A WALK ACROSS CALIFORNIA - THE FINAL CHAPTER

DAY 10

12/8

22.2 Miles

Well, I made it.  I decided to finish today, making it 10 days start to finish.  Also my support crew (Cathie) was threatening to leave me out in the desert if she had to get up early any more.  So it was time to end it..  Today after 9 hours and 22.2 miles I walked across the Colorado River into Yuma, Arizona completing 178.4 miles.  Cathie applauded me as I walked across.  Boy was I ready for happy hour.  The long walk had taken it's toll on my feet.  After each day of walking, when I got back to the RV, I could hardly walk, but by morning I'm was pretty much fully recovered.

IMPERIAL SAND DUNES

Got started on this final day right at 6 am, just before sunrise.  Cathie dropped me off at Gordon Wells, which is just to the west of in Imperial Sand Dunes.  My first obstacle was the All American Canal.  The only way to cross it is to swim or to cross via the freeway bridge.  I opted to break the law and walk on the freeway across the canal.  Next up was the sand dunes.  There is a road for most of the way through the dunes, but part of the way is on a sand road and this made walking difficult, not to mention filling my shoes with sand.  Then the Bureau of Reclamation decided to make the canal turn again and you have to cross it for a second time.  Again I chose to walk and not swim.

After the second crossing I ran into a Border Patrolman who was dragging tires behind his truck so footprints are easy to see.  I had a short talk with him and said I had discovered a fool proof way to smuggle drugs in a back back.  I said you just have to be a white senior citizen and the BP just waves as you walk by.  He agreed with me, and still didn't want to look in my pack.  I guess I look honest.

SOME OF THE BORDER SECURITY

For the next mile it was sand for most of the way.  After that it became nice hard dirt along side of the frontage road for several miles.  I have to go to the left of the mountain you see in the distance.

CHP AT WORK

Mmmmm, TUCSON ONLY 15 DAYS WALK

After this nice easy section, I had to pick my way around the agricultural inspection station on I-8 which entailed bypassing some private property with some really mean looking dogs.  Easiest way was along the railroad tracks, so for a while I became a real hobo walking the rails.

MY FIRST LOOK AT YUMA, STILL 5 MILES TO GO

I had to stop twice for blisters today. Once to re-tape my toe on my right foot, and my left foot not wanting to be left out, gave me a new blister on my heel.  This was about 5 miles from the finish and at this point a broken foot would not have stopped me.

NEAR WINTERHAVEN

DOWNTOWN WINTERHAVEN, ALMOST THERE

CROSSING THE COLORADO AFTER A 9 HOUR DAY

MADE IT!!   178.4 MILES

SOME INTERESTING FACTS:

There is a whole bunch of trash between San Diego and Yuma.  I made a scientific survey and discovered that people on the west side of the mountains like Bud Light.  To the east the popular beer is Coors Light.  Besides the usual roadside cans and bottles, I found tools and enough nuts, bolts, and washers to open a hardware store.  Numerous car parts and other miscellaneous garbage was strewn along the highway.  I also saw three hypodermic syringes.

Bags for Artic Glacer Ice were seen from Spring Valley all the way to Yuma.  I think I'll buy some stock in this company.

Well, it's done, I did it in 10 days, 2 days less than I had thought it would take.  My feet are sore, but they will heal and in a few days they'll be like new, well at least like the feet of a 64 year old.  I enjoyed the solitude, but appreciated seeing Cathie at the end of each day.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. About the weight loss. In the first 5 days I lost 3 pounds. In the second five days I gained one of those pounds back. Go figure. 

Think my celebratory breakfast had anything to do with it?  No way.

TWO EGGS, HAM, HASH BROWNS, GRITS

BISKETS AND GRAVY

(Hey, two of those biskets were Cathie's)

A WALK ACROSS CALIFORNIA - PART FOUR

DAY 8

12/6
19.0 Miles

SUNRISE

Cathie dropped me off in downtown El Centro this morning at 6:00 so I could get an early start and avoid some of the heat. Also this afternoon we need to check out of the RV park by 2. We then will move the RV to Yuma. By 7 am I had removed layers and had to stop and tape up one of my toes due to a blister, again on my right foot. About halfway to Holtville a man stopped and asked if I needed a ride into town. I said that I was walking to Yuma and he said he wasn’t going that far. I explained what I was doing and thanked him for the offer. So far he is the only person who has stopped and offered a ride.

 REACHED HOLTVILLE AFTER 11 MILES

GETTING CLOSER



DID YOU KNOW THIS?

I stopped in Holtville at the local park for a 10 minute break and to get something to eat. When I started back to walking, the blister I had already taped started hurting again, so once more I stopped and re-taped it. It seems every time I take a break, my feet stiffen up and it really hurts to get started again. Most of my breaks have been less than 10 minutes and usually I go for 4 hours before taking my first and usually only break.  I guess I'm in a hurry or could it be there's not much to see around here.  I did manage to cool off some today as some of the fields were being irrigated and the sprinklers were watering the side of the road in some places.  The pause that refreshes!

My camera stopped working today, so a lot of my photos were just a blur. I would have to manually pull out the lens to get it to take a photo. Finally it quit working all together. Bought a new Nikon Coolpix at the local Wal-Mart. I sure hope I made the right choice.

DAY 9

12/7

19.2 Miles

It looks like I'm stuck on 19 miles each day.  Usually at about 15 miles the back pain between my shoulder blades has really start bothering me.  I adjust my back pack different ways, but the pain stays with me.  At 19 miles I'm pretty glad to see Cathie.  I could push on, but this is not a race.  After today, I'm about 21 miles to the finish, but the plan is to take two days to get to Yuma.  If I feel ok, I might push on, but I'm figuring on 15 miles tomorrow and 6 miles on the final day.  We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

HERE COMES THE SUN

Today was almost entirely on pavement.  I'm on old US Highway 80 as it parallels I-8 and acts as a frontage road.  The sides of the road is soft sand for the most part, keeping me on the pavement.  My shins are complaining as a result.  In the 19 miles I walked  today and the 7 hours it took me to do it only one car passed me.  Now that's a lonely road.

NOT MUCH OUT HERE

Several readers have asked me why on earth would I want to do this walk.  Well, for one thing walking to the refrigerator wasn't providing me with enough exercise.  I had found  myself getting lazy and wanted to do something to jump start myself into getting more active again.  I've been pretty regular in riding my bike, but since hurting my foot, I had quit walking and was doing a lot of sitting on my butt.  Also I am very interested in walking the Camino in Spain sometime in the future.  That's about 500 miles over 30 to 35 days.  So I figured that if I could walk to Yuma, I could walk the Camino.  Why Yuma?  I didn't want to go to LA.

 

COUNTING DOWN THE MILES

Someone else asked me what I had done in the way of preparing for this walk.  I really didn't do too much.  I bought some new hiking shoes, walked 6 miles in them, then took them back.  They just were not comfortable.  I also bought some sock liners, which are suppose to prevent blisters.  Well, that didn't work, but I still wear them.  I walked 12 miles around home the week before I started.  For the past couple of years I've been riding my bike about 140 miles a week, but walking uses a whole different of set of muscles.  The bike riding did provide me with the stamina I needed.  I guess the only other thing I could have done was to have someone beat the bottoms of my feet with a mallet to toughen them up, but I didn't think of it in time.

CATHIE WAITING FOR ME - NICE

A WALK ACROSS CALIFORNIA - PART 3

DAY SIX

12/4
20.5 miles

Yesterday I paid a visit to the podiatrist about the pain in my left foot. My regular doctor said I have in issue with the nerve called Norton’s Nuromia, but to be sure he referred me to the podiatrist.

 They Xrayed my feet from all angles and after examining me and the ex-rays the podiatrist had a different diagnosis. He said it wasn’t Norton’s Neuroma, but Metatarsalgia. How’s that for a mouthful. In plain language it’s called, now get this, "Pain in the Ball of the Foot". Actually it’s a little bit more complicated as one of the long bones in my foot is a little too long causing pain in the joint. When I injured it several months ago, I caused a bruise in the joint and there’s the pain.  He said it is possible that I will be bothered with it from time to time for the rest of my life.

SEE IT'S THE LONG ONE RIGHT THERE

Nice thing is that the podiatrist is also a hiker and he encouraged me to finish my trek. He provided me with some new insoles and said “go for it, we want you to walk”.

When I left off I was about 1 mile from the end of the old highway. The only way down the mountains to the desert is a very difficult cross country hike through desert canyons, or on the freeway.  The arrest you for walking on the freeway, but because there is no other alternative by way of secondary roads, one is allowed to ride a bike on the freeway down the grade. So, that’s what I did. Cathie dropped me off for the last mile of the walk, and waited for me at the freeway on ramp. I then rode the bike down the mountain for the quickest 13 miles of my walk. All down hill, so no work at all.

Upon reaching Ocotillo , I turned the bike over to Cathie and continued walking. Total walking mileage today was just 7.5 miles. I am now more than halfway to Yuma and I am hoping to get some good mileage under my feet over the next couple of days. We have moved the RV down to El Centro where we will stay for  2 to 3 nights, then we will more on to Yuma for the finish. I’m hoping to finish by Sunday, but you never know, it could take longer.  Especially if I keep making wrong turns like this one.

SOMEONE I MET TODAY

DAY SEVEN

12/5

19.6 Miles

Got on the road a little after 7 under clear skies. Within 30 minutes I took off the long sleeve shirt, zip off pant legs, and lathered up with sun block. Temps in the mid 80’s are forecast for today. Not much in the way of scenery on this section of the walk. I’ve been trying to stay off the pavement and walk in the dirt, but in some places it’s soft sand or silty dust.

First up is Plaster City, not really a city but a factory that manufactures dry wall. When I would look back at the factory it seemed like it was always there, even after several hours of walking. It was like I wasn’t making any headway.

I could see the mountains that are in Arizona and from this distance; they are not getting any closer.

With the landscape pretty much the same, there are few landmarks which to strive for. When you can see something in the distance, it becomes a short term goal, but here there are few of those kinds of landmarks. So, I just keep plodding along, changing the side of the road I walk on from time to time just to mix it up.

 One thing that keeps me occupied as I walk along is, I've brought a couple of I-pods with me, so I've got lots of music.  Nice thing out here is that I can sing as loud as I want and nobody tells me to shut up.  As with most people, I think of myself as a pretty good singer, but like the rest of you, we all pretty much suck in the music department.  I also think a lot about my foot.  Just a couple of small blisters today on my toes on just the right foot.  All though it's the left foot with the injury, all my blisters have been on my right foot, go figure.

THAT MIDDLE TOE GONNA LOSE A NAIL

I was really beat by the time I reached El Centro.  I don't know if it was the warm tempatures or just the fact that I have now walked 117.6 miles (subtrack the bike ride).  Anyway I was hartened by this sign at the end of my walk today.

NO, NOT THE GOLDEN ARCHES

JUST 59 MORE MILES



A WALK ACROSS CALIFORNIA - PART TWO

DAY FOUR

11/30
19.3 miles

Got a late start today.  Cathie dropped me off in Guatay about 8:30 under overcast sky.  Walked down the hill into Pine Valley, about two miles away.  It hasn't been cold or hot since I started, with temps in the high fifties and low 60's for the most part.  Makes for great walking weather.  I did get little rain and had to don my rain jacket for a while.

Ran into a couple of Sheriff Deputies who offered me a ride on their bus, but their destination was not to my liking.

HIGH POINT

LOOKING EAST ON I-8

Walked for just a little over 7 hours today.  Would have been a little shorter but Cathie took a wrong turn when looking for me.  Made it as far as the Acorn Casino at Crestwood Summit  So while she figured out where I was, I continued walking.  By the time Cathie found me, it was windy, cold and beginning to rain.  I paid the price for the 19 mile day with my first blister.  It's under the nail on my middle toe.  I'll be loosing the nail sometime soon.  OUCH! 

LOOK EAST TOWARDS BUCKMAN SPRINGS

THIS LITTLE DONKEY SPOKE TO ME AS I PASSED BY

DAY 5

12/01

17.0 miles

I MAY HAVE TAKEN A WRONG TURN



At the end of each day, I'm really tired and somewhat sore.  What really hurts the most is my back because of the pack.  It's amazing what a good nights sleep does for you.  The body recovers very quickly and I'm pain free in the morning.  I sleep really well and by morning I've recovered and ready to go.  After yesterdays walk, I came up with several blisters, one of which was pretty bad under my toe nail.  So this morning I bandaged up my toe and applied Doeskin to the other spots, exchanged my hiking boots for running shoes and got started at 9:00, my latest start yet.  Great weather today, clear but not hot.  Passed through the following communities:

As I walked through Boulevard, there were two young girls who had a stand set up on the side of the road selling brownies.  Didn't look like they were getting many customers so I helped out the local economy and bought two for a dollar.

 THE LAST PASS

The mile post indicates the number of miles since the start of Historic Highway 80.

Some of the people I met along

the way today.

                                 

BORDER FENCE

The highway is within about 200 yards of the Mexican border.  The Border Patrol is very evident in these parts.  One will pass me every 10 minutes or so.  They just wave as the go by.  Hey, I could be a Swedish terrorist or something. There is a large new Border Patrol Station in La Posta which I passed yesterday.  The in front says it's the Pine Valley Station even though it's in La Posta and about 15 miles from Pine Valley.  No one ever said the federal government knew where they were at.

Cathie picked me up within a mile of the end of the old highway.  Up ahead is a 13 mile section of I-8 as it heads down into the desert.  Of course pedestrians are forbidden, so I'll have to figure out something.

When we got home and I inspected my feet, no new blisters and the old ones stayed about the same.  I'm taking a couple of days off, first tomorrow is Sunday and it's supposed to be a day of rest and on Monday I have an appointment with the Podiatrist.  I wonder what he'll have to say about all this.  Hope to be back at it on Tuesday.

So far: 77.5 miles