with a stop at the drive through at Wendy’s to get a salad for me and a baked potato for Joni. Ronni decided to drop us off and go back to Waffle House to get her dinner.

After I got in and settled, Coni Harris called and we arranged for us tentatively to share at her church on the 13^th of June.

Then Joni and I ate and did our *GAJ BIT, had our evening prayer time, journaled, showered and went to bed.

June 5, 2004 – Friday -- Walking Day – 11.4 + 3538.4 = 3549.8 Total Miles to Date

K 122.4 Total FL Miles – Day 12

Total Miles for Week – 60.1

Today we got a fairly good start on our day’s walk. The weather wasn’t bad, though we’re always dripping with perspiration from the humidity. However when the sun is behind the clouds – even though the humidity is high – we’re quite comfortable. But when the sun is out AND the humidity is high it’s a different story. Most days we have been blessed with a lot of cloud covering.

Cassie chose NOT to walk with us this morning. She’s getting lazy. ( Truth of the matter is that the heat and humidity are really hard for her, so we don’t make her do more than she wants to do. Somehow Joni and I walked past the first place where Ronni was parked waiting for us. But she caught up to us before long. We got a few things from the van, then we walked on while Ronni drove on into Palatka to do some shopping. As we walked into Palatka Joni and I were feeling real hungry so we stopped at McD’s and got a breakfast meal each just before breakfast closed down.

As we continued walking through Palatka we wanted to walk on St. John’s Ave. so we turned down the side street soon after leaving McD’s to go to St. John’s Ave. This is a beautiful street in the old part of town, and many of the buildings have beautiful murals on the sides. We took pictures of many of them. Then we stopped in a Christian Book Store and talked to the three staff members who were there. They were Jeff Harrison, Sherry Duncan, and Megan Scott from Guideposts of Palatka, FL. What a delightful three they were – we talked with them awhile, took their pictures, then went on our way. We finally arrived at the park by the St. John’s River. While we were at the park we prepared Memorial Stone #254, and set it at the base of the Palatka Millennium Clock Tower in the park. There we met Ronni, and after a few minutes got in the car and drove back to Baskin Robbins/Dunkin’ Donuts that Joni and I had forgotten about. We had seen this place every time we drove through Palatka and had always said we wanted to stop there when we walked through. Yet when we walked through we turned to go down St. John’s Ave. and forgot all about it. Ronni reminded us, then we couldn’t forget it. What a delight it was for us to get both donuts and ice cream – well, I was the only one that had to have both. ( As we sat there enjoying our treats a couple of men in another booth began to talk with us about what we were doing. One left before we got his picture, but I did get the other one. His name was Warren McGuffy from Sumner, Maine who is now living in Palatka, FL, but is trying to sell his place here to move back to Maine.

When we finally left the donut/ice cream shop we drove back to the park and began walking with Cassie over the beautiful bridge across the St. John’s River. This bridge goes up and over, not just straight across. At the top we looked down to see a small pier with an eagle’s nest at the end. On it were an eagle and her eaglet. We took several pictures and really enjoyed these beautiful creatures.

Our walk continued on down the other side of the bridge into East Palatka and on a couple more miles. Then Joni’s feet were starting to hurt too much, so we had to call it quits for the day. We’re really praying that her feet will heal soon. She wants so much to walk, but she just can’t with these blisters. We can’t figure out why she’s having so much trouble now.

We drove back to the motel and I downloaded pictures. Then I talked with Dave, and did my journal. Ronni turned on the TV for some news and we found out that Ronald Reagan died today at 93 years of age. We watched some of the review of his life for awhile. Then we fixed popcorn and watched a slide show of this weeks pictures. And finally I took a shower and we all headed for bed.

June 6, 2004 – Sunday -- Resting Day – + 3549.8 = Total Miles to Date

K 122.4 Total FL Miles – Day 13

Total Miles for Last Week – 60.1

Today Ronni stayed at the motel with an upset stomach. Joni and I went to the Ormond Beach Alliance Church. It was a real good service. The pastor, Richard Hoover, led the singing and he had a fabulous voice. We sang a lot of the good old hymns – loved it! This is Pastor and Mrs. Hoovers last Sunday as pastor – they are retiring for the second time. It seems they retired from this church a few years ago, then the next pastor was here for a few years and moved on. So they called Pastor Hoover back as interim pastor. Now they have a new pastor coming a week from tomorrow (Monday). Joni and I were introduced and after the service we were able to talk with quite a few of the people. It was a small congregation. The pianist is a niece of Pastor Hoover, and she is a wonderful pianist. I really enjoyed listening to her prelude as well as her accompaniment as we sang. Pastor Hoover’s message was on the unchangeableness of GOD.

After church we went back to the motel to see how Ronni was doing. She was okay to go for a light lunch, but still not up to par. We went to the Waffle House and had a very nice meal. Then we got gas for the van, and back to the motel. There we got our laundry together and Joni got started on that. In between loads she bathed Cassie (sort of). I worked on making some CD’s for Joni, and printed out pictures for all three of us (just a few select ones). I talked with Dave quite a bit trying to figure out how to get the pictures the way I wanted them. We got them good enough, though not quite what I was trying to do. Oh, well.

I also talked with Coni Harris and worked out kind of a plan for getting together at her church next Sunday. We’ll have about 10 minutes to share. It will be good to see Coni. I’m amazed at how many people we know in Florida.

We ended the evening with popcorn and TV and evening prayers and to bed.

June 7, 2004 – Monday -- Walking Day – 21.2 + 3549.8 = 3571.0 Total Miles to Date

K 143.6 Total FL Miles – Day 14

Total Miles for Week – 21.2

Today was mostly a good day. We got a relatively early start; the weather was beautiful this morning; and Joni and I both felt good – feet, legs, all over! It was great! A bit over two miles into the walk Ronni was waiting for us in front of a house and pointed out a man coming toward us. It seems he came out when she parked there to complain about her parking there until he found out why she was there. Then he was extremely nice. (In all fairness we have to say that there was obviously a problem in the area since we saw lots of signs in front of homes telling people to stay out and stay off of their property.) Wally McTaggert told us that people often come into their yard and turn around digging up the soft dirt very badly. This is in San Mateo, FL.

Wally and his wife, Dorothy – or Dot – came out and talked with us for quite awhile. They were delightful. When they found out we were from California Wally told us that Dot had become a Christian under the preaching of Charles Fuller of the Old Time Revival Hour in Long Beach. I brightened up at that since listening to this on the radio was one of our family’s Sunday traditions. I commented to Wally about Rudy Atwood on the piano, and he got all excited about that too. We had a fun conversation. Then Dot invited us to the house for some tea. We accepted and went up and sat out in front of their house in lawn chairs sipping sweet tea – ummmmm – and talking. After a bit we headed out again to walk.

The City Limit sign for San Mateo was right out front of their large yard. We prayed for the town then, but Ronni had already gone off and all the stones were in the van, so we came back later in the day to place the stone. But before that we continued walking at a very good pace, feelin’ good! We were really enjoying the day. There was even a nice breeze blowing most of the time. Then we saw a police car pull up in front of us. A smiling highway trooper asked what we were doing, and commented that he had seen us another time or two. We told him what we were doing and he was delighted. We asked if we could take his picture and he suggested we walk back just a bit and he’d park off the road a bit more. He then got out and walked to the back of his car, then insisted that we each pose with him for the pictures. He was delightful, hugging us close for our pictures. Then as we left he gave us each a peck on the cheek – his thank you for what we were doing. The trooper’s name is Larry McKenzie

A few minutes later I had a phone call from a reporter in Palatka. Wally had called him and told him about us. He looked at our web site, then called me and asked lots of questions. I told him where we placed the Memorial Stone for Palatka, and he finished by saying he was going out to look for it. I told him about the very nice highway patrolman and about all the other police who have been so kind to us.

Joni and I continued walking. Meanwhile Ronni had called us to see if it would be okay for her to take a little longer getting to us since she was getting some shoes repaired in Palatka. I checked with Joni, and she said it was okay with her, so we gave her the go ahead. Well, it was after 1 PM when she came and we told her we wanted to go to John Campbell Drive before we stopped for our mid-day break. That gave us 14.8 miles before our lunch. We were tired, but feeling great!

Then we drove into Bunnell to find the library for Ronni, a place to get the car serviced tomorrow, and a place to eat some lunch and another place to rest. We got the place to eat first, then the library where we left Ronni for an hour. Then Joni and I went to check out the place that had been recommended to us for servicing the car. We got that taken care of (tomorrow between 9 and 10 AM), then we went to find a shady place to rest. That we found out at the edge of town on a tiny dirt road. I read and dozed while Joni just plain napped.

We went back to pick up Ronni and then headed back to our start point. But first we had two things we wanted to do. Earlier Joni and I had seen a stray hound dog that was skin and bones at a hunting club. We wanted to take some food and water back to it. Sure enough we found her and stopped the car on the side of the road. But the poor little gal got spooked by us stopping and started to run across the street – immediately got hit by a car. Joni went out and picked the poor dog up off the road and went to the other side of the street with her and held her in her arms as she took her last breaths. What an awful feeling to see this happen – something we’ve been afraid would happen so many times with dogs that follow us. But this one wouldn’t come near us. Poor Joni. It was very sad. Joni sat there on the side of the road with the dog in her arms for awhile, then finally laid her in the tall grass away from the edge. Joni told me later that she noticed several tumors on the dog, and we had all noticed how the ribs stood out. We at least know the poor dog is no longer in pain.

Following this we continued back to San Mateo to place Memorial Stone #255. As we drove back we noticed we were heading into the rain. Sure enough it began quite soon. Then it was pouring and lightening was flashing and thunder booming. We got to the sign and placed our stone then headed back to our start point at John Campbell Drive. We got out and started walking again, and Joni and I talked a bit about what had happened with the dog. She was feeling a bit better by now, and talking about it helped. We stayed ahead of the rain the rest of the day, but left Ronni with instructions to come and get us if it looked like we’d be getting any lightening in our area.

On our walk we soon came to a place we had been watching each time we drove by. It was the Stoller Motel complete with "air conditioning," plants in each room, a sun roof to look at the stars by night, and an open door policy. We took pictures and said on camera that this was our motel and we each had a room with air conditioning, live plants inside, and a skylight so we could watch the stars. If you haven’t figured it out yet this is really an abandoned motel with no roof or doors or windows, and vines climbing throughout. We had fun posing in front of the motel. (

As we walked we enjoyed talking and looking at the countryside. It really is beautiful here. Finally we passed the turnoff to Espanola at Bimini – our goal – and soon Ronni came to pick us up. We were really excited to get a total of 21.2 miles.

Joni drove back to the motel, and we took mileages along the way so that we know how far we have to walk to reach certain things. We stopped at Wendy’s to pick up salads to take back to the motel with us. At the motel we watched the news, ate, showered, and journaled. I called Dave just before he left for chorus practice just to tell him a quick run down on our day.

Finally we got to bed – tired, but very happy to have gotten such good mileage.

To GOD be the glory!

June 8, 2004 – Tuesday -- Walking Day – 2.9 + 3571.0 = 3573.9 Total Miles to Date

K 146.5 Total FL Miles – Day 15

Total Miles for Week – 24.1

Today was another of those, "Oh no, not again," days. Joni and I got started walking and doing very nicely. At 8:45 Ronni was to meet us so we could take Cassie while Ronni drove on in to Bunnell to get the car serviced. We met and got Cassie, then Ronni realized she hadn’t gotten the starting mileage – the first time she’s forgotten that. She drove back to the start to pick that up while Joni, Cassie and I began walking. We hadn’t gotten far at all when Cassie saw a squirrel and darted after it – you guessed it – pulling Joni down. She landed on top of her camera pak and slamming it into her stomach knocking the breath out of her. Joni’s glasses pushed into her forehead giving her a nice gash above the left eyebrow. I sat there with her for a bit while her breath came back. Ronni came by right then (we’re thankful she had gone to check the start mileage) and pulled over just past us on the other side. She started to walk over, and I hollered to her to bring the car. Soon I was able to get Joni off to the side while Ronni brought the car over.

At first we didn’t think the gash was too bad so we took Joni back to the motel and Ronni stayed with her while I got the van serviced. That took about an hour, including driving time between the motel and Bunnell where we had arranged to get the servicing done. Once that was done I headed back to see how Joni was doing. We ended up taking her to a walk-in clinic, and they referred us to Florida Hospital Ormond Beach Emergency Room. So off we went to the emergency room. There we had great people to take care of us from Debbie Horvast who did the original triage, to Charles Freeman who was Joni’s nurse for the day, to Theresa Lessard, the Physicians Assistant (PA-C), to Susan Mitchell, another RN in the emergency room. Everybody was wonderful. The Physicians Assistant was quite concerned about the pain Joni felt where her camera pak hit and ordered a CAT Scan. Before she went for that they glued the cut above her eye – yes, they glued it. She can’t wash that spot for five days. Finally Joni was discharged and we were encouraged by the P.A. to take a day or two off. Then the staff encouraged us to go to dinner before going back to the motel. They gave us the name of a good place called "Billy’s Tap Room and Grill" to go eat. We did, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We haven’t had such good food in a long time.

Just a little side line – while we were sitting in the emergency room with Joni I glanced down at my feet and started laughing. Before we left the motel for the emergency room I had taken off my hiking shoes and grabbed another pair of sandals. Our room is not well lit, and I was trying to hurry and it turns out I had grabbed one blue shoe and one black shoe.( They were both alike, just different colors. ( A tiny bit of sunshine for our not-so-sunny day.

I had two messages on my voice mail box – one was from Ike Tiner, our cousin from Sacramento area who is working at Daytona Beach now. Ike left his number, and I got in touch with him this evening after I got back to the motel. We’re going to try to get together later this week. The other phone message was from Torry Gunn in KY. He had a large planter on the ferry with us when we crossed the Mississippi River the day before the ferry shut down for the flood. He wanted to know how we were doing, if we were through, or where we were now. I tried to call him back, but got no answer and no machine. I’ll try him during the day tomorrow since it may be a work number. I made all my calls after we got back to the motel, and took my phone out to the pool to sit in the lounge chairs while I talked. I also talked with Dave for quite awhile. He is going to get his airline ticket for July 20 or there abouts.

Finally we all went to bed – actually Joni went to bed as soon as we got back, and Ronni was in bed soon after. I’m pretty tired, so I’m heading for bed right now.

June 9, 2004 – Wednesday -- Walking Day – 9.7 + 3573.9 = 3583.6Total Miles to Date

K 156.2 Total FL Miles – Day 16

Total Miles for Week – 33.8

Today I woke Joni up at 6:30 AM per her request. She got up briefly, then came and told me she was in too much pain to walk. That was expected, so it came as no surprise. She went back to bed and I did a lot of organizing, then I went shopping while Ronni stayed with Joni.

I drove over to the post office, then realized I had forgotten my wallet. It had my driver’s license, credit cards and all the GAJ cash, so I could virtually do nothing without it. I had to turn around and go back to the motel to get it. Well, once I had that taken care of I went back to the post office, mailed some letters, picked up some, and got some stamps.

Next I went to Wal-Mart. This is a huge Wal-Mart with a quite different look on the outside from most Wal-Marts. Inside it looked the same as all the others except bigger. I had several things to look for, and in a new store I really had to do some searching. I was looking for sweat bands for Joni (she has to keep her cut dry for five days). I went to one department and they sent me to another, then another. I finally gave up and decided we could make one with a bandana. Other things took awhile to hunt down as well, but overall it is a very nice Wal-Mart. I even got a pair of shoes to replace my favorite old ones that I wear when I’m not wearing hiking shoes – something I’ve been looking for for quite awhile. They were even on sale. I knew Joni wanted some more as well, but couldn’t remember what size. My phone service was very poor inside the store so I had to wait to call her until I went outside. I checked out with all my purchases, then called Joni and Ronni to see what they wanted for lunch, and what size shoes Joni needed. I went back in and got a long sandwich for Joni and me to share, and some chips and dip, plus the shoes for Joni.

Finally back to the motel. Ronni and I got the stuff in and Joni and I got it put away. Joni was feeling a lot better and had even walked around the outside of the motel just to see how it went. So we sat and ate lunch and read some info about Florida. Then we decided it was time to go do some walking. We drove back to the place where we had so suddenly had to stop yesterday when Joni fell. We walked on into town (Bunnell) and met Ronni, then placed the Memorial Stone #256 at the large Bunnell sign in front of the lake. We took pictures of the area, then continued walking through town.

Our walk continued on through the edge of Palm Coast and into Korona. As we walked we had a good talk about several things. In Korona some guys called out to us to see if we needed a drink. We told them we had water. They wanted to know where we were walking to. I told them to Key West, then after a pause I told them where we had walked from. Three of the men were at a picnic table, and a fourth was at his truck ready to leave. I talked to the fourth one while Joni went to the three. The one I was talking to said he didn’t believe in prayer. I told him we did and we had seen GOD very specifically answer prayer on this Journey many times. He was certain it would do just as much good to flip a coin. I said that a flipped coin would not have helped in most of our situations at all, but that prayer really did. These guys were all outside of the Korona Beach Eagles Nest Bar. When they first called to us we just called back our answers, but soon felt compelled to go talk with them. I thought later how Jesus didn’t avoid the "publicans and sinners", but rather went to them and ate with them. Bob, Tim and ?? (didn’t give me his name). Bob asked prayer for Bob – said he really needs it. So we promised to pray for Bob. The fourth guy wouldn’t let me take a picture or give me his name. He did wish us well and shook my hand. He will go in our prayer book along with the rest of the group.

We continued on a bit further until we came to the Hess Service Station where we met Ronni. Then we drove back to our motel stopping at the gas station and Burger King and Dairy Queen (it’s all one stop). I went in to get Krispy Kreame donuts for Joni and me while Ronni went to Dairy Queen. I asked inside if they had air for tires, and a young man who was a customer offered to come put it in for me and check all our tires. I gladly accepted his offer. I moved the car over to the air. After he finished I gave him our card and told him what we are doing. He immediately asked if we would please pray for him. He’s out of work, but just got a pay check for one week’s worth of work he had done. He was a very nice young man – Edward Sloan Jr from Kentucky, who just recently moved here to Florida.

We didn’t walk long today, but we sure did get the prayer requests. It’s interesting how things have changed so much since we got to Florida. It’s a different type of people, but many are more than willing to admit their need for prayer and are very appreciative of us being willing to pray for them.

We’ve also noticed how many requests we’re getting from people in the motels we’re staying in. We can never question GOD’s leading – His ways are far above our ways. I just stand in awe of what He is doing. GOD is at work!

Well finally we got in our room and settled down and ate dinner, journaled, etc. and went to bed.

June 10, 2004 – Thursday -- Walking Day – 15.0 + 3583.6 = 3598.6 Total Miles to Date

K 171.2 Total FL Miles – Day 17

Total Miles for Week – 48.8

Today we got out and started at about 8:15 and walked the first mile with Cassie, then we put Cassie in the van, and Ronni and Cass went back to the motel while Joni and I walked the 4.3 miles to the motel. We took a short break at the motel, then walked on to Ormond Beach (the main part of the town). We placed our Memorial Stone #257 at the African Methodist Episcopalian Church. It is a beautiful church and we took lots of pictures, then we wanted to see inside. The front door wasn’t open, so we went to the side in hopes of finding an office or someone that could let us in. As we started up the stairs to the back door we heard a voice and saw two men working next door. So we went over to them to see if one of them was the pastor or some other person that could get us in. After telling them what we were doing and giving them our card, the older man said he could let us in. So he took us over to the church and showed us the cornerstone, then into the church and showed us all around. We took lots of pictures, and enjoyed talking with Riley P. Brown, one of the trustees.

Finally we headed on down the road. Before long we arrived at Holly Hill. We took pictures at the City Hall, then continued. We came to a building where some men were hanging around. Some of them called to us to ask what we were doing. After some calling back and forth I went over to talk with them. They were drinking, but not drunk – yet. I talked with them for quite a bit – Joni had stayed out by the street and was soon talking with another man. The three I was talking with were Chuck, Rick and Leo. It took awhile to explain to them what we were doing so they could understand. Still they wanted to know why we would do that. I explained carefully that we were praying for the nation, and that we stopped at each town to pray, and we take prayer requests and we pray for the military. Leo then told me to pray for Holly Hill as it is a town full of drugs and prostitution. I assured them we would indeed pray. We talked about GOD, and I told them that GOD loved them. Leo told me he talks to Jesus every morning. Rick told me he was baptized a month ago. All three were very friendly and kind to me. Finally I took their pictures, shook their hands, and headed on to where Joni was talking with another young man. I began talking with him while Joni went to talk with Chuck, Rick and Leo. John Kegley had told Joni that he saw us this morning way on the other side of Ormond Beach. He was very nice also, and I got his picture and told him we’d add him to our prayer list.

Walking on we felt the rain drops under a very dark sky. The men we had just talked with warned us strongly about two things – 1). Get under cover before the lightening comes, and 2). Don’t walk down Hwy 1 any further at this time of the evening. After we left them Joni and I decided to stop at the service station across the street and call Ronni. She was on her way. When she came we got in and did a little scouting for tomorrow. We also drove over the Seabreeze Bridge into downtown Daytona Beach. Then we went back to where we had stopped to get our mileage from there to where we had started this afternoon.

Next we drove to Wal-Mart to look at some shirts. We picked out about 4 and went and tried them on, and ended up with 2 more red ones. Then we went home to our motel, and dropped Ronni off at Waffle House while Joni and I drove through at Wendy’s to get a salad for me, and a baked potato for Joni. Joni and I also stopped at the service station next to our motel to see if they had more of the donuts they had last night – they didn’t. When we stopped I noticed a bicycle parked there. Before I got out of the car I saw Edward, our knight in shining armor of last night – and said hello to him. We talked briefly about his situation – prayer answered already for his job search! He found work this morning. He was very appreciative of our prayers. He also asked more about the Journey since he had looked at the card we gave him last night a bit more.

Finally we got into our motel room, put things away, ate our meals, made phone calls, and got to bed.

June 11, 2004 – Friday -- Walking Day – 14.3 + 3598.6 = 3612.9 Total Miles to Date

K 185.5 Total FL Miles – Day 18

Total Miles for Week – 63.1

Today we got out on the road by about 8:30 AM – back where we stopped last night at U.S. 1 and 6^th in Holly Hill. From there we walked with Cassie down a pretty side street and then put Cassie back in the car at Mason where we met Ronni. Ronni then went on to the library and Visitor Center while we continued walking down U. S. 1. The walk was somewhat uneventful. One young man stopped and talked with us as he bicycled through town. We got his picture and name – Ean (yes, that is how he spelled it ( ) Dropulitch (spelling unsure on that one).

Soon after that we came to St. Mary’s Episcopal Church which is quite a historical landmark. Joni and I read the plaque and took pictures of the sign and the church – quite beautiful. Next we came to the Daytona Beach City Hall and took more pictures. A little further we spotted a Texaco station across the street with a convenience store, so we crossed over the street to go to it. We used the restroom there and bought V-8's and candy bars. As I was paying I got to talking with the lady and told her what we were doing and gave her a card. She was very friendly and asked lots of questions. I took her picture and got her name – Judy King, manager of the Texaco Station.

There are little inlets between U.S. 1 and the Halifax River from time to time that we found quite interesting. Everywhere we look there are lizards running around – some are a bright green, some are darker colors, and some light brown. There is one darker one that blows a bubble on his throat when he breaths – or something. The bubble is bright red and looks really cool.

We saw the "Freemanville Settlement" Historic Marker, and stopped to read it and take pictures. Then we noticed we were right beside a Chamber of Commerce so we went inside to see what kind of information we could get. She gave us maps of South Daytona Beach/Port Orange, and we looked around and picked up some other things. The lady also told us where we could get boat rides on the Halifax River and possibly see the Manatees. We’d really like to do that, so we’ll see what we can find out. John, Joni’s twin, is coming next Tuesday to join us for a week, so maybe we can do a boat cruise while he’s with us.

We finally came to Port Orange where there is a fountain with Grecian pillars on the corner. While we’ve been praying for the various towns as we walk through them, we’ve not placed a Memorial Stone since Ormond Beach. This fountain looks like a good place, and since we are very low on stones we thought maybe we’d place our largest stone at this fountain and make it for Holly Hill, Daytona Beach, South Daytona Beach and Port Orange. Florida – at least this part – does not have rocks. We’re actually thinking about buying a few smooth stones that we can use for Memorial Stones.   We were so glad we had picked up so many back in Alabama when Russ was with us.

Just past this fountain we spotted a beautiful little church on the other side of the street. It is such a busy street – and wide – that we didn’t want to cross over it. So we used our super zoom and took a few pictures. It is Grace Episcopal Church. I especially wanted to get a picture of one stained glass window that was really beautiful. It actually turned out quite nice. Then I took two tries to get a picture of the church in between cars zooming by. My second try turned out pretty good.

Next we stopped at a sign that said "Cornerstone – where Jesus loves you." It also had call letters on it for a radio station. Joni stayed out by the road so Ronni could see here while I went in to find out about the place. It is a Christian Radio station that broadcasts throughout two counties on three stations, and is worldwide on the Internet. Edie gave me some information about them, and then gave us two bottles of cold water. They also publish a magazine. I got pictures of the gal I talked with and then said good-bye. Back out on the road by the sign we noticed a green lizard on the sign and took pictures. We got some good ones of the lizard – very pretty.

Ronni called to see where we were, then drove to meet us as we continued walking. We stopped at a church parking lot where Ronni was waiting and drove back to a place that had hot dogs and other things, then took our lunch back to the Chamber of Commerce in South Daytona Beach/Port Orange where we walked out on a trail that Joni and I had found earlier. We ate our lunch under a gazebo along the Halifax River. It was beautiful. Pelicans and herons swooped across the water from time to time. What a great spot to sit and rest (or sleep in Joni’s case). I brought my computer out and did the first part of today’s journal. I also wrote Memorial Stone #258.

Then we packed up our stuff and drove out onto Highway A1A on the Daytona Beach Strip. We went straight out to the beach and paid the three dollars to have as long as we wanted on the beach. We drove out and parked, then waded into the Atlantic for the first time. We took pictures of each other, and a father and son came along and took pictures of the three of us with our cameras. It was a fun time. I drove almost the length of the strip after we finished in the water. It is a long strip of sand that you can drive on. We really had fun. Then it was time to get back to walking – a bit late, but it’s not everyday that we get to do something like this on a beach. It was really great to see an ocean after over a year. Joni and I were so excited.

We stopped at the Port Orange Fountain to leave our Memorial Stone #258 – this was for the towns of Holly Hill, Daytona Beach, South Daytona Beach, and Port Orange.

After placing this stone Joni and I began walking. And a bit later we were out in the country again. It was beautiful as we crossed over inlets and rivers. But then we began a race with a lightening storm. We saw it coming from the side, but it seemed to be slow moving, so we kept walking but with a constant watch to our right at the clouds and the lightening. Then as we crossed one last bridge we noticed it was getting close quick. We called Ronni who was not far away and had her come our direction. She got to us in a few minutes and we sat in the car to wait out the lightening. After about half an hour it passed over us with no rain. Later we found it had rained all around us, but not where we were. As we had been crossing the last bridge with water all around us we were praying for protection from the lightening. Then to find it had rained all around us, but not on us was really special. This is the second or third time in this state that this type of thing has happened. Thank You, GOD!

We walked a couple more miles and then called it quits at about 8:30 PM. We had a long drive back to the motel and had to stop to pick up our dinner before we got there. It was good to get back to the motel, get stuff in and then eat, finish journaling, shower and get to bed.

June 12, 2004 – Saturday -- Moving Day – + 3612.9 = Total Miles to Date

K 185.5 Total FL Miles – Day 19

Total Miles for Week – 63.1

Today was a big day – a combination moving/touring day. I started out by going to Daytona Beach to pick up Ike Tiner at his motel to go to breakfast with him. Ike is Dave’s cousin-in-law. ( He is working out here in Daytona Beach. When I asked him how he happened to end up here he told me that he came out in January to do a job for three weeks and he’s still here. Now he and the company are working on a plan that will share him – part time here in Florida, and part time in California. Interesting. Janice, Ike’s wife, is coming to Florida on June 17 (I think), so Ike is trying to get a motel on the beach for them during that time. I drove him down to the beach to look for a place, then he told me he would take the bus back to his motel later. It was really neat seeing him and visiting for awhile. He called Janice while we were at breakfast and I talked with her for awhile.

After I left Ike I drove to the post office to pick up our mail and leave our forwarding notices, then back to the motel via the freeway. At the motel I got busy getting the rest of my stuff together and packing up the car. We finally got loaded up and said good bye to the staff and headed out. We stayed on Hwy 95 to 528, calling Coni as we passed through Titusville. Then we met on Hwy 528 and I moved to her car while Joni drove the van. We went first to Costco to eat lunch, then we headed out to do a little touring. We saw such things as Gatorland (there were a few alligators in sight), and a U.S. state tower. We went to see some old airplanes that Ronni knew about and wanted to see. She was thrilled.

Finally we headed out to Lakeland to find the motel that Joni and Ronni are staying at. The rain came while we were on our way. It really poured and lots of thunder and lightening – all of it very close. When we got to the motel I backed the van in to make it easier to get things out. I got my stuff out, and some of Ronni’s and Joni’s, but it was pouring so hard I was soaked in no time. Joni came out and helped me and got soaked also. We would wait for the lightening, then run to the car, grab some stuff and dash inside with it – wait for the lightening again and repeat the procedure. The lightening was right there, and the thunder was the loudest I’ve heard.

We left the two, and Coni and I headed back to Mulberry where we are staying for the night at her place (one that her Aunt Hazel owns). We went first to the church where we’ll be going tomorrow and talked with the pastor a bit, and with the music director. The pastor asked me what I would be sharing, so I gave him a bit of a sample of the things I share. He was very approving of what I said. They are very nice. I’ll be sharing for about 10 minutes in the morning. Joni wants me to do the sharing this time, so I will do it all. That’s fine. We were going to do some overhead projector pictures, but I must have left those in the van, so we will do without pictures. Coni and I will at least hold up a map of the U.S.

We then went to Coni’s house and ate some dinner, talked and went to bed.

June 13, 2004 – Sunday -- Rest & Moving Day – + 3612.9 = Total Miles to Date

K 185.5 Total FL Miles – Day 20

Total Miles for Last Week – 63.1

Today was really fun. I got up at about 5:30 and had my *GAJ BIT, then Coni got up and we soon went out to McDonald’s for breakfast. Then we drove around to see some of the places that are from Coni’s growing up years. It was really interesting seeing some of the places that Coni has told us about. Then we went back to her place and got ready to go to the church. We headed out at about 10:30 and it took us about 10 minutes to get there. We went inside to let Pastor Bob and Ron know we were there, then we went to the car to wait for Joni and Ronni to come. They finally arrived and we got stuff out of the car that I had meant to take out last night, but in the hard rain had forgotten.

Anyway we finally got in and they really wanted something to pass out so we gave them most of the cards we had and a lot of the magnets and told them one per family. The Pastor had Coni come up after the main singing and introduce me. I then went up and talked for 10 minutes. I had Joni prompting me when 8 minutes was up so I knew when to wind down. They were a very responsive church and we really appreciated the opportunity to share with them. Pastor Bob was delightful. Later when he went up to give the message he looked at the pulpit, then back at Pastor Ron (the music pastor), then he said, "Alright, who took my sermon notes?" ( I quickly looked under all the papers I had had up there with me and realized I had picked up his notes with my papers. Oops! ( He went on and on about how the people never knew he used notes until now, and how he’s always thought that someone would pick them up sometime, but it wasn’t until Coni’s friend came that someone actually did it. ( The audience was just roaring. Pastor also said now I would have one more experience to share with people and churches as we continue our Journey. He was great.

After the service we talked with several people quite a bit. Then we got pictures with Pastor Bob standing between Joni and me. Now this is one tall pastor. I asked him how tall he is and he told me "5 feet and 20 inches". (

Finally we went to Piccadilly to eat lunch. It is a very nice southern buffet. There were a few people from the church there and they talked with us some more – people have lots of questions – really great. After we ate we drove back to Coni’s place and packed up our stuff, took pictures, then headed out to see a few more things. Coni gave us a tour of Mulberry – 5 minutes ( Then on to Bartow, their County seat. Then to Lake Wailes to see Bok Tower. This tower is built on the highest spot in Florida. The highest spot is all of 345 feet! ( We also went to Spook Hill. This is a place where they have a white line across the road at a specific spot. You are instructed to stop at the white line, put the car in neutral and let it roll backwards. As you roll it gives the feeling of rolling uphill, but it’s really downhill. It was fun. A few other cars came while we were there as well.

Then it was time to say good bye to Coni. We all went to Wal-Mart to make the change (I had been riding with Coni all the time). Then Joni continued driving us on to Melbourne where we got a motel (Super 8 this week), got in and got settled and ready for this next week. As we were driving toward Melbourne, Dorothy Black called to see how we were doing. We talked for a bit. Then I called Georgia and talked with her a bit.

At the motel I had calls from Ling Tong and from Ike Tiner. Ike had shared about our walk with his Sunday School class, and his pastor got wind of it and talked with him about having us share at a Wednesday night Bible Study Class. We’re trying to work out something.

Finally Joni and I had our prayer time, and went to bed.

June 14, 2004 – Monday Flag Day -- Walking Day – 15.3 + 3612.9 = 3628.2 Total Miles to

Date

K 200.8 Total FL Miles – Day 21

Total Miles for Week – 15.3

Today we got going a bit late and we had a very long drive to our start point. As we went we took down mileages and landmarks so that Joni and I can tell how far we’ve gone as we walk. From Melbourne to where we started walking today was 74.7 miles, so it’ll take us a few days to get to where our motel is. Once we got to our start point today and began walking it was about 11 AM. We did have a nice breeze all day, so it was fairly comfortable walking. We took only short breaks and just kept going to get the mileage.

We stopped at the New Smyrna Beach/Edgewater border and placed Memorial Stone #260 for both towns. Our walk through New Smyrna Beach gave us a Wendy’s for a pit stop, and a convenience store for a V-8 Vegetable Juice. We met Ronni for a brief stop to put Cassie in before Wendy’s. At one point we got very tired and drained and decided we needed something to eat besides bars, so we called Ronni to come and get us. Then we all went back to Wendy’s to get some lunch. After we ate we went back to where we had stopped and started walking again.

After awhile we came to a fruit stand and stopped to look at the fruit. The grapes came from California. We didn’t buy those, but chose peaches instead. Joni picked a small basket of them, but the clerk took them and came back with a lot more than we had planned on. We probably got about 10 peaches for $1.50. There was a retired couple there, the owner and the clerk. The clerk started asking us questions and the others around were listening and joined in on the questions. They were George and Janet Kauffmann from New Smyrna Beach – recently moved from Michigan when they retired. Tasha Gibson lives in Edgewater, FL and moved here 6 years ago from Atlanta, GA. The owner had already left, so we didn’t get her name or picture. The others also gave us a small donation. We do appreciate people like this so much.

As we continued on we came to a small dirt path that led back into the jungle a bit – a perfect pit stop with no tall grasses to have to worry about snakes. The place I went to was back off a side trail of the main one and there was a bit of a surprise for me there. Someone had abandoned an old motorcycle many years ago by the looks of it, and it lay there covered in weeds and brush. It looked like it came from the 40's or 50's era.

Continuing on we met Ed Creston in front of the Mini Storage and Hardware store where he worked. We had met Ronni there and were taking a short break. He was very interested in what we were doing. After he left I talked with Dave on the phone for awhile. Then we continued walking.

We met Ronni again at the turnoff for the post office in Oak Hill. Stopping first at the service station for restrooms we met some guys who had seen us a couple of times earlier today. They wanted to know what on earth we were doing. When we told them the one guy wished us well, while the other wanted to give us the name of a doctor – he thought we were crazy. Oh well. Then as we left there another guy asked what we were doing. I went over to give him a card, and we talked for awhile. He was a Christian young man, and had recently been feeling really convicted of his need to get into the Bible a bit more and spend time in prayer. He said he was going to share about what we were doing with his Bible study group. He was really excited about what we were doing and wanted to pray for me right there – which he did. I appreciated that so much. It was really nice. He said he was going to get right on the web site to check it all out.

Finally we got into the car and headed out to check out a possible route change for tomorrow. Good thing we checked it out ahead of time because it’s restricted in some parts and we couldn’t go through.

It seemed like a long way home (it was) so it was almost 10 PM when we got back and then we had to get some supper and take showers, make phone calls, and get to bed.

One of the calls was to Coni Harris because she had some information for us about the Bok Tower that we saw from a distance yesterday on the highest point in Florida. It is made of 205 feet of stone and marble and has 60 bronze bells of 157 pounds to 12 tons each. They are carillon bells and ring regularly, and are located on 120 acres.

June 15, 2004 – Tuesday -- Walking Day – 9.7 + 3628.2 = 3637.9 Total Miles to Date

K 210.5 Total FL Miles – Day 22

Total Miles for Week –25.0

Today we got out a bit late again and had a long drive. It is kind of a vicious circle of trying to get up early and get out, then hiking, taking a mid-day break and walking again into the evening, then, getting home (the motel) late, eating, journaling, phone calls or whatever else needs doing, and finally to bed. Then trying to get up early again the next day and so on. Well, I can’t keep staying up late and getting up early for too long. After a bit it really does me in. Plus my leg has really been bothering me at night, so that wears me out since I don’t sleep as well. Ah, well, only a little longer. I do enjoy the walk (the Journey), but it’s all these side things we have to do that takes away from the walk time that wears me out.

Well we got started walking today at about 10:30 after first leaving Memorial Stone #261 at the Oak Hill Salute to those serving the Country (a large billboard with names of local military people on it). We did about a mile with Cassie, then put Cassie in the van and continued walking. It was hot today, and there was not as much of a breeze as there often is. We were really dripping with perspiration. We had a long straight road for quite awhile, then we decided to take a short break in some shade. Just as we were leaving there a young man pulled up to see how far we had walked. We told him what we were doing His name is Al (?) from Cocoa, FL – he came from Brooklyn, NY. Later we were taking pictures of some osprey in their nests, and when we turned around we noticed a man walking on the other side of the highway. He was pulling a dolly loaded with all his earthly possessions. His name was David and he told us he had been walking for something like 8 years. It sounded like he walked from spring to spring throughout Florida. I’m not sure if he goes to other states or not. He tried to tell us how he lives and how we should live, but we weren’t too keen on his ideas. Though he told us they were Biblical, they really didn’t fit what Joni and I know of the Bible. We were standing in the direct sunlight at about the hottest part of the day as we talked with him, and I began to feel a bit woozy, but didn’t want to say anything to him for fear he’d say we should do something a bit weird. I just wanted to get going. We were finally able to cut off the conversation and get walking again just in time. I really was about ready to pass out, but as soon as I started walking I began to feel better. Walking stirs up the breeze a bit around us. I was already drinking water as we stood there, and continued to drink as we walked. That combination really helped me. As we walked we saw some orchards of orange trees.

We didn’t have too much further to walk before we met Ronni. It had been a great day but HOT! At 3:30 we quit walking and headed over to Sanford Airport to get John. We stopped for gas on the way and got there at about 4:50 PM – his plane was due at about 5 PM. We got pictures of Joni and John greeting each other. They’ve got a special relationship as twins often do. On the way home we stopped to eat at Perkins, then went back to the motel and dropped off Joni and John so he could get settled. Ronni and I went to find a grocery store to get water and a couple other things. As we left the store one of the employees was standing at the door and asked about our uniforms. I explained what we were doing and gave her a card. She was really interested. Her name was Shannon Gosset and she works at Publix (a grocery chain in the south), and she lives in Palmdale, FL.

Back at the motel we got things taken in, then we got ourselves ready for bed, made phone calls, did journals, etc. and went to bed.

June 16, 2004 – Wednesday -- Walking Day – 17.6 + 3637.9 = 3655.5 Total Miles to Date

K 228.1 Total FL Miles – Day 23

Total Miles for Week –42.6

Today we got out on the road and walking by about 10 AM – we still have a very long drive to our start, but each day we are getting closer. It was a good day. John walked with us all day. In the morning we began just north of Mims and continued walking through it. We stopped for our first pit stop at a CITGO Service Station. Then we noticed a U-Haul place next to it and went to check out the sizes and prices for trailers to haul our stuff home from storage. We decided that a 5x8 should work, and the price for that one way across to Paso Robles, CA was something like $129.00. That surprised me – I thought it would be more than that. Now I can report to Dave so that he knows what to reserve.

Soon after that we put Cassie in the car again to ride for the rest of the day. As we continued walking we chatted with John and enjoyed a fun time together. I’m so glad he got to come be with Joni for a time. We left Memorial Stone #262 at the Mims sign on the south end of town after a short break.

We continued walking along U.S. 1. Soon it came to a high bridge over the railroad tracks. We walked over that and came down into Titusville right at a beautiful park on our left. To our right was a KFC in between the north lanes and the south lanes of the highway. We had Ronni meet us there and we took our long mid-day break. There were picnic tables there so we ate lunch there. It was a beautiful spot.

After we ate we packed up our stuff and headed for the Manatee Deck to see if we could spot any of the creatures. We saw a couple, but they were mostly under the water, sticking their noses up every once to breathe. Their tail is quite unusual. They have tails that are big and round – kind of different. We left there and headed back to where we had left off earlier in the day.

As we walked John spotted two armadillos by the road and Joni and I pulled out our cameras. We were able to get several good pictures that turned out pretty good. Then we continued walking until we passed under the underpass. Soon we met Ronni and decided to call it a day.

We got our shoes changed and stuff put in the car then we got in and drove back to our motel – still a looong way. I drove, and it did indeed seem a loooong way!

Back at the motel I downloaded pictures and talked with Shawn and Bev Cunningham. They will come find us on Friday. That will be fun. Then I did my journaling and got ready for bed.

June 17, 2004 – Thursday -- Walking Day – 17.3 + 3655.5 = 3672.8 Total Miles to Date

K 245.4 Total FL Miles – Day 23

Total Miles for Week –59.9

Today was a really fun day. We drove to our start point just past the Titusville City Limit sign and got started walking pretty quick. The first short stretch was pretty open and away from towns, but gradually it got busier and busier. We’re getting close to all the vacation spots of Florida and everything is busy. I really don’t mind – it’s more people for me to wave to – but the constant noise does get to us all after awhile. Anyway – we had Cassie for the first mile or so, then she spent the rest of the day in the car with Ronni.

As we started walking my phone indicated I had a message. I checked it out and found it was from a step-brother of Pat Pratt who is in choir at ABC. His name is Tony Love and he left his phone number. We continued walking and taking pictures. After awhile we came to a sidewalk on the opposite side of the road that we knew led to a walkway over the highway. We wanted to take that particular walkway so we crossed over. The footpath leads to a school – not in session now – and we enjoyed walking over the highway on this footpath. In fact from the top we took pictures several different directions. Then we continued walking toward Cocoa – Port St. John came first, then Hardeeville, Sharpe, and finally Cocoa (not to be confused with Cocoa Beach). I remembered too late that I was supposed to call Coni when we walked through Port St. John. As soon as I remembered I called Coni to apologize for forgetting. She was very forgiving, and will see if her friends will go a little further to come see us. As I was talking to Coni on the phone we saw a Teen Missions Bus coming our way and waved extra hard to him -- only the bus driver was on board.

When we took a break at a Hess Service Station I bought some V-8. As I was paying my phone rang – it was Dellie. She asked if it would be okay for her to come join us in Miami and walk on out to Key West with us. I was SO excited -- of course I said "yes!" We worked out some arrangements and I told her I would call back with more definite times.

We met Ronni in Cocoa by the Goodyear Tire Store near the Cocoa water tower (a huge one with a flag painted on it). It was actually rather late – about 3 PM more or less.

We all hopped in the van and drove across the bridge to Merritt Island to eat lunch. After we ate I called Tony Love to respond to his call. He invited us to attend Rotary Meeting tomorrow morning for breakfast. He gave me all the information and I told him we’d be there unless we let him know otherwise. (I asked the others later and they all agreed.) I sat in Burger King where we had gone to eat lunch, and figured out when we would reach Miami and when we would reach Key West. We’re aiming for Miami by July 7, and Key West on July 23. I also called Judi Cox since Dellie told me she might be coming out as well. I talked a bit with Judi, then called Dave. He told me he has his plane reservation for July 19 and has a car reserved in Miami as well. I updated him somewhat, then called Dellie again to let her know what I had come up with for a time in Miami.

When we left Burger King we drove all the way out to Cocoa Beach over a second bridge. Then we parked at the beach briefly and went out on a boardwalk to take pictures. A Disney ship was passing by and we got some pictures of it as well as of each other. Once done with the beach we drove back to where we had stopped before lunch. There we began walking again. It was a fun afternoon as we walked and waved, and had lots of wavers honking and waving at us. We ended out day just past Rockledge at Harveys – an orange stand that is "closed while Mother Nature works her magic."

Then we drove "home" taking mileages all the way, and stopping at Denny’s for dinner. "Home" at last to write my journal and get ready for tomorrow, and get to bed. We’re all very tired.

June 18, 2004 – Friday -- Walking Day – 12.8 + 3672.8 = 3685.6 Total Miles to Date

K 258.2 Total FL Miles – Day 24

Total Miles for Week –72.7

Today we headed out a bit after 7 AM for the Suntree United Methodist Church in Viera where Tony Love’s Rotary Club meets. We were guests for breakfast and Tony shared about our Journey. The speaker for the morning was from the local Humane Society. She was very good and we enjoyed her a lot.

After the Rotary Meeting Tony took us on a tour of the church and we met a lot of the church staff. At one point the Church Administrator gathered most of the staff together and the senior pastor prayed for us. It was a neat experience.

Finally we headed out for Harvey’s (the orange place) to start walking. Cassie, as usual, walked with us for the first mile or so, then we loaded her into the car and we continued walking. It was a hot, but beautiful morning, and there were LOTS of cars to wave to.

Around 11:45 or so (I think) Shawn and Bev called to say they were only about a half hour from us and wanted an idea of where to meet us. We told them what we were near as best we could, then we called Ronni. She came and John got in with her while Joni and I continued walking. We came to the overpass, then realized that we were at the beginning of the construction work – not a good place to meet Shawn and Bev, but we started in and asked a construction worker we saw how long the construction was. We came up with about 1 or 2 miles. Then as we talked with him and told him what we were doing he told us that he and his wife have a baby daughter and that they have been convicted of their need to get to church and attend regularly. We encouraged him in this and told him we’d add his name to our prayer list. His name was Brian Starr and he was really so nice. Then Shawn and Bev showed up. We got in the car with them and drove to Denny’s (I called Ronni to tell her where we were going so they could find us) and went inside to get a table. The others came shortly. We had a good lunch and a good visit.

Then I went with Bev and Shawn to a nearby beach where there was an outdoor lounge overlooking the beach and we sat drinking our soft drinks, talking and watching the surfers and others playing on the beach. It was a good time and we finally realized it was 5 PM and time to get back to the walk. We went back to the motel and said good bye. It was really great visiting with Bev & Shawn. Joni and Ronni were sleeping and it was still very hot outside, so I grabbed the computer and went outside to the picnic table where I worked a bit on the journal. Soon Joni called me on the phone to see where I was. Now we got ready and headed out.

Joni, John and I then walked from the start of the construction at State Route 404 to the Walgreens/Subway junction. We had one gal talk to us as we walked along. When we told her what we were doing she was quite excited. When we wanted to take her picture she had us wait while she got her little girl to also be in the picture. They are Laurie Larson and daughter Nikki.

We continued all the way past the construction and on into Melbourne. We made pretty good time. The weather was wonderful this evening and walking was very nice. We called Ronni to meet us at Walgreens/Subway in Melbourne. We got our dinner at Subway and took it back to our room to eat. Then we ate and watched a bit of TV news. We saw that the American in Saudi Arabia had been executed and we were heartbroken for his family. The man’s son lives here in Port St. John, FL and was known by people at the church we visited this morning for Rotary.

Finally we headed for bed and a good night’s rest.

June 19, 2004 – Saturday -- Walking Day – 15.6 + 3685.6 =3701.2 Total Miles to Date

K 273.8 Total FL Miles – Day 25

Total Miles for Week –88.3

Today we got a bit of a late start, but we were starting only 4 miles away from our motel. I actually allowed myself to go back to sleep when I woke up around 5 or 5:30. Having both early mornings and late nights will only work so long for me, then I need to get a little extra rest. I figure if I get the extra rest at the times when we don’t have far to go it will work out better. Before we headed out I went to the office to register for another three days. The gal at the front desk recognized me as one of the walking group and gave us the best rate she could – which was good. Then she asked questions about the walk and said she would say a prayer for us at her church tomorrow. I asked where she goes to church and she told me it was "His Place" at the corner of State 192 and U.S. 1 which is about a block away. She told me the interesting and beautiful story of how she and her husband found that church, then invited us to attend there this Sunday. We plan to do that.

Anyway we got started walking at the north end of Melbourne with a temperature of 92 degrees and who knows what humidity. But there was a breeze and we were okay. I’m amazed at how much difference that breeze makes.

Cassie went for the first ½ to 1 mile, then got in with Ronni. Then while we walked Ronni went to the library and to the store to do shopping. Our route this morning took us right along the Indian River Intracoastal Waterway that will eventually empty out at the St. Lucie Inlet at Sewalls Point. This is a very wide river that is full of wildlife. We frequently stopped to watch the herons and ducks and other birds. There were fish leaping out of the water, and we watched one heron make his catch of a large fish. Fascinating!

At 4.1 miles we arrived at our motel and took a short break. I called Coni real quick to let her know we were walking through Melbourne at the time so she could call her friend Lucy and see if she could come and see us. Coni is thinking seriously about coming to see us tomorrow and maybe going out to the Kennedy Space Center with us. That would be fun.

We continued walking into unknown territory now. We had a bridge over a nice harbor to walk over, then on past VFW Post 81. There were a couple of nice murals painted on their building and I stopped to take pictures of them. A gal saw me and came over to talk to me. I gave her a card and told her what we were doing. I got her picture and her name – Kathy Fanaki (sp?). She was very nice and we talked for awhile. John and Joni had continued on, and I soon was hurrying on to meet them. Walking past a car dealer a salesman saw me and called over to ask how far I had been walking. I told him very matter-of-fact-like 3600 miles. He asked "What??!", so I repeated it and told him where we had come from. I gave him a card and he asked a few questions. I took his picture and got his name and found out we had just passed from Melbourne to Palm Bay. His name is Tim McDermott. He told me he would have his church pray for us. I told him to be sure to check our website.

Then I went on down the road at a fast clip waving to everyone along the way. Soon I caught up with John and Joni. We continued on for a few more miles to Malabar (we think). Sometimes it is hard to tell where one town ends and another begins. Ronni called to see where we had gotten to. We waited for her at the BP station in Malabar (?). While we waited I went in to get V-8 for Joni and me, and a Gatorade for John. Finally Ronni came and we went back to the motel. Ronni told me that while she was at the motel earlier Lucy, Coni’s friend had come by. She got her phone number for me to call her back this evening. ; I prefer whenever possible to have people call me since it is hard to get around to calling people. Ronni said she’ll tell people that in the future. Good. (

At the motel we ate lunch, then Ronni went out for a bit, and Joni and I worked on map stuff and verifying that the spots we had chosen for mail drops were good. Grant is coming up today or tomorrow. Then we’ll use North Palm Beach until July 5, and next Florida City until July 12. After that we’ll be in the Keys!!!

I called about motel reservations for my night in Orlando before I fly to San Jose for Brenda’s wedding, but all the ones I called no longer have airport shuttles. We also looked at possibilities of motels for Joni and Ronni for while I’m gone.

Then it was time to head out to start walking again. We drove to our start point and got started. Ronni went ahead and checked out possibilities of side roads for us and found a great one that went about 1.4 miles (about the same as U.S. 1 in that section). It turned out to be a truly beautiful section. On one side were beautiful large homes and on the other side was the Indian River with lots of wildlife. We saw one large crane, a small flamingo?, some pelicans, herons, and many smaller birds. We also saw a few osprey in their nests. It was really neat. Then there were the cute mailbox stands on this street (called Rocky Point, by the way). One mailbox was held up by a concrete manatee with her baby manatee hiding behind her "skirts". Another was in the mouth of a man? made in the trunk of a palm tree. The leafy remains made up his hair, and eyes and nose were carved into it to add to the face.

We walked on toward Grant, FL, but were being followed by a big black cloud and saw lightening in the distance. We called Ronni to come and get us. By the time she got to us – which was pretty quick – the storm had passed over us with just a few sprinkles. We didn’t quite have 15 miles, so Joni and I went ahead and walked a bit more. John decided to quit though, he was just too tired. Just before we finished, Joni and I walked into the Grant City Limits. That was a real plus for us.

We drove back to Melbourne to our motel with a stop at Dunkin’ Donuts and Burger King for our dinner and dessert. ( After eating and showering and making phone calls, we headed for bed.

June 20, 2004 – Sunday -- Resting Day – + 3701.2 Total Miles to Date

K 273.8 Total FL Miles – Day 26

Total Miles for Last Week –88.3

Today Joni, John and I attended His Place Ministries Church. It was a 9 AM service. We met a few people as we went in and gave out a few cards. The service started with some good singing led by the pastor’s wife and a good worship team. Part way through the singing the pastor worked his way over to me and asked if he had heard right – that we were walking across America praying for the nation. I gave him a card and told him we were. He then asked if I would be willing to share a bit. Of course I said I would. The sharing was received nicely. This church is a very outreaching church. They serve lunch to the homeless once a week in the park with church people bringing the food and eating with them. This gives them a good chance to intermingle with the homeless. They also reach out in the community to those on drugs and such. Then a team of people from the church just returned last night from the Dominican Republic. Their whole service was given to those who had been who wanted to share about their experience. It was really great. After the service we talked with quite a few people and met the pastor and his wife and son and got to talk with them a bit more. The pastor is Terry Morris and his wife is Betty with their son, Jason.

We placed our Memorial Stone # for Rockledge to Melbourne, FL at the church before we left. Then we went back to the motel and did laundry, then we headed out for the Kennedy Space Center. On our way we stopped in Cocoa Beach for lunch at the Olive Garden. While we were there my phone rang. It was Dave with some bad news. Heather Black was killed this last week in a car accident. He had some other bad news for me as well, but I can’t really share that one here. Anyway it turned into a rather heartbreaking afternoon. I shared with the others about Heather. What a sad thing – just 18 years old. My prayers are with Luanne and the rest of the family. I shared a bit more with Joni when we went out, but we didn’t have much time.

I tried to put the sadness away to get on with our trip to the Kennedy Space Center. Joni took over the driving. We arrived finally at the Center, got our tickets and went in to see the IMAX movie – The Dream is Alive – about the space program. It was really good. We saw a couple of other things then did a bit of shopping, and went out to see the unmanned rocket launch, but it was scrubbed again just a few minutes before blast off when a lightening storm came up. We ended up driving home in the storm. It wasn’t too bad most of the way, but when we arrived in Melbourne it really got the worst. I’ve never seen such rain. Joni was driving, and I told her to feel free to pull over for a bit if she felt she needed to. She continued driving slowly, and there weren’t many cars out on the road at all so she had plenty of room. She continued and we finally came to our motel. We went in and the rain, thunder and lightening continued for quite a long time.

We fixed some light meals (?) – popcorn, cookies, etc., ate, journaled, prayed and went to bed.

June 21, 2004 – Monday -- Walking Day – 16.0 + 3701.2 = 3717.2 Total Miles to Date

K 289.8 Total FL Miles – Day 27

Total Miles for Week – 16.0

This is the day the LORD has made, and while sadness flows over us as we think of Heather’s passing and other very difficult things happening right now we are comforted by the fact that GOD still has more for us to do and He will be with us and comfort and lead us day by day. My heart is very heavy right now, yet I am rejoicing in the peace that only GOD can give.

We got out on the road by 8:45 this morning and enjoyed a beautiful walk through the morning. Cassie did the first mile with us, then we took off down the road with just John, Joni and me along the river front. It was a beautiful morning as we walked along. We went through Grant, Roseland and Sebastian. In Sebastian we stopped at a Wendy’s at almost 9 miles so we could take a break with a drink and some fries. Ronni met us there. She had been to the post office in Grant and picked up our mail. Dave’s packet came in with the new cards (I was completely out) so Joni and I each put a new supply into our paks.

Then we walked on and very soon came to a place where we could take a side road and walk down closer to the waterfront. It was really beautiful. There was a nice pathway that we could walk on most of the time on this little frontage road. John and Joni walked together most of the time since this is his last day of walking with us. Tomorrow John leaves to return to England. He will ride with Ronni in the morning while Joni and I walk, then we’ll take him to the airport. Anyway, we really enjoyed this section of the walk. Soon enough our little path came to an end and the frontage road came out to meet U. S. 1 again. Ronni met us at this point and we all got in and went back to a picnic area we had seen on the frontage road. The nice picnic tables had wood coverings over them and on the wood that comes down a bit on each side there is a clock. One on each side so that whichever side of the table you are seated on you can see what time it is. ! ! ( What a time-conscious place. We thought that was pretty funny. (

Well, at last we finished lunch (Ronni had deli meats and cheeses and Italian bread for us) – quite delicious. Then we drove back to Roseland to the Wal-Mart to do some shopping. Joni stayed out with Cassie. John went in to look at shoes. Ronni went in to do some of her own shopping, and I went in to do GAJ shopping. I had quite a few things to get and still finished before Ronni did. I think she was looking at shoes, and ended up not getting any shoes, but did get a pair of shorts.

I called Marilyn and Dave both. The call to Dave was very encouraging. I let Marilyn know what all was happening with Heather and such, but we didn’t have a long time to talk. Marilyn & Jon and the family are going to Tahoe in a couple of days to stay in a condo that someone has donated them.

Finally we headed back to where we had left off to walk on. We had already done 10 plus miles, and continued on for another 5 plus to bring our grand total for the day to 16. That was good. Then we finished for the day in a parking lot that was abandoned and across from a billboard that makes it easy to find our spot again. Then we drove back to Melbourne. On the way I happened to glance down at the river front at one place and saw a bunch of flamingoes. They were so pretty. We had seen a small one the other day, but weren’t certain that was what it was – now I am certain. Wow! Back at Melbourne we went to Steak and Shake to eat and had a nice meal for John’s last night with us.

Then we went back to our room and Joni went up to do the last of the laundry while I got started on printing out the journals to date so that John could have a copy of the days he was with us. His total mileage that he walked was 79.3 miles. I wanted to throw in an extra 7 tenths so he’d have 80 miles. Maybe we can have John walk just that 7 tenths tomorrow morning. Well, soon Coni and her friend Lucy came by for a short visit. We kept busy with other stuff we needed to do while we visited since we have only so much time. It was great to see Coni again and to meet her good friend, Lucy.

After Coni and Lucy left Joni, Ronni and I finished up a few things and went to bed. Very tired!

June 22, 2004 – Tuesday -- Walking Day – 4.9 + 3717.2 = 3722.1 Total Miles to Date

K 294.7 Total FL Miles – Day 28

Total Miles for Week – 20.9

Today was a short day, but planned that way. It is the last day we walk before Monday, 6/28/04. On our way out to walk we stopped first at the Grant Post Office to leave our forwarding address and pick up any mail that had arrived. Then we went to place our Memorial Stone #266 for Palm Bay, Malabar, Grant and surrounding areas. We placed it at the Historic Grant Grocery and Deli. Then we went on out to our start point and got started walking. John didn’t walk today since he was going straight to the airport after we stopped walking. Joni and I walked a bit slow since neither of us was in top shape. We didn’t do a lot of mileage since we had to quit early, but we did at least get a little further down in our walk through Florida. We made it through Winter Beach and a bit beyond.

As Joni and I walked John and Ronni drove out to find a way to get to the beach. They were successful with a little direction, and had a great time at the ocean collecting shells and enjoying the sights.

At noon they came back for us, then we all got back in the van and headed for Sanford. We did stop to get gas, then we got onto I-95 and headed north. I drove to begin until we came to a rest stop quite away up the highway. I was getting sleepy so traded places with Joni. Then we went on into Sanford stopping at a Subway for sandwiches. We arrived at the airport and let John out at the front with Ronni while Joni and I parked the van. Then we all went in and said good bye to John and left him there to board his flight back to England.

Then we left and I drove back toward our motel. Part way there I started getting sleepy again and had to let Joni drive the rest of the way. Joni and I are pretty strict with each other about changing off when we start getting sleepy. With our long hours of walking and all the things that we have to do besides walking we just don’t get enough time to sleep. We only have a few more weeks so we’ll make it, and catch up on some sleep after that.

Once we got back to the motel we called Coni and she and her friend, Lucy, came over. Then Joni stayed at the motel not feeling real good while Ronni and I went with Coni and Lucy to Arby’s for dinner. Back to the motel afterwards and Coni and Lucy went back to Lucy’s home. I took a shower and then downloaded cameras, typed my Journal and packed. Joni and Ronni were also packing and making motel reservations for while I am gone to Brenda and Josh’s wedding.

I finally got everything done and got to bed way too late, as usual.