WALKING ROUTE 66

They Think We’re Crazy, But, You, Sir, ARE Crazy.

I walked another 18 miles, on day 18.

Breakfast at Daphne’s was yummy and plentiful.

I was on the road by 8 AM. The plan was to get to Williamsville by the end of the day.

When I arrived in Normal, I was dragging at under 2 miles per hour. After resting in Normal, and getting a new pair of running shoes, I managed between 2.5 to 2.8 miles per hour.

With an additional day of rest in Lincoln, I figured I should be able to maintain or improve on that pace, which meant about seven hours of walking. With breaks for lunch and stops to rest occasionally, I should be there by 5 PM, no later than 6.

Shortly after getting out of the city limits, I met a couple of bike-riders, Hunter was 19 and was riding with a family mentor, who was 60. They were riding from Springfield, where Hunter had interned for the summer and was heading back to Wharton College, on the outskirts of Chicago.

An hour later, I met Jack and Minh, two guys from South Korea, 23 and 24. They were hoping to get to Chicago by the end of the day. They had been riding all summer from California on Route 66.

We had a pleasant chat. When they realized I was planning on walking all the to California, Minh said, “Our family and friends THOUGHT we were crazy to ride our bikes from L.A. to Chicago, but, you, sir, ARE crazy.”

We had a good laugh, exchanged information, and they said they’ll follow me on Facebook. I got to Elkhart around 1 o’clock. It’s a tiny community, but fortunately, it has a restaurant.

I had cream of tomato soup that was made with fresh tomatoes instead of canned sauce, and was outstanding. I had a massive slice of Peanut Butter Pie for dessert. Sufficient protein and calories for the walk.

It was a leisurely couple of hours walk to Williamsville, and a gentleman leaving the truck stop held the door open for me, and then followed me back in. He had seen me walking earlier and was curious to know what I was doing. People’s generosity never ceased to amaze me throughout my walk.

A long hot shower was in order, followed by junk food from McD. I needed fat and salt to keep me going. My JuicePlus capsules provided me with 15 servings of fruits and veggies in the form of dehydrated juices made from whole food. I was getting my daily nutrition, too.

Day 18: 18 Miles (original blog post)

I invite you to tag along if you’re up to it. I am tagging a few friends who I think will be interested. If you are tagged but don’t want to read my stories daily, just let me know in the comments, and I will not tag you moving forward. If you are reading this and aren’t tagged but would like to come along, let me know so that I can tag you.

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Here are a couple of earlier stories:

Rasheed Hooda is a published author, and a regular contributor and editor for ILLUMINATION, a writers’ community on Medium, where writers support each other.

He is a self-proclaimed weirdo who lives a Freedom Lifestyle and writes about related topics — Travel (a top writer), Personal Growth, Freedom, and entrepreneurship. (Get the Newsletter)

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An interview by Dr. M Yildiz for ILLUMINATION

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